Bas-relief sculpture by William Bloye on the Mechanical Engineering Building at the University of Birmingham.
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This bas-relief sculpture was unveiled in 1954 and true to the prevalent thinking of that time women were not engineers and therefore all 20 figures depicted in this sculpture are men. There are two groups of 10 on either side of the central motif of a lightning bolt and cogwheel. Around the circumference of the cogwheel are inscribed the words ‘ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING [AND] MECHANICAL ENGINEERING’
The students ‘hold engineering tools, including a drawing board and T-square, plans, books and a lathe. The tutors on either side are the only figures to break free from the upper frame of the relief, demonstrating authority, a devise which Bloye borrows from Egyptian art.’
Below the frieze are inscribed the words: ‘TO STRIVE TO SEEK TO FIND AND NOT TO YIELD’ which are from Tennyson’s poem Ulysses.
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In Pevsner’s ‘Architectural Guide – Birmingham’, Editor Andy Foster (ISBN: 978-0-300-10731-9) the relief is described as:
‘frieze with lightning shot through a cogwheel, representing the two departments, and two groups of male students with their tutors, hieratic figures but in contemporary dress (including a duffel coat), by Bloye, unveiled 1954.’
‘William James Bloye ARBSA (8 July 1890 – 6 June 1975) was an English Sculpture in Birmingham either side of WWII.
Life
He studied and later taught at the Birmingham School of Art (his training was interrupted by WWI), when he served in the RAMC from 1915 to 1917, he was eventually succeeded at Birmingham by John Bridgeman), where his pupils included, Gordon Henrickx, Roy Kitchin, Raymond Mason, John Poole and Ian Walters. He also studied stone-carving (letter cutting under Eric Gill around 1921.
In 1925 he became a member of the Birmingham Civic Society, having, at about that time, a studio at 111, Golden Hillock Road, Small Heath Birmingham. As Birmingham’s unofficial civic sculptor, he worked on virtually all public commissions including libraries, hospitals and the University. He often carved bas-relief plagues, typically for public houses in Birmingham, and decorated a number of buildings by the architect Holland W Hobbs.’
At the University of Birmingham, he was the creator of the followings works:
‘Aesculapius’ at the Medical School;
Engineering bas-relief as the Mechanical Engineering Building;
The Bronze Mermaid Fountain and the stone mermaid plaque at the Guild of Students building.
‘He became a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors: Associate (with the honorific suffix ARBS) in 1934, and fellow (FRBS) in 1938. He also won the latter’s Otto Beit Medal. Retiring from the School of Art in 1956 he moved to Solihull. He died in Arezzo, Italy in 1975.’
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This is from an online source with some good photographs:
‘Stylised Art Deco relief within the centre a motif of a lightning bolt and cogwheel, which represent Electrical and Mechanical Engineering coming together. On either side stand ten figures (all male!) holding engineering tools, including a drawing board and T-square, plans, books and a lathe. The tutors on either side are the only figures to break free from the upper frame of the relief, demonstrating authority, a device which Bloye borrows from Egyptian art. At the base is an inscription from Tennyson's poem Ulysses, exhorting eternally restless aspiration: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”’ (
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N 52°26'56" - W 1°56'1"