Biography
Albert Toft came from a family of Staffordshire artists in pottery and silverwork. He was apprenticed as a modeller at Wedgwood's, then after evening classes locally went on to the Royal College of Art in London where he studied under Lanteri. His earliest works exhibited at the Royal Academy were mainly portrait busts, such as George Wallis (London, Victoria and Albert Museum, R.A. I890)
He also began to develop ideal works, some in bust form -- In the sere and yellow leaf (R.A. 1892 and 1893) -- others in the form of figure statues such as Fate-led: Fate leading, she must needs go on and on of 1890 and 1892, a full-length nude now in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. In fact, Toft produced a series of statues of naked ladies with fancy titles, as did ; other Toft examples include Spring (Birmingham City Art Gallery, R.A. 1897) and The Spirit of Gontemplation (Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, R.A. I90l and I903). Spielmann wrote that this '. . . is the most complete of all Mr Toft's works. Life-size, it is a beautiful representation of the female form, original, almost daring, in its simple arrangement, decorative with praiseworthy self-restraint, dignified and refined.' Toft was also responsible for South African War memorials in Cardiff and Birmingham. ‐ Read, Victorian Sculpture, 352.
Portraits
- Ellaline Terris
- Sir Henry Irving (bas relief, 10 inches in diameter)
- Sir Henry Irving (bas relief, 8 inches in diameter)
- Frank Brangwyn
- Queen Victoria
- The King Edward VII Memorial for Birmingham
- Children of the Sculptor
- Frank Brangwyn
- Sir George Frampton, R.A.
- The Rt. Hon. Jesse Collings, M.P.
- R. B. Cunninghame-Graham (no image)
- Bust of unidentified man
- John Heaton, Esq.
- Untitled (profile of a man)
- Untitled (bust of a man)
- Robert Owen
- Mark Hambourg (no image)
- George Jacob Holyoake (no image)
- Prof. Leschetizky (no image)
- Mrs. Cyril Maude (no image)
- David Christie Murray (no image)
- Sir Charles Mark Palmer (no image)
- Sir William Pearce (no image)
- Sir William Treloar (no image)
War Memorials
- The Hall of Memory, Birmingham
- The Royal Fusiliers Memorial
- South African War Memorial, Cardiff
- War Memorial, Streatham Common North, London SW16
- War Memorial, Leamington Spa
- A Memorial to the Men of Birmingham who fell during the War in South Africa, 1899-1902
Nudes and figure studies
- Antigone
- The Spirit of Contemplation (plaster version)
- The Spirit of Contemplation (bronze version)
- Victory (with ornate bronze socle mounted on a rectangular marble base)
- Victory (without ornate bronze socle and mounted on cylindrical marble base)
- Victory (large version with sword and sceptre)
- Evening
- The Bather
- Spring
- Hagar
- The Cup of Immortality
- Study [prone female nude]
Other works
- A Chorister (bronze)
- A Chorister (plaster)
- Metal Pouring
- A Vision
- Maternity
- Invocation
- Fate Led
- The Cherry Girl
- Feeding the Hungry, Maternity, and Clothing the Naked ("Part of a Memorial to the Late Queen in Nottingham")
- Mother and Child
- The Mother
- St. George
- Untitled [head of a prophet?]
- Bust of a Woman with Downcast Eyes (bronze version)
- Bust of a Woman with Downcast Eyes (marble version)
Medals
Other works not illustrated
- Fate-led
- Gladstone
- Mark Homburg
- The Sere and Yellow Leaf
Bibliography
Beattie, Susan. The New Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.
Bowman, Robert. Sir Alfred Gilbert and the New Sculpture. London: The Fine Art Society, 2008.
British Sculpture 1850-1914. A loan exhibition of sculpture and medals sponsored by The Victorian Society. London: Fine Art Society, 1968.
Read, Benedict. Victorian Sculpture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982.
Reddie, Arthur. "Albert Toft: Sculptor." 66 The Studio (15 October 1915): 18-28. Internet Archive digitized from a copy in the University of Toronto Library. Web. 15 May 2015.
Spielmann, Marion Harry. British Sculpture and Sculptors of Today. London: Cassell, 1901. Internet Archive. Web. 22 December 2011.
Last modified 14 November 2019