Obituary
Lawrence Holofcener, Sculptor died on 4th March 2017 age 91. He enjoyed success as a Broadway actor, director and lyricist, but became better known in his later years as the sculptor responsible for ‘Allies’, a life-size public work featuring a bronze Winston Churchill chatting companionably on a park bench with Franklin D Roosevelt.
Holofcener came late to sculpture and was entirely self-taught, holding his first exhibition in 1979 in Charleston, South Carolina.
He specialised in traditional bronze portrait sculpture, his commissions including Faces of Olivier, a plaque showing Sir Laurence in 28 of his most famous roles, unveiled by the actor in 1985 at Chichester Festival Theatre; a statue of Queen Victoria for the Isle of Wight Museum; Faces of Golf sculpture at PGA National Resort and life-size portraits of Thomas Chatterton, William Tyndale and William Penn which were unveiled in Bristol in 2000 by the Prince of Wales.
But it was Allies, a tribute to one of the most important friendships of the 20th century, that really caught the public imagination, showing the relationship between wartime prime minister and president as one not of politics, but of easygoing cameraderie.
The work became a popular tourist attraction after it was unveiled in Bond Street by Princess Margaret in 1995 to commemorate 50 years of peace since the end of the war.
As soon as it was in position, people began seating themselves beside the figures to pose for photographs and the association decided to buy the work as a permanent attraction. Later, when the Catto Gallery commissioned Holofcener to create an edition of 50 quarter-size maquettes of the sculpture, they sold like hot cakes.
In 2003 Holofcener made a special journey to London to put a black sheet over his most famous sculpture and sat beside it during the Stop the War demonstrations. “I told passers-by: ‘This is a protest against the ‘special relationship’ that Bush and Blair have trashed’,” he explained. Lawrence Holofcener, born February 23 1926, died March 4 2017
For further information on the sculptor or his work, please contact Catto Gallery –
Philip Jackson - Dealers' Diary
Antiques Trade Gazette March 2017
On a mission to sell this bomber memorial model
Hampstead's Catto Gallery includes this maquette of the Bomber Command Memorial in its upcoming exhibition of works by sculptor Philip Jackson.
The sculpture, consisting of seven 9ft (2.74m) high figures, is a tribute to the 55,573 Bomber Command crew who died during the Second World War. It was unveiled in Green Park, London in June 2012.
The maquette of the statue is available for £70,000 at Catto with 10% of the sale price going to the Bomber Command Association for the upkeep of the public work.
Jackson’s third solo show at Catto runs from March 23-April 17. The artist is wellknown for a number of public sculptures, including the Queen Mother on The Mall and England 1966 World Cup-winner Bobby Moore at Wembley Stadium.
Ian Berry - Drawn threads
Article from Embroidery magazine March 2017
A decade of creating artworks in denim sees ian Berry’s practice soar to new heights.
EVEN UP CLOSE it’s no simple matter to perceive the individual pieces of cloth that make up the staggeringly complex photorealist images that Ian Berry creates from pairs of old jeans.
Whether viewed in print, online or even at arm’s length, the works are often misidentified as bluetoned photographs rather than handmade works of art. In a painstaking process, Berry collages layers of shapes cut from different shades of faded denim that form mosaics of striking, life-like scenes.
Berry, who is originally from huddersfield, already had a successful career as an art director in advertising when he started making his works. Since then he’s had near-sell out shows in Sweden (where he lived at the time), as well as the US and Portugal.
The works on these pages were part of two solo exhibits presented by Catto Gallery at gallery different last November. Berry produced the works after moving back to london. he felt compelled to create a body of work in response to his thoughts on the meaning of home and the changing nature of cultural diversity in the city.
What's next?
Watch this Plinth!
Goodbye 'Allies'
The 'Allies' by Laurence Holofcenor has sadly departed the plinth outside the gallery. Everyday we're having people coming in asking where it's gone. It will be missed but it's going to a new home where it will be well looked after.
