MK

Jesse Watkins

1899 – 1980

 

Human Struggle, 1967

Aluminum, 300 x 85 x 85cm

Acquisition: Gift by the artist

Reference: 01747

 

Biography

Sculptor in metal, born at Gravesend, Kent. He was awarded a silver medal by the RBS in 1968. Watkins took part in many mixed shows and had a number of one-man exhibitions in Britain. The Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine, London, commissioned work from him, which is also in the City Art Gallery, Manchester, at other British locations as well as in Yugoslavia and Norway. Watkins was for some time a sailor and nautical instruments are a theme of his work, which was influenced by that of the American sculptor David Smith. A retrospective was held at Calouste Gulbenkian Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1970. Lived in New Barnet, Hertfordshire.

Source: Artists in Britain Since 1945 by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)