Dilucidate

Alfred Frank Hardiman, Sculptor

Alfred Frank Hardiman (21 May 1891 - 17 April 1949), sculptor, was born at 17 Orde Hall Street, London, the son of Alfred William Hardiman, silversmith, of Holborn, and his wife, Ada Myhill.

Hardiman won a London County Council Scholarship to the Royal College of Art in 1912, and three years later joined the Royal Academy School. After a period as an engineer's draughtsman in the Royal Flying Corps during the war, Hardiman resumed his studies and in 1920 was awarded the Rome scholarship, spending two years at the British School at Rome. There Hardiman developed his style, a blend of naturalism and classicism influenced by Roman and Etruscan art and early fifth century Greek sculpture.

Hardiman’s best-known work is the equestrian statue of Earl Haig, commissioned by Parliament in 1928. Eight years in the making, this bronze aroused considerable controversy, the Field Marshall's riding position, his uniform, the anatomy and stance of the horse all drawing harsh criticism.

Hardiman had won the commission in competition with his fellow sculptors Gilbert Ledward[1] and William Macmillan. His winning model showed Haig riding a classical charger befitting a hero, dervied from Hardiman's studies of renaissance equestrian sculpture. The Press and Lady Haig weighed in, asking why Earl Haig could not be portrayed with realism riding his own horse, Poperinghe. Eventually Hardiman was asked to produce a second model, but in trying to accommodate his critics the sculptor produced a compromise that pleased no-one. The design went back to Cabinet and they were persuaded to allow him a free hand in the execution of the full-sized statue, George Lansbury writing: "I feel confident that if your genius is unfettered you will give us a memorial worthy of the Field Marshall, the nation and yourself". The memorial was unveiled by the Duke of Gloucester on 10 November 1937, with the King laying a wreath at the base on Armistice Day.

More universally admired are Hardiman's heraldic lions flanking the main entrance to the City Hall, Norwich, a work which fully epitomises his style. He was appointed consultant sculptor on the building, having worked on the Haig memorial with one of the architects, Stephen Rowland Pierce. Hardiman also carved three large stone figures for the council chamber, and worked with other sculptors on the project including James Woodford.

Hardiman was elected A.R.A. in 1936 and R.A. in 1944. He became a fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1938 and the following year received their silver medal for his statue of Haig. In 1946 he won a gold medal for his bronze fountain figure for the New Council House, College Green, Bristol, which however was never erected.

In 1918 he married Violet, daughter of Herbert Clifton White, of London, and had two daughters. He died at Stoke Poges 17 April 1949.

Hardiman public sculptures

Alfred Hardiman heraldic lion, Norwich City Hall, 1938

• Whitehall, London: Earl Haig memorial

• County Hall, Westminster: Four statue groups, 8ft high

• St James's church, Piccadilly, London: Memorial fountain to Viscount Southwood

• Eltham Palace, London: St George (originally at Carlos Place)

• City Hall, Norwich: Two bronze heraldic lions, three statues: Recreation, Wisdom, Education, 8ft high

• Old St Paul's church, Edinburgh: Calvary

• Bantaskine, Falkirk: Peace

• Kippen Kirk, Stirling: Entry into Jerusalem[2]

• Rhodes House, Oxford: Portrait of Cecil Rhodes

• Hertfordshire County Hall: Harts

External links

Henry Moore Institute, Leeds [3]

Royal Society of British Sculptors [4]