Margaret Winser (1868 – 29 December 1944) was an English sculptor, medallist, artist, and art teacher.
Life and works
Margaret Winser was born at Rolvenden near Tenterdenin Kent during 1868, the daughter of Albert Winser, a farmer, and Mary Jane Winser.[1] She began working as an assistant art teacher around 1891[2] and studied at the Dover School of Art, winning a number of National Competition awards.[3] At some time she was a pupil of Auguste Rodin[4]
Winser also designed the reverse of the Naval General Service Medal, instituted in August 1915 and awarded for minor Royal Navy campaigns until 1962.[8]
Hastings War Memorial
After the First World War Winser was commissioned to design the Hastings and St Leonards War Memorial in Alexandra Park, Hastings. This included a bronze winged figure of victory and three bronze panels, depicting soldiers, sailors and airmen on active service.[9] The memorial was dedicated on Sunday 26 March 1922.[10]
Her design for the memorial to the 17 lifeboatman drowned in the 1928 Rye lifeboat disaster was approved by the men’s relatives, but was not finally used.[11]
Ellen Terry and Smallhythe Place
Smallhythe Place, near Tenterden was bought by the actress Dame Ellen Terry in 1899, and was her main residence in her later years.[12] Winser, who lived close by and who was a visitor to the house, produced a plaster medallion relief of Terry in 1913.[13] Dame Ellen died at home on 21 July 1928 aged 81, in the presence of her daughter and son.[14] The next day, Winser was invited to Smallhythe Place and made a mould of Ellen Terry's face, from which she produced four death masks. Of these, two remain at Smallhythe Place, one was given to Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1933 and the fourth was presented to the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1949.[12] Two plaster casts of Terry's hands, were also made, probably by Winser,[15] who also produced a bust of Ellen Terry based on these posthumous casts.[16]
The plaster medallion, death mask and posthumous bust, along with a relief plaque of the Hastings War Memorial that she designed, remain in the collection at Smallhythe Place, which is now a museum run by the National Trust.[16][17]
Other works
During her career, Winser created a large number of memorial plaques, statues and portrait medallions, including one of the violinist Joseph Joachim.[6] From 1904 to 1929 she regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, mainly as a sculptor of portrait and other medallions.[2][6] She was one of the female sculptors that the Royal Society of British Sculptors considered including in the Franco-British Exhibition of Science, Art and Industries held in London in 1908.[18] Other work included providing the illustrations for a book 'Lays and Legends of the Weald of Kent' written by her sister Lilian Winser, published in 1897.[19]
She continued to live near Tenterden in Kent for most of her life,[2] dying on 29 December 1944, aged 76.[20]
Examples of Winser's work
These are examples of her drawing and sculpture.
Frontispiece of book 'Lays and Legends of the Weald of Kent'
^ abc"Margaret Winser". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951, University of Glasgow History of Art (Online database). Retrieved 4 November 2017.
^The Times, 19 May 1933 records The death-mask and the cast of the hands of Ellen Terry will be presented to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, suggesting that these two items were considered a pair.
