WW1 Artillery Memorial Project

[Andyshep]

Charles Sargeant Jagger MC (17 December 1885 Kilnhurst, near Rotherham, Yorkshire - 16 November 1934) was a British sculptor who, following active service in the First World War, sculpted many works on the theme of war. He is best known for his war memorials, especially the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner and the Great Western Railway War Memorial in Paddington Railway Station, both of which are in London, and he also designed several other monuments around Britain and other parts of the world.

Jagger was the son of a colliery manager, and was educated at Sheffield Royal Grammar School. At age 14 he became an apprentice metal engraver with the Sheffield firm Mappin and Webb. He studied at the Sheffield School of Art before moving to London to study sculpture at the Royal College of Art. When war broke out in 1914, Jagger joined the army. At first, he joined the Artists' Rifles, and in 1915 he was commissioned in the Worcestershire Regiment. Jagger served in Gallipoli and on the Western Front, and was wounded three times. He was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry.

Jagger's style tended towards realism, especially his portrayal of soldiers. The fashion at the time was for idealism and modernism in sculpture, but Jagger's figures were rugged and workman-like, earning him a reputation for 'realist' sculpture. Although Jagger was commissioned as a sculptor of a variety of monuments, it is for his war memorials that he is chiefly remembered

Royal Artillery Memorial (1921–25) at Hyde Park Corner in London is one of his best-known works. It features a giant sculpture of a howitzer surrounded by four bronze soldiers and stone relief scenes, and is dedicated to casualties in the British Royal Regiment of Artillery in World War I. When Jagger was commissioned to work on the Royal Artillery Memorial, he remarked to the Daily Express the "experience in the trenches persuaded me of the necessity for frankness and truth".

Monumental works of the period used symbolic figures rather than actual depictions of soldiers. Furthermore, during the war years, a government edict had banned images of dead British soldiers. Jagger defied both these conventions by creating realistic bronze figures of three standing soldiers and the body of a dead soldier laid out and shrouded by a greatcoat.

I was approached by Andrew Purchase who is a member at the One Sixth Warrior forum to see if it would be possible to recreate aspects of this memorial. I had aldready made a figure for Andrew earlier in the year ('A Gentleman in Khaki') and he had also bought one of my last WW1 figures. I think it was a giant leap of faith on Andrew's part to think that as I had done a good job of taking a 19th century illustration in the form of the 'Gent' that I could do a similar job with an iconic piece of early 20th century sculpture. This was the perfect job for me as it combined my love of art, particularly the art from this era and figure making. On a personal note, all my family's ancestors that I know about all served in the artillery during the Great War. I'm originally from the South of England so several served in the siege batteries which hailed from the Kent area as well as in the R.H.A. One ancestor was involved in the retreat from Mons but was later killed just before the Somme offensive. One of the others was killed at the start of the third battle of Ypres.

We had originally thought about making the figures in their memorial poses but without the bronze finish. We soon decided that the bronze finish would be an interesting and unknown path to follow at this scale.

I was unfamiliar with Jagger's work so I did a lot of research into this memorial and his other sculptures to attempt to capture the rugged, heroic look of his figures. If you are interested to see the research and development involved in this project, all the pages from my sketchbook are available to see on my blog at www.andyshepart.blogspot.com

I have a list of people to thank for their invaluable help in this project:

Andrew Purchase for the idea and enthusiasm

Tony Barton for the encouragement and invaluable bits and pieces

Richie Elbourne for the pattern for the Driver's raincape

Mark Dockery for the officer's jacket and Sam Browne gear

Steve Tull for the Officer's cane

Tommy in my school's Tech department for cutting the wood for the bases.

I also owe a big thank you to Paul Evans at the Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich for pictures of the steel gaiter worn by the Driver.

Andrew organised having the lettering laser etched into acrylic for the back pieces and I think that adds an extra dimension to the figures.

We decided to leave the dead figure out of this ensemble for the time being, concentrating on the standing figures instead. All three figures are built on Kaustik Plastic muscular bodies to capture the stature of Jagger's figures. The heads are all Jason Statham originally with a good deal of extra bulk added with Milliput. Each figure had its own requirements in terms of uniform and equipment which had to either be bought, made or modified.

The bases are wood covered with Polyfilla and sprayed with stone texture, as are the back pieces (without the Polyfilla) The plinths are wood covered with Polyfilla and made to look textured. They've had a coat of Hammered Black paint, then a coat of Oil Rubbed Bronze, as have all the figures.

I'll let the figures do the talking.

This has been a really fulfilling project to work on which has kept me happily occupied since last summer. Thanks to the help of everyone already mentioned it's gone very smoothly with no real hiccups.

The figures were finally delivered safely to Andrew this week and there is now a rather large empty space in my studio where they have lived for these months. An aspect of these figures that can't be captured in photographs is their collective physical presence. I know Andrew was struck by this once he had unwrapped the trio. I see the posting of these pictures and information the final part of this journey. I hope I have done the original some justice, and more importantly I hope I have in some way played my part in honouring the memory of those who the original commemorates.

Please feel free to comment

Andy

[RobL]

Looks very good. Will you do the dead soldier figure? For me that's the most powerful part of the memorial

[Andyshep]

Maybe eventually for myself. It wouldn't have worked in this ensemble as this trio will be in a display case with the rear facing a wall. It would certainly be the easiest of the four to do.

[Roger H]

Fantastic work. I know you say you have worked on it since last summer, but approximately how many hours?

Roger

[wig]

What a lovely interesting and inFormative post.

[wig]

Was this a one off or are there replicas for sale to those of us who have an interest....

http://broadsidesdotme.wordpress.com/2012/01/04/peter-mcguiggan-of-c-battery-78th-brigade-of-the-royal-field-artillery/

[Stoppage Drill]

Crumbs !

I am filled with admiration.

Well Done !

What is the scale ? (Compared to lifesize, rather than the statuary size.)

I echo RobL's comment about the power of the dead soldier figure. You must do it.

[better ole]

_{I assume they are 1/6 scale, Andy's normal medium. I saw this and other photographs on a modellers site. I remain amazed!}

[Stoppage Drill]

_{I assume they are 1/6 scale, Andy's normal medium. I saw this and other photographs on a modellers site. I remain amazed!}

Yes, but 1/6 of human scale, or 1/6 of the statuary scale, that was my point. IIRC the statuesat HPC are about twice lifesize.

[squirrel]

Quite superb!

[Andyshep]

These are 1/6 of human scale. I have never seen the originals in the flesh so have no idea about their real size. I imagine they must be incredibly powerful in real life. I'm sure photographs don't capture their strength and presence.

I'm afraid these are one offs. If I was to attempt to market them I would probably and rightly fall foul of the Jagger estate who no doubt protect the copyright on his work.

[Andyshep]

P.S. Roger; I have no idea how many hours this took. As an illustration of the time things like this take, the rain cape worn by the driver probably took 3-4 hours, sculpting each face probably took a couple of hours, making the gunner's shells was roughly 3 hours, etc,etc. It quickly adds up.

[ianjonesncl]

I hope I have done the original some justice, and more importantly I hope I have in some way played my part in honouring the memory of those who the original commemorates.

Andy

Andy

They are first class and I think you have certainly played your part.

Ian

[wig]

What about the rest of the stuff on your webpage. Any for sale? Originals or prints?

[Andyshep]

Hi

Thanks for your interest. I'm afraid all the figures are commissions so I don't have any of those. Some of the artwork was commissioned and some has been sold but there are several pieces still available. Was there anything inparticular?

Andy