'
The Family of Man' [by Josefina de Vasconcellos] is in the South Aisle at Kendal Parish Church. The setting for this sculpture is a contemporary Refugee Camp in the Middle East. Huddled together, under an old blanket are Mary, Jesus and three children representing the African, European and Oriental peoples of the world. Although it has the appearance of stone the sculpture, like much of de Vasconcellos' work, is made of fibreglass. As a result, it is sometimes moved elsewhere in the church.
"Josefina de Vasconcellos was born in 1904. Her father was a wealthy Brazilian diplomat who helped ensure Josefina was able to develop her artistic talents through a childhood shared between England and Brazil.In 1921 she gained a scholarship to the Royal Academy and was soon sufficiently expressive in stone carving to be placed as runner-up in the 1930 Prix de Rome contest. And at the age of 19 she was accepted to the Grand Chaumiere in Paris where she studied under Bourdelle, one of Rodin’s assistants.
In 1930 she was drawn to the artist Delmar Banner, who was also an Anglican lay priest, and whom she later married. He led her to be baptised into the Anglican church, a faith that has run through much of her artistic work.
They adopted two boys, and the family settled in a farmhouse at The Bield in Little Langdale at the heart of the Lakes.She carved in an outhouse at the farm while Delmar painted dramatic landscapes from the summits of the Lakeland fells.
In 1967 through associations with Pelham House approved school in Calder Bridge, West Cumbria the family helped found Outpost Emmaus an outward bound type of centre at Beckstones in the Duddon valley for disadvantaged boys. It was such work that led to Josefina being honoured with the MBE.
left – Detail from Josefina’s Madonna and Child in St Paul’s Cathedral, London
There then followed numerous large commissions that expressed Josefina’s flowing naturalistic carving. This was at a time when mainstream sculptured art was toying with the more abstract styles of Moore and Hepworth.
Among her works outside Cumbria are are ‘Reconciliation’ at Coventry Cathedral and Bradford University, ‘Holy Family’ at Liverpool Cathedral and Gloucester Cathedral, ‘Mary and Child’ at St Paul’s Cathedral, London, ‘Nativity’ (at Christmas) at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square, London, and many more.
In 1988 illness forced Josefina to leave Little Langdale and for a time she was accommodated at Isel Hall near Cockermouth. Then she was able to find a small cottage and studio at Peggy Hill, Ambleside."
SOURCE - (
visit link)
"She continued her creative work well into her 90s, her final piece, Escape to Light, was created in 2001 to commemorate the men of the Independent Off-Shore Rescue Service; it is located at Haverigg on the Cumbrian coast. De Vasconcellos died at 6 am on 20 July 2005, a few months after her 100th birthday, at the Orchard Lodge nursing home, Blackpool. Josefina de Vasconcellos published in her 99th year 'She was Loved: Memories of Beatrix Potter' (Titus Wilson 2003) an account with letters of the friendship between the two cultivated over many years including a number of photographs of her sculptures and other illustrations. "
SOURCE - (
visit link)