Gwynneth Holt

Rose Gwynneth Cobden Holt (1909–1995), known as Gwynneth, was an artist following in the tradition of religious ivory sculpture. Her most famous work is Annunciation, created circa 1946, depicting the Virgin Mary receiving the announcement of her pregnancy.

Rose Gwynneth Cobden Holt
EducationWolverhampton College of Art, now University of Wolverhampton
Known forSculpture

Early life

Holt was born in Wednesbury, Staffordshire in 1909.[1] She was the eldest of three daughters and spent her formative education at St Anne's Convent in Birmingham. At sixteen, she was accepted into Wolverhampton School of Art[2] and studied under Richard Emerson.[3]

Whilst at Wolverhampton, she met fellow student, Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones, whom she married in 1934.[4] They were both awarded places at the Royal College of Art but Gwynneth did not take her place in order to reduce the financial burden on her family.

Sculpture

Huxley-Jones studied under Richard Garbe, an eminent sculptor in ivory and tortoiseshell, materials not commonly used by sculptors at the time. He would influence the direction of both their work.

In 1934, Huxley-Jones was appointed Head of Sculpture at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen, where the couple were based for twelve years. It was during this time that Holt created Annunciation.

Holt went on to produce numerous ecclesiastical commissions and exhibited widely, including at the Royal Society of British Sculptors, Society of Portrait Sculptors, Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy, and the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.[3] She was also among the first female members of the Royal Society of Sculptors.[5] However, she expressed with frustration, her feelings on the male-dominated nature of the profession.

"Women are just as intelligent as men, and their contribution to art is just as valuable: They are not given a chance to take art up seriously. What with looking after the house, there is not much time left for concentrating on art."[3]

Works held in Collections
Title Year Medium Gallery no. Gallery Location
Bishop Gordon 1966–1974 bronze 1993-0341 Manx National Heritage Isle of Man
Girl Holding a Book – terracotta 1995.1004 Chelmsford Museum Essex, England
Hall Caine mid-20th C ceramic 1993-0342 Manx National Heritage Isle of Man
Head of a Girl – plaster 1995.377 Chelmsford Museum Essex, England
Reverend John Finlay Rutherford 1950s bronze TUF1 Chelmsford Museum Essex, England

References
  1. "HOLT Rose Gwynneth Cobden 1909–1995 | Artist Biographies". www.artbiogs.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  2. "(Rose) Gwynneth Cobden Holt – Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  3. Strang, Alice (2015). Modern Scottish Women. National Galleries of Scotland. ISBN 9781906270896.
  4. "Gwynneth Holt (1909–1995)". eynsham-pc.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  5. "Uncovering the life and work of forgotten women sculptors – Museum Crush". museumcrush.org. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
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