Arthur George Walker


Arthur George Walker was an English sculptor and painter. Among his best-known works are several war memorials and the statue of Florence Nightingale in Waterloo Place, London.

Personal life

Arthur George Walker was born 20 October 1861 to Robert Walker and his wife in Hackney, London. Robert Walker was a ship owner and surveyor. Until 1911, Walker lived with his Aunt Isabella and two siblings, Emily and Harold. He studied at the Royal Academy from about 1883 to 1887 and during this time won various prizes. He died aged 77 on 13 September 1939 in England.

Works

War Memorials

Memorials to individuals and other statues

WorkLocationImageNotes and References
Statues of Christ with St Peter and St AndrewWells Cathedral, SomersetWalker was responsible for the central figures of Christ with St Peter and St Andrew in the row of statues above the High Altar in the Quire. They were given by Mrs Jessie Head in memory of her brother, Douglas McLean, just before the First World War.
Virgin and ChildLlandaff Cathedral, CardiffCommissioned on the recommendation of Sir Charles Nicholson, the Cathedral Architect, this as part of a re-ordering of the Lady Chapel between 1933 and 1935. The sculpture was to fill the central niche of a mediaeval reredos which was re-introduced to the Lady Chapel having been removed in 1908. Sir Charles had noted that Walker had completed a similar sculpture in a similar location at Wells Cathedral although not under his direction. He also advised that the Dean and Chapter should apply as few constraints as possible and the only condition was that the sculpture must not be coloured.
Statue of Emmeline PankhurstVictoria Tower Gardens, LondonIt was unveiled on 6 March 1930 by Stanley Baldwin and moved to the present site in 1956. The stone screens were added in 1959, to create the Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial. There are two bronze plaques on the base of the statue. On the right is a portrait medallion of Christabel Pankhurst and on the left the design on the WSPU prisoners' badge.
Frederick Smith, 2nd Viscount Hambleden memorialLincoln's Inn Fields, LondonMemorial to Frederick Smith, 2nd Viscount Hambledon, made in 1929. Smith was head of the W H Smith chain of newsagents, MP for the Strand Division and chairman of King's College Hospital. A Walker sculpture originally stood on the memorial plinth but this is no longer there.
John WesleyNew Room, Bristol, with copy in Washington D.CEquestrian statue commissioned by Edward Lamplough for Broadmead Courtyard as part of restoration of the New Room in the 1930s. There is a replica in the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
Statue of Lady Mount-TempleTorquay, DevonBronze statue of Lady Mount-Temple, sister of Lord Tollemache of Helmington. Unveiled on 9 October 1903.
Florence NightingaleWaterloo Place, LondonBronze statue of Florence Nightingale with sculpted bronze panels on the plinth.
Memorial tablet to Florence NightingaleSt Pauls Cathedral, LondonLocated in the Nelson Chamber's East Bay of the Cathedral's crypt. It comprises a tablet with "Blessed are the merciful" written at the top and "Florence Nightingale" at the bottom. This is a sculpted marble and alabaster wall monument with a frame enclosing a relief sculpture by Walker which shows Florence Nightingale tending a wounded soldier. There is a round arched top which shows a woman holding a cup to a bed-ridden man whose head is in bandages.
Memorial to Florence NightingaleSt. Thomas's Hospital Chapel, LondonThis 1917 plaster relief, painted white and in an alabaster frame, is located in the St. Thomas's Hospital Chapel. It is in the South Aisle near the Chancel
Busts of Dame Louisa Aldrich-BlakeTavistock Square, LondonTwo bronze busts facing in opposite directions on a stone plinth.
Memorial to Constance Kerr, Marchioness of LothianSt Andrew's Church, Blickling, NorfolkMarble relief to the widow of the eighth Marquess of Lothian, died 1901. Sculpture.
Memorial to Pat GarnettSt Andrew's Church, Backwell, SomersetThe St Andrew's sculpture is a memorial to a local airman Pat Garnett and was sited below Backwell Hill House before becoming rusted and overgrown. It was restored and moved to the churchyard by Laurence Tindall in 1997.

Other works

WorkLocationImageNotes and References
Christ at the Whipping PostTate Britain, LondonThis Walker work in ivory and dates to 1925. It was purchased for the Tate from the artist by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest. Walker had exhibited this piece at the Royal Academy in 1925. The work is not currently on display.
Roger Payne and William MorrisVictoria and Albert Museum, London Walker sculpted two of the many single standing figures in niches which are located between the windows along the entire façade of the museum. Walker's figures appear on the Exhibition Road side of the building.
The ThornBronze study of a nude girl removing a thorn from her leg, high. Exhibited at The Royal Academy in 1903 and again at the Christopher Wood Galleries in London in 1980. An earlier, possibly plaster, version was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1896.
The DancerBronze statue,.
A Nymph of DianaStatue.
Death of the First-bornBronze relief,.