Artist     James Butler
Title      Girl in a Long Green Dress
Date      1970's
object    Sculpture
Media    painted resin
Size       48.1 cm height
Ref          659

Purchased in the 129th RWA Annual Exhibition in 1980

Other websites featuring this artist's work
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Girl in a Long Green Dress
James Butler studied at Maidstone School of Art from 1948 to 1950, St Martin’s School of Art from 1950 to 1952 and subsequently at the Royal College of Art, London. After two year’s National Service in the Royal Corps of Signals he spent the following ten years as a professional stone carver, working on architectural sculptures such as the Queen’s Beasts at Kew Gardens and restoration work on the Albert Memorial in London. From 1960 to 1975 he taught drawing and sculpture at the City and Guilds of London School in Kennington. Most of Butler’s work derives from commissions; his first major commission was a twice life-size statue of President Kenyatta of Kenya created for the city of Nairobi in 1973. Following this important work, Butler worked on numerous public commissions and works for private collections. His piece in the RWA Collection is typical of his fastidious attention to detail and the evocation of movement and agility despite the static form of the sculpture.

Elected as an ARA in 1964, he became a Royal Academician in 1972, a Member of the Royal West of England Academy in 1980 and a fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1981. He now lives and works in Warwickshire.

Amongst his major commissions is the portrait statue of President Kenyatta, Nairobi, Kenya; the Monument to Freedom Fighters of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia; a portrait statue of Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis, for Wellington Barracks, Bird Cage Walk, London.

He has also sculpted a memorial statue of King Richard III, for the Castle Gardens, Leicester; the Leicester Seamstress, Hotel Street, Leicester; a statue of Sir John Moore, and the attendant figures of Rifleman and Bugler, for Sir John Moore Barracks in Winchester, the portrait statue of Billy Wright outside Wolverhampton Wanderers' Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, and the Royal Seal of the Realm, commissioned by The Royal Mint for HRH Queen Elizabeth II.

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