DOI issue:
No. 332 (November 1920)
DOI article:Gardiner, Edward Norman: The revival of athletic aculpture: Dr. R. Tait McKenzie's work
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21401#0149
ATHLETIC SCULPTURE
tor R. Tait McKenzie. It represents
three hurdlers. Side by side they fly the
hurdles with their long clean limbs out-
stretched, and eager, clear cut faces, each
one straining for the mastery. Under-
neath them are the words " The joy of
effort." In this relief and its title we have
the keynote of Tait McKenzie's work.
The joy of effort inspires his work and
gives to it the freshness and vitality of
perpetual youth : to this joy he owes his
own success in many spheres. 0 0
Certainly nothing else can explain his
productiveness and versatility and the high
standard of all his works. Some sixty of
these were recently exhibited at the Fine
Art Society's Gallery in New Bond Street.
There were bronze statuettes and groups,
mostly of athletic subjects, high reliefs,
low reliefs, models and portrait plaques.
Among works inspired by the war we may
notice the charming figure of a young
soldier ready to go on leave, entitled
Blighty, and the portrait-statues of
Guy Drummond and the aviator
Norton Downs, two of the many who
gave their lives for the Mother Country.
Most original of all is the model panel for
an altar in memory of Captain McCall,
where the sculptor has dared—and dared
successfully—to array St. Michael and St.
George in the uniforms of a French Poilu
and a British Tommy. Photographs re-
presented his life-size statues of the
youthful Franklin and George Whitefield,
which stand now in the grounds of the
University of Pennsylvania. 0 a
Surely there is enough work here for
one man's lifetime. Yet art has been for
Tait McKenzie the recreation of his
leisure. Born in 1867 he was educated for
the medical profession at McGill Univer-
sity and practised as a doctor, holding
various medical appointments at the Uni-
versity till 1904, when he was chosen
to occupy the newly founded chair of
Physical Education at the University of
Pennsylvania, a position that he has held
ever since. 0 0 0 mi 0
It is impossible within the limits of this
tor R. Tait McKenzie. It represents
three hurdlers. Side by side they fly the
hurdles with their long clean limbs out-
stretched, and eager, clear cut faces, each
one straining for the mastery. Under-
neath them are the words " The joy of
effort." In this relief and its title we have
the keynote of Tait McKenzie's work.
The joy of effort inspires his work and
gives to it the freshness and vitality of
perpetual youth : to this joy he owes his
own success in many spheres. 0 0
Certainly nothing else can explain his
productiveness and versatility and the high
standard of all his works. Some sixty of
these were recently exhibited at the Fine
Art Society's Gallery in New Bond Street.
There were bronze statuettes and groups,
mostly of athletic subjects, high reliefs,
low reliefs, models and portrait plaques.
Among works inspired by the war we may
notice the charming figure of a young
soldier ready to go on leave, entitled
Blighty, and the portrait-statues of
Guy Drummond and the aviator
Norton Downs, two of the many who
gave their lives for the Mother Country.
Most original of all is the model panel for
an altar in memory of Captain McCall,
where the sculptor has dared—and dared
successfully—to array St. Michael and St.
George in the uniforms of a French Poilu
and a British Tommy. Photographs re-
presented his life-size statues of the
youthful Franklin and George Whitefield,
which stand now in the grounds of the
University of Pennsylvania. 0 a
Surely there is enough work here for
one man's lifetime. Yet art has been for
Tait McKenzie the recreation of his
leisure. Born in 1867 he was educated for
the medical profession at McGill Univer-
sity and practised as a doctor, holding
various medical appointments at the Uni-
versity till 1904, when he was chosen
to occupy the newly founded chair of
Physical Education at the University of
Pennsylvania, a position that he has held
ever since. 0 0 0 mi 0
It is impossible within the limits of this