Artist of an Icon - The Memoirs of Arnold Machin,OBE,RA,1911-1999

Description

Artist of an Icon

> -The Memoirs of Arnold Machin,OBE,RA,1911-1999

238 x 164mm,224 pp inc 48pp colour illustrations.

ISBN: 1872914233

Published November 2002, £35 h/b

CONTACT FRONTIER PUBLISHING TO SUBSCRIBE .

With more than 180 billion printed so far, the sculptured portrait of Queen

Elizabeth II on the definitive British Postage Stamp has been reproduced

more times than any other image in history and has become an icon of the 20th century. It is known to philatelists throughout the world as 'The

Machin', after its creator, Arnold Machin. The book Artist of an Icon unites the sculptor's memoirs, the story of his life and art, with extensive

illustration of his works provided by the Machin Archives.

'When I look back. . . I am amazed by it all!' Arnold Machin reflects on

his childhood memories of travelling the Staffordshire lanes by horsedrawn cart to deliver vegetables, his schooldays and the apprenticeship at Minton,which he started at the age of 14. His descriptions recall the atmosphere of the factory's smouldering ovens and 'clay-end', as well as the exquisite technique of the china painter's art:'cutting-up the image of a rose on a plate with deft strokes of square and then fine brushes.'

His career there came to a halt with the Wall street Crash of 1929, but

this allowed him the opportunity to turn his hands to modelling at Burslem

Art School, before moving to Derby China works as a painter. Now the seeds of art were sown, and classes at Derby Art School led to a scholarship to the Royal college of art. These pre-war years in London were very influential. and he thrived in the RCA under professor Garbe, winning the top award for sculpture and a travelling scholarship, which the outbreak of war prevented him taking up.

Back in the Potteries and teaching in the art school, Machin began his

association with Wedgwood. This was soon interrupted when he was imprisoned as a conscientious objector. After the war, Machin continued with Wedgwood before turning back to London to be ceramics tutor at the RCA. He met and married his wife, Patricia, in 1949 and their son, Francis, was born. Every week, he drove form home in Stoke to London and saw the destruction of buildings to make way for modern architecture, noting that, 'It far exceeded all that the German bombing achieved'. Ahead of his time in some respects,he protested in his own street against the removal of Victorian street lamps.

In 1956 he was elected RA and two years later became master of Sculpture in the Royal Academy Schools and this part of his career is recorded with much mention of contemporaries and pupils.

In 1963, the government wanted a new coinage. In competition with

others, he was chosen to model the head of HRH Queen Elizabeth. 'Snowdon produced a marvellous set of photographs for me. I now had to produce a true likeness...She said,"The Duke commented that the chin wanted to be stronger and needed more clay, which Mr.Machin did - but as soon as the Duke left, he took it off again!"...I found The Queen to have a great sense of humour'.

Another competition in 1966 resulted in Machin modelling the portrait of

The Queen for British postage stamps. 'I saw my task as creating both a

likeness of The Queen and an image of monarchy...It looks so fine and so

dignified without a frame or lettering, is it really necessary to include

them? To our delight it was agreed that everything could be omitted except the values. So the stamp design was then concluded'.

The sculptor continued to work on relief portraits and statuettes in

terracotta, his favoured medium. 'If the sound of water has brought delight to my life, the feel of clay in my hands has had an even more profound influence; from my father I learned the joy of growing vegetables and flowers and the wonder of creating from clay...one is building up and creating from the earth itself'.

Arnold Machin had an innate modesty which was set against a

strengthening purpose.'The post-war age has been a mad one with false

values', he claimed, as progress brought lowered standards. He ends his book, researching the sources of his own success and seeking to establish eternal values in art.