DOI issue:
No. 214 (December 1914)
DOI article:McAllister, I. G.: A rising British sculptor ; Charles Sargeant Jagger
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43457#0147
Charles Sargeant Jagger, Sculptor
to the heart of the
work, and the mag-
nitude, or other-
wise, of a student’s
efforts, and no real
merit escapes him
however inade-
quately expressed.
When Mr. Jagger
first entered the
“spring”: design for relief
BY CHARLES SARGEANT JAGGER
Royal College he
received no criti-
his class. It is surely an indictment of school
systems that so few of the men who have risen above
their fellow men, should have found little or no
pleasure in recalling their school-days.
But when Jagger was placed at the Sheffield
Art School he made rapid progress at once. He
first of all learnt drawing, and became a metal
engraver, then he turned to modelling in the
daytime, and taught drawing at evening-classes.
He was leading a very strenuous life at this period,
for he was also learning to express what was in his
mind, and he soon produced some remarkable
work such as Man and the Maelstrom and Pro-
metheus Bound, both of which were created before
he was eighteen.
About this time he was greatly influenced by
Rodin and Alfred Gilbert. Though finding the
Greeks wonderful, Mr. Jagger looked for something
they lacked, and is to-day more in sympathy with
the aims of the modern schools. He was soon,
however, to pass beyond any other’s influence and
create himself. “Be your own star” is Gilbert’s
oft-repeated admonition to young artists, and Jagger
realised that vital sculpture depends upon absolute
sincerity, and that it must spring from the deepest
emotions of the artist.
It was almost inevitable that Mr. Jagger should
come under the notice of Prof. Lanteri, since nearly
all the best talent from the provinces finds its way
to the Royal College of Art, South Kensington, in
time. Having gained the School Scholarship,
Jagger came to London, and this was the most
fortunate thing that could have happened to him.
He speaks very gratefully of the seven valuable
years that followed. Prof. Lanteri has a rare
genius for teaching. He never tries to bend any
budding individuality out of its evident native
tendency ; he watches it with the greatest sympathy
(the student being all unconscious that he is being
closely observed), and he endeavours to fortify it
by directing the attention of the student to the
greatest that has been done in like kind. He sees
cisms for some time, but Prof. Lanteri knew what
he was capable of doing better than he did him-
self. It is thus that he diagnoses each pupil’s case.
Mr. Jagger gained several prizes, and the Travel-
ling Scholarship for a bronze door design, made for a
private art collection. He spent some months in
♦
DESIGN FOR A BRONZE DOOR
BY CHARLES SARGEANT JAGGER
92
to the heart of the
work, and the mag-
nitude, or other-
wise, of a student’s
efforts, and no real
merit escapes him
however inade-
quately expressed.
When Mr. Jagger
first entered the
“spring”: design for relief
BY CHARLES SARGEANT JAGGER
Royal College he
received no criti-
his class. It is surely an indictment of school
systems that so few of the men who have risen above
their fellow men, should have found little or no
pleasure in recalling their school-days.
But when Jagger was placed at the Sheffield
Art School he made rapid progress at once. He
first of all learnt drawing, and became a metal
engraver, then he turned to modelling in the
daytime, and taught drawing at evening-classes.
He was leading a very strenuous life at this period,
for he was also learning to express what was in his
mind, and he soon produced some remarkable
work such as Man and the Maelstrom and Pro-
metheus Bound, both of which were created before
he was eighteen.
About this time he was greatly influenced by
Rodin and Alfred Gilbert. Though finding the
Greeks wonderful, Mr. Jagger looked for something
they lacked, and is to-day more in sympathy with
the aims of the modern schools. He was soon,
however, to pass beyond any other’s influence and
create himself. “Be your own star” is Gilbert’s
oft-repeated admonition to young artists, and Jagger
realised that vital sculpture depends upon absolute
sincerity, and that it must spring from the deepest
emotions of the artist.
It was almost inevitable that Mr. Jagger should
come under the notice of Prof. Lanteri, since nearly
all the best talent from the provinces finds its way
to the Royal College of Art, South Kensington, in
time. Having gained the School Scholarship,
Jagger came to London, and this was the most
fortunate thing that could have happened to him.
He speaks very gratefully of the seven valuable
years that followed. Prof. Lanteri has a rare
genius for teaching. He never tries to bend any
budding individuality out of its evident native
tendency ; he watches it with the greatest sympathy
(the student being all unconscious that he is being
closely observed), and he endeavours to fortify it
by directing the attention of the student to the
greatest that has been done in like kind. He sees
cisms for some time, but Prof. Lanteri knew what
he was capable of doing better than he did him-
self. It is thus that he diagnoses each pupil’s case.
Mr. Jagger gained several prizes, and the Travel-
ling Scholarship for a bronze door design, made for a
private art collection. He spent some months in
♦
DESIGN FOR A BRONZE DOOR
BY CHARLES SARGEANT JAGGER
92