View source for Walter Seymour Allward

{{short description|Canadian sculptor (1874–1955)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name   = Walter Seymour Allward
| honorific_suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CMG|RCA|size=100%}}
| image     = Walter Allward.jpg
| caption  = Walter Allward in 1913
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1874|11|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]], Canada
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1955|4|24|1876|11|18|df=y}}
| death_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| occupation     = Monument sculptor and designer
| spouse         = {{marriage|Margaret Kennedy|1898}}
| parents        =
| children       =
}}
'''Walter Seymour Allward''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CMG|RCA|size=100%}} (18 November 1874<ref name="Dombowsky ">{{Cite book|last=Dombowsky|first=Philip|url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/walter-allward/|title=Walter S. Allward: Life & Work|publisher=Art Canada Institute|year=2021|isbn=978-1-4871-0252-4|location=Toronto}}</ref> – 24 April 1955) was a Canadian monumental [[sculpture|sculptor]] best known for the [[Canadian National Vimy Memorial]]. Featuring expressive classical figures within modern compositions, Allward's monuments evoke themes of memory, sacrifice, and redemption.<ref name="Dombowsky " /> He has been widely praised for his "original sense of spatial composition, his mastery of the classical form and his brilliant craftsmanship".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/APPS/CP-NR/release_e.asp?bgid=527&andor1=bg|title=Walter Seymour Allward (1876–1955)|website=Parks Canada|access-date=2 April 2017|quote="Walter Allward's many Canadian monuments are a lasting testament to his original sense of spatial composition, his mastery of the classical form, and his brilliant craftsmanship."}}</ref>

Allward's 1917 heroic monument, the [[Bell Telephone Memorial]], has been seen as the finest example of his early works.<ref name="NationalGalleryOfCanada">{{cite web |title=Walter S. Allward Collection |url=http://national.gallery.ca/english/library/biblio/ngc008.html#a2 |website=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=26 April 2012 |archive-date=15 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515041813/http://national.gallery.ca/english/library/biblio/ngc008.html#a2 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It brought the sculptor fame and led to Allward later creating the [[Canadian National Vimy Memorial]] in France, his most renowned work. Some of the sculptor's works have also been acquired by the [[National Gallery of Canada|National Gallery]] in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.<ref name="Historica">{{cite web |title=Bell Monument |website=HistoricPlaces.ca |url=http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10785 |date=31 October 2005 |access-date=27 March 2012}}</ref> In addition to his sculptural works, Allward produced a series of approximately one hundred allegorical drawings exploring the subject of war at the onset of the Second World War.<ref name="Dombowsky " />

Allward has been described as "probably Canada's most important monumental sculptor in the first third of [the 20th] century".<ref name="NationalGalleryOfCanada" /> However, his name was largely forgotten following his death in 1955 until 2001, when he was portrayed as a fictional character in [[Jane Urquhart]]'s celebrated novel ''[[The Stone Carvers]]''.<ref name="Dombowsky " />

== Early life ==

Allward was born in [[Toronto]], the son of John A. Allward and Emma Pittman of [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]]. Educated in Toronto public schools, his first job was at the age of 14 as an assistant to his carpenter father. Allward first served an apprenticeship with the architectural firm Gibson and Simpson before working at the [[Don Valley Brick Works]], where he modelled architectural ornaments. There he showed skill in clay mold making. This early training, supplemented by modelling classes at the [[Central Technical School|New Technical School]], prepared Allward for his lifelong career as a monumental sculptor.

== Body of works ==

=== Early work ===

Allward's first commission was for the figure of ''Peace'' on the Memorial of the Battles in the North-West (1895) in [[Queen's Park (Toronto)|Queen's Park]], Toronto. He won this competition at the age of nineteen, despite possessing minimal training as a sculptor.<ref name="Dombowsky " /> Other early works included a life-sized figure of [[Oronhyatekha|Dr Oronhyatekha]] commissioned by the [[Independent Order of Foresters]] for the opening of the [[Temple Building (Toronto)|Temple Building]] in Toronto (1899),<ref name="CE" /> and the ''Old Soldier'', commemorating the [[War of 1812]] in Toronto's Portland Square (now [[Victoria Memorial Square]]) (1903). Also in 1903, he was elected an associate of the [[Royal Canadian Academy]] and in 1918 became a full academician. Now well established he received commissions to do busts of [[Lord Tennyson]], Sir [[Charles Tupper]], Sir [[Wilfrid Laurier]] and others. On the grounds of Queen's Park are statues of General [[John Graves Simcoe]] and Sir [[Oliver Mowat]], completed in 1903 and 1905 respectively.

=== Heroic monuments ===
{{Further|South African War Memorial (Toronto)}}

Allward's true talent lay in his heroic monuments. These included the design work for the ''Boer War Memorial Fountain'' in [[Windsor, Ontario|Windsor]], [[Ontario]] (1906), the ''[[South African War Memorial (Toronto)|South African War Memorial]]'' in Toronto (1910), The Baldwin-Lafontaine Monument on [[Parliament Hill]] in [[Ottawa]] (1914) and the [[Bell Telephone Memorial|Bell Memorial]] commemorating [[Alexander Graham Bell]]'s invention of telephone in [[Brantford, Ontario]] (1917). Allward had also completed design work on a memorial to [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|King Edward VII]] but the onset of the [[First World War|World War I]] prevented its completion. The figures of ''Veritas'' (Truth) and ''Iustitia'' (Justice) were cast in bronze for the memorial. They were found in their crates in 1969 buried under a parking lot, and in 1970 were installed outside the [[Supreme Court of Canada]] in Ottawa.<ref>{{cite web |title = The Supreme Court of Canada |url=http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/court-cour/info/eng-ang.pdf |date=Winter 2013 |access-date=27 July 2015}}</ref> Allward also designed numerous municipal [[cenotaph]]s around the country, including the ''Stratford Memorial'' (1922), the ''Peterborough Memorial'' (1929) and the Brant War Memorial (1933).

=== Bell Memorial ===
{{Main|Bell Telephone Memorial}}

[[File:Bell family at memorial with Bell Mem Assoc.jpg|right|200px|Dedication of the memorial, including Alexander Graham Bell, members of his family plus committee members]]
In 1906 the citizens of the Brantford and [[County of Brant|Brant County]] areas formed the Bell Memorial Association to commemorate the [[invention of the telephone]] by [[Alexander Graham Bell]] in July 1874 at his parents' home, Melville House, in [[Brantford, Ontario]].<ref name="Whitaker">Whitaker, A. J. [http://www.telephonetribute.com/pdf/bell_memorial_booklet.pdf ''Bell Telephone Memorial''], City of Brantford/Hurley Printing, Brantford, Ontario, 1944.

{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515162728/http://www.telephonetribute.com/pdf/bell_memorial_booklet.pdf |date=15 May 2011 }}</ref><ref name="NAS">{{cite conference |last=Osborne |first=Harold S. |date=1943 |title=Biographical Memoir of Alexander Graham Bell, 1847–1922 |url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/bell-alexander-graham.pdf |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]] |volume=XXIII |conference=Presented to the Academy at its 1943 annual meeting |access-date=27 July 2015}}</ref> Allward's design was the unanimous choice from among 10 submitted models, winning the competition. The memorial was originally to be completed by 1912 but Allward did not finish it until five years later. The [[Governor General of Canada]], [[Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire]], ceremoniously unveiled the memorial on 24 October 1917.<ref name ="Whitaker" /><ref name="NAS" />

Allward designed the monument to symbolize the telephone's ability to overcome distances.<ref name="NAS" /> A series of steps lead to the main section where the allegorical figures of ''[[Artistic inspiration|Inspiration]]'' appears over a reclining male figure representing ''[[Invention|Man, the inventor]]'', and also pointing to the floating figures of ''[[Knowledge]]'', ''[[Joy]]'', and ''[[Sorrow (emotion)|Sorrow]]'', positioned at the other end of the tableau. At each end of the memorial there are two female figures mounted on granite pedestals representing ''[[Human]]ity'', one sending and the other receiving a message.<ref name ="Whitaker" />

The Bell Telephone Memorial's grandeur has been described as the finest example of Allward's early work, propelling the sculptor to fame. The memorial itself has been used as a central fixture for many civic events and remains an important part of Brantford's history, helping the city style itself as "The Telephone City".

=== Vimy Memorial ===
{{Main|Canadian National Vimy Memorial}}
[[File:Vimy Memorial - Allward design submission.jpg|200px|right|Allward's final design]]
The most important and famous commission Allward received was for the monument to commemorate Canadians killed in the First World War, a project which would occupy him from 1921 till the memorial's unveiling, by [[King Edward VIII]], on 26 July 1936. There was a huge crowd of approximately 100,000 people present at the ceremony
including over 50,000 Canadian and French veterans and their families. The Vimy Memorial was designated as a [[National Historic Site of Canada]] in 1996. After a $30 million restoration, the monument was re-dedicated on 9 April 2007.

Allward had made 150 design sketches before submitting the final plan which won the commission from the Canadian federal government. The [[Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission]] eventually selected Vimy Ridge as the location for the memorial, due largely to its elevation above the plain below, as the preferred site of Allward's design. The site (Hill 145) was donated by France in perpetuity.<ref name="Franklin">{{cite book |title=Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War |url={{google books|y1RdiDkZ0RAC|plainurl=yes|p=66}} |last=Vance |first=Jonathan Franklin |year=1997 |publisher=UBC Press |location=Vancouver, British Columbia |isbn=978-0-7748-0600-8 |pages=66–69}}</ref> In June 1922, Allward set up a studio in [[London]], [[England]] and toured for more almost two years to find a stone of the right colour, texture, and luminosity for the memorial. He eventually found it in the ruins of [[Diocletian's Palace]]. Known as Seget limestone, it was a stone that came from an ancient Roman quarry located in [[Croatia]]. The stone had to be first quarried then shipped by boat to France and then transported to Vimy Ridge by truck and by rail.
[[File:Vimy Memorial - half finished statue and plaster models.jpg|left|thumb|Statue carving in progress|alt=The partially completed statue of a reclined woman sits to the right of a half sized model of the same statue. It appears the work is being conducted inside a temporary structure.]]
Allward chose a relatively new construction method, a cast concrete frame to which the limestone was bonded. The memorial base and twin pylons contain almost 6,000 tonnes of Seget limestone on a bed of about 15,000 tonnes of concrete. The 20 sculptured symbolic figures, representing Christian and universal virtues, were actually carved where they now stand, from the huge blocks of stone. The professional carvers used life-size plaster models produced by Allward in his London studio and an enlarging instrument called a [[pantograph]] to make calculations that allowed for reproducing the figures at double life-size. All this work was carried out inside temporary studios built around each figure, including those at the top of the pylons.<ref name="Vincent">{{cite news |last=Vincent |first=Donovan |date=2 April 2017 |title=The forgotten man behind the unforgettable Vimy memorial |url=https://www.thestar.com/amp/news/insight/2017/04/02/the-forgotten-man-behind-the-unforgettable-vimy-memorial.html |work=Sunday Star |location=Toronto |access-date=2 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/vimy/design |title=Design and Construction |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2011 |website=Veterans Affairs |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=2 April 2017}}</ref> The first figure to be completed was ''Canada Bereft'', which stands at the top of the front wall of the Vimy Memorial and recalls traditional depictions of the Virgin Mary in mourning. ''Canada Bereft'' is now one of the most well-known sculptures in Canadian art.<ref name="Dombowsky " /> The figures atop the pylons represent the universal virtues of charity, faith, honour, hope, justice, knowledge, peace, and truth. ''Truth'' and ''Knowledge'' have the wings of angels—an attribute usually associated with representations of Victory, which is not included in this monument to grief.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brandon|first=Laura|title=War Art in Canada: A Critical History|publisher=Art Canada Institute|year=2021|isbn=978-1-4871-0271-5|location=Toronto}}</ref>
[[File:Vimy Memorial (September 2010) cropped.jpg|thumb|Left-front view showing an entire aspect of the Memorial|alt=The Vimy memorial from the front facing side.]]
Most of the original plaster figures are stored at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.warmuseum.ca/the-battle-of-vimy-ridge/#tabs |title=THE SCULPTURES ON THE VIMY MEMORIAL |last=Brandon |first=Laura |date=2000 |website=Canadian War Museum  |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=2 April 2017 |quote=1977, seventeen of the plaster figures had returned to Public Works storage in Ottawa. (The remaining three remained in Barriefield and are now on display in the new Military Communications and Electronics Museum attached to Canadian Forces Base Kingston.}}</ref>

The final step called for carving the names of 11,285 Canadians who were killed in France and are buried in unknown sites on the memorial's walls.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/vimy/design |title=Design and Construction |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2011 |website=Veterans Affairs |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=2 April 2017}}</ref> The time required to build the massive concrete and steel base, to obtain some 6,000 tons of stone from Croatia, to build roads and clear the site of mines and graves, as well as other issues, led to significant delays. In 1930, Prime Minister [[R. B. Bennett]] insisted that the project be completed by 1932 but that deadline was missed by four years. The total cost was approximately $1.5 million.<ref name="Vincent" />

== Works ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Work !! Date !! Location !! Notes !! Image
|-
| ''Peace'' ([[North-West Rebellion]] Memorial) || 1895 || [[Queen's Park (Toronto)|Queen's Park]], Toronto || || [[File:Allward North-West Rebellion Memorial Toronto.jpg|100px]]
|-
| Sculpture of [[Oronhyatekha]] || 1899 || Temple Building, Toronto || Commissioned by Oronhyatekha and the [[Independent Order of Foresters]] to mark the opening of the Temple Building. Relocated to Forester House at 789 Don Mills Road 1970.||
|-
| ''Old Soldier'' || 1903 || [[Victoria Memorial Square]], Toronto || Commemorates the War of 1812 || [[File:Defence of York Monument.jpg|100px]]
|-
| Sculpture of [[John Graves Simcoe]] || 1903 || Queen's Park, Toronto || First [[Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario|Lieutenant-Governor]] of [[Upper Canada]] || [[File:John Graves Simcoe statue at Queens Park.jpg|100px]]
|-
| Sculpture of Sir [[Oliver Mowat]] || 1905 || Queen's Park, Toronto || Third Premier of Ontario || [[File:Places toronto queens park mowat.jpg|100px]]
|-
| Boer War Memorial Fountain || 1906 || Windsor, Ontario || ||
|-
| Sculpture of [[John Sandfield Macdonald]] || 1909 || Queen's Park, Toronto || First Premier of Ontario ||
|-
| [[South African War Memorial (Toronto)|South African War Memorial]] || 1910 || [[University Avenue (Toronto)|University Avenue]], Toronto || || [[File:South African War Memorial Toronto Nov 08.jpg|100px]]
|-
| Death Mask of Professor [[Goldwin Smith]] || 1910 || [[Art Gallery of Ontario]], [[Toronto]] || ||
|-
| Sculpture of [[Robert Baldwin]] and [[Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine]] || 1914 || [[Parliament Hill]], [[Ottawa]] || || [[File:Baldwin - Lafontaine statue.jpg|100px]]
|-
| [[Bell Telephone Memorial]] || 1917 || Bell Memorial Gardens, [[Brantford, Ontario]] || Commemorates the [[invention of the telephone]] by [[Alexander Graham Bell]] in 1874 at his parents' home in Brantford, Ontario || [[File:Alexander Graham Bell Brantford Monument 0.98.jpg|100px]]
|-
| ''Veritas'' (Truth) || 1920 || [[Supreme Court of Canada]], Ottawa || Cast for the never finished memorial to King Edward VII, and found buried in 1969. Installed in front of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1970. || [[File:Veritas Ottawa.jpg|100px]]
|-
| ''Justitia'' (Justice) || 1920 || Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa || See ''Veritas'', above || [[File:Justicia Ottawa.jpg|100px]]
|-
| Stratford Cenotaph || 1922 || [[Stratford, Ontario]] || ||[[File:Stratford Cenotaph 2018.jpg|100px]]
|-
| Citizens' War Memorial || 1929 || [[Peterborough, Ontario]] || ||
|-
| Brant County War Memorial<ref>{{cite web |title=Brant County War Memorial |website=HistoricaPlaces.ca |date=12 September 1996 |url=http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10020 |access-date=27 July 2015}}</ref> || 1933 || Brantford, Ontario || ||
|-
| [[Canadian National Vimy Memorial]] || 1936 || Vimy Ridge (near [[Vimy]], [[Pas-de-Calais]]), [[France]] || ||
|-
| Bust of [[William Lyon Mackenzie]] || 1940 || Queen's Park, Toronto || || [[File:Willian Lyon Mackenzie statue.JPG|100px]]
|}

== Honours ==
In 1944, he was made a Companion of the [[Order of St Michael and St George]] "for distinguished service to Canadian Art".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/36310/supplement/49/data.pdf|title=London Gazette|access-date=2 April 2017}}</ref> He was also a member of the [[Royal Canadian Academy of Arts]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rca-arc.ca/who-we-are/members/members-since-1880/|title=Royal Canadian Academy of Arts|access-date=2 April 2017|archive-date=4 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504000403/https://rca-arc.ca/who-we-are/members/members-since-1880/|url-status=dead}}</ref> On 30 June 1938, he was recognized by Prime Minister [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]] in a motion before the [[House of Commons of Canada]] which stated "that this house desires particularly to express its appreciation of the services of Mr. Walter S. Allward, who, as the designer and Canadian War Memorials architect of the memorial at Vimy, has given to the world, a work of art of outstanding beauty and character. Through the years to come the Vimy Memorial will remain the symbol of Canada's efforts in the war, and its tribute to those who, on the field of battle, sought to preserve the free institutions of mankind."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lipad.ca/full/1938/06/30/1/#1165768|title=June 30, 1938|website=University of Toronto's Linked Parliamentary Data Project|access-date=2 April 2017}}</ref>

Allward has been designated as an Historic Person in the Directory of Federal Heritage Designations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pc.gc.ca/apps/dfhd/default_eng.aspx |title=Directory of Federal Heritage Designations |website=Parks Canada |access-date=29 May 2022}}</ref>

== Legacy ==

The art of Walter Allward lives on in numerous substantial monument and designs in Canada and abroad. He was first elected a member of the [[Royal Canadian Academy of Arts]] in 1903, and his bronze diploma work of 1920, ''The Storm'', was acquired for the National Gallery of Canada.<ref name="CE">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Boyanoski |first=Christine |title=Walter Seymour Allward |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/walter-seymour-allward/ |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |date=11 December 2008 |access-date=13 December 2012}}</ref> He is a character in [[Jane Urquhart]]'s book [[The Stone Carvers]].

== References ==
{{reflist}}

;Bibliography

* ''Toronto Globe and Mail'', 25 April 1955
* ''Toronto Star'', 25 April 1955

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}

* [https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/walter-allward/ ''Walter S. Allward: Life & Work''] by Philip Dombowsky published by the [[Art Canada Institute]].
*''[https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/war-art-in-canada/ War Art in Canada: A Critical History]'' by Laura Brandon published by the [[Art Canada Institute]].
*[http://db.archives.queensu.ca/inventories/A/Allward(Walter)/Allward(Walter)-V114.doc Queen's University – Walter Allward Fonds]{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* [http://national.gallery.ca/english/library/biblio/ngc008.html Biography at the National Gallery, Canada] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515041813/http://national.gallery.ca/english/library/biblio/ngc008.html |date=15 May 2011 }}
* [http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/vimy/sculptures_e.shtml The Sculptures on the Vimy Ridge Memorial]
* [http://torontohistory.org/Pages_VWZ/Walter_Seymour_Allward.html Ontario Plaques – Walter Seymour Allward, R.C.A. 1876–1955] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721223059/http://torontohistory.org/Pages_VWZ/Walter_Seymour_Allward.html |date=21 July 2011 }}
* [http://db-archives.library.queensu.ca/walter-seymour-allward-fonds Walter Seymour Allward fonds] at [http://archives.queensu.ca/ Queen's University Archives]
* [http://www.tonya-davidson.ca/projects/sb/zine_webversion.pdf Stone Bodies in the City] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216080526/http://www.tonya-davidson.ca/projects/sb/zine_webversion.pdf |date=16 February 2012 }}, Tonya Davidson
* [http://www.telephonetribute.com/pdf/bell_memorial_booklet.pdf Bell Telephone Memorial]
*[https://www.gallery.ca/library/ngc008.html Walter S. Allward Collection] at the [[National Gallery of Canada]], Ottawa, Ontario

{{Alexander Graham Bell| state=collapsed}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Allward, Walter Seymour}}
[[Category:1874 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:Alexander Graham Bell]]
[[Category:Artists from Toronto]]
[[Category:People from Old Toronto]]
[[Category:Canadian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Canadian male sculptors]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts]]
[[Category:Canadian modern sculptors]]
[[Category:Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)]]
[[Category:Sculptures by Walter Seymour Allward| ]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian sculptors]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male artists]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian sculptors]]
[[Category:19th-century Canadian male artists]]