An Abraham Broadbent sculpture for the V & A Museum, London.
Abraham Broadbent (1868-1919) sculptor, stonemason, stone carver and architectural sculptor, was born in Shipley, the son of stonemason. He lived at Myrtle Place, Saltaire, until he moved to London in the mid 1890s to study at the South London Technical Art School in Lambeth, where he was awarded a £50 annual Student Scholarship for two years.
He worked on figure and animal subjects in bronze and marble and his work was exhibited on 18 occasions, including at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (1899), Art Workers Guild (1905) and Royal Academy.
Commissions included: portraits of Huntington Shaw and Thomas Tompion for the Aston Webb façade of the V&A Museum; carvings for Eton School; and a work, ‘The White Man’s Burden’, for the Union Government, Pretoria, South Africa.
By 1912 he had gained a reputation as one of the best sculptors of his generation, particularly for his stone carving in the English Baroque style. His son, Eric, followed his father’s footsteps to become a sculptor of repute, gaining recognition for his ‘Speed Wings Over the World’ sculpture for Imperial Airways.