Thomas Stirling Lee Explained

Thomas Stirling Lee (London, 16 March 1857 – 29 June 1916, London) was an English sculptor, specialising in reliefs and portrait heads.^[1]

Early life

Lee was born in Lambeth, London on 16 March 1857, the son of John Swanwick Lee, a surveyor.^[2] He was educated at Westminster School and then served as an apprentice in the studio of John Birnie Philip.^[3]

Lee studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1876 to 1880, where he won both a Gold Medal and a Travelling Scholarship. In 1880–1881 he studied under Pierre-Jules Cavelier at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and then studied in Rome until 1883.

Career

Stirling Lee's commission for 28 panels for the exterior of St George's Hall, Liverpool, resulting from an open competition held by Liverpool City Council in 1882, is regarded as his most important, but it was the subject of controversy, when the first two featured naked girls, depicting "the child Justice" and "the girl Justice". Lee only completed six of the 28 panels, but was subsequently commissioned to make two, and oversee all, of a further set of six on the theme of 'National Prosperity'.

Stirling Lee cast a number of bronze portrait reliefs (medallions) of friends and personalities.^[4] Examples are to be seen, e.g., in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge,^[5] the Victoria and Albert Museum, London,^[6] and in private collections.^[7]

He was a member of the National Portrait Society from 1910 to 1915, building a studio in Chelsea, London.^[8] He was a member and twice chairman of the Chelsea Arts Club and a member of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers.^[9] Stirling Lee was an active member of the Art Workers' Guild and was elected Master in 1898.^{[10] [11] [12]}

Falling unconscious in the arcade at South Kensington Station,^[13] Stirling Lee died at St George's Hospital, Knightsbridge, London on 29 June 1916.^[14] His friends subscribed to a fund for a bronze panel on the family vault at New Southgate.

Works

Lee's work includes:

• Bas-reliefs for Leeds Town Hall
• Carvings for Westminster Cathedral
• Bronze statue of Charles Gore, First Bishop of Birmingham, outside Birmingham Cathedral (1914)^[15] - 52.4811°N -1.8982°W
• The Progress of Justice series of bas reliefs, left of the central portico on Saint George's Hall, Liverpool, 1885–1894
• The National Progress series, right of the portico on Saint George's Hall, 1898–1901
• Doors with scenes of male friendship, Adelphi Bank, Liverpool

Notes and References

1. Web site: Thomas Stirling Lee. Tate. 31 May 2013.
2. Web site: Thomas Stirling Lee. Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951. Glasgow University. 31 May 2013.
3. Web site: Thomas Stirling Lee. 2013-04-12. The Victorian Web. 31 May 2013.
4. Thomas Stirling Lee, in Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951. Glasgow University. Retrieved 14 June 2024.
5. The Fitzwilliam Museum Syndicate's Annual Report and list of Accessions made during the period 1 August 2006 - 31 July 2007, Cambridge, 2008, p.18.
6. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O311771/mrs-rodney-fennessy-portrait-medallion-stirling-lee-thomas/ (accessed 14/06/2024).
7. Kineton Parks, Sculpture of To-day (1921, New York, p.112).
8. Web site: Settlement and building: Artists and Chelsea Pages 102-106 A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea. . British History Online . Victoria County History, 2004 . 21 December 2022.
9. Web site: The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951. Glasgow University. 31 May 2013.
10. Web site: Thomas Stirling Lee. Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951, University of Glasgow. 19 October 2021.
11. See “Thomas Stirling Lee, the first Chairman” by Geoffrey Matthews, in Chelsea Arts Club Yearbook 2022, for an informative article, including Philip Wilson Steer’s ebullient portrait of TSL, now displayed in Chelsea Arts Club.
12. https://victorianweb.org/victorian/sculpture/walker/16.html For a bronze bust of Stirling Lee by Arthur George Walker (1898)
13. The Building News, No.3209, 5 July 1916, p.21.
14. Book: Waters, Grant M.. Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900–1950. 1974. Eastbourne Fine Art. Eastbourne.
15. Book: Noszlopy, George T.. George T. Noszlopy

    . George T. Noszlopy. Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield. Liverpool University Press. 1998. Public Sculpture of Britain. 2. 0-85323-682-8. registration.