Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook Explained

Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook
Birth Name:Elizabeth Mary Bradford
Birth Date:November 7, 1913
Birth Place:Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Death Place:Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Field:Sculptor and designer
Training:Ontario College of Art
Works:Federal Building "Wildlife and Industry" panels ca. 1952, "George Bernard Shaw" 1997, "Emanuel Hahn" 1952, "Family Tree" 1960.
Awards:Lieut. Governor’s Silver Medal for Sculpture, 1935; National Sculpture Society of New York, Gold Medal, 1969 and the Canadian Portrait Academy Cleeve Horne Award - Best Portrait Sculpture, 1998

Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook, CM, O.Ont (7 November 1913  - 23 February 2009) was a Canadian portrait sculptor, medal designer, and liturgical artist.

Education and training

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, on November 7, 1913,[1] Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook was the great-great-granddaughter of the Hon. John Willson, the first speaker for the House in Upper Canada.[2] Holbrook studied at the Hamilton Art School (1928–31), Ontario College of Art (1932–35), Royal College of Art in London, England (1936) and at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (1948).[3] She studied with such artists as Hortense Gordon, John S. Gordon, John Sloan, Gustav Hahn, Emanuel Hahn, Rowley Murphy, and Carl Milles.[4]

She was a lecturer in Sculpture at the Dundas Valley School of Art from 1965 to 1969.,[4] at the Burlington Cultural Centre from 1990-1993 and at McMaster University, Faculty of Arts in Hamilton, Ontario from 1995-1999. Holbrook’s portrait sculptures are represented in over 50 public collections worldwide.

Subjects

Holbrook's subjects included HM Queen Elizabeth II; William Osler; Ellen Fairclough; John Diefenbaker; Emanuel Hahn; Henry Moore; among many others. Her works include the bronze 24' standing figure of a Royal Military College of Canada cadet 1979 (later known as ‘Brucie’), which was a gift of the Royal Military College Club.[5] She also produced a bronze bust of Colonel George Stanley, a former Royal Military College professor, who designed the Canadian Flag.[6] For the Federal Building, Hamilton, Ontario, she completed eight large mezzo relief stone panels depicting wildlife and industry.

In 1996, she completed a sculpture of George Bernard Shaw for the then-new plaza in Niagara-on-the-Lake.[7] Her last commissioned sculptures were of Conrad Black and his wife Barbara Amiel created in 2000 and 2002 respectively.

Death

Holbrook died of natural causes in Hamilton on February 23, 2009.[8] She is buried at St. John's Anglican Church, Ancaster, Ontario alongside her husband "Jack" Holbrook and her son William "Billy" Holbrook. The family is interred next to a liturgical headstone designed by Holbrook.

Influenced

Holbrook mentored and influenced Canadian sculptor Christian Cardell Corbet.[9] [10]

Memberships

Awards and honours

IN 2024 Holbrook's Order of Canada Medal was sold at public auction for $6,250.00.[12]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Canadian Who's Who Biography: Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook. Utpress.utoronto.ca. 2007-01-18. dead. https://archive.today/20070811213617/http://www.utpress.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/cw2w3.cgi?p=hiruki&t=97080&d=1225. 2007-08-11.
  2. News: Zack. Lillian. Sculptor has come long way from start on Emerald Street. The Hamilton Spectator. 20 January 1983. E.P. Taylor Library and Archives, Toronto.
  3. Web site: Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook. Ontario Society of Artists. 20 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160816063039/http://ontariosocietyofartists.org/member_profiles/elizabeth_bradford_holbrook. 16 August 2016. dead.
  4. Book: Bradford Holbrook. Elizabeth. Biographical Information Sheet. 31 December 1975. Art Gallery of Ontario. E.P. Taylor Research Library & Archives, Toronto.
  5. Web site: Archives and Special Collections | University of Calgary | . Specialcollections.ucalgary.ca . 2016-06-28 . https://archive.today/20120714032351/http://specialcollections.ucalgary.ca/book-collections/dr-george-fg-stanley-collection/elizabeth-bradford-holbrook . 2012-07-14 . live .
  6. Web site: DSpace at University of Calgary: Home . May 20, 2007 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070610164126/https://dspace.ucalgary.ca/ . June 10, 2007 .
  7. Web site: Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook. The Dr. George F. Stanley Book Collection. University of Calgary. 21 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20150704053311/http://asc.ucalgary.ca/node/1217. 4 July 2015. dead.
  8. Web site: Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook. National Gallery of Canada. The National Gallery of Canada. 20 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20150721092650/http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=2477. 21 July 2015. live.
  9. Web site: Christian Cardell Corbet chronicles Canada's military history . 2013-10-09 . dead . https://archive.today/20131010041506/http://beaconnews.ca/winnipeg/2012/11/christian-cardell-corbet-chronicles-canadas-military-history/ . 2013-10-10 .
  10. Web site: Bradford – Sculptor. 10 September 2011. wordpress.com. 28 June 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20140714234124/http://henleyshamilton1.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/bradford-sculptor/. 14 July 2014. live.
  11. Web site: Holbrook, Elizabeth (Mary Bradford). Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. 21 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20150910170429/http://cwahi.concordia.ca/sources/artists/displayArtist.php?ID_artist=3439. 10 September 2015. live.
  12. Web site: Lot # : 30 - ORDER OF CANADA MEDALLION . 2024-11-12 . auctionscanada.hibid.com . en.

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