Introduction
According to the Mapping Sculpture site, Garbe, who was born in London, the son of an immigrant German ivory carver, trained in his father's workshop before attending the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where he later taught (1899-1929), and at the Royal College of Art, of which he served as Head of Sculpture for two decades (1926-46). “Although Garbe practised and taught modelling he was primarily a carver. His obituary noted that his primary affinities were with Chinese carvers in jade and crystal, Japanese 'netsuke' and Gothic craftsmen. Garbe's best known large scale work was the pair of groups for the east pavilion of the National Museum of Wales at Cardiff representing the medieval and modern periods. ” Beginning in 1912, he was nominated for election to the Royal Academy by Frampton, Thornycroft, Goscombe John, Pegram, Pomeroy, and several others but did not become an A. R. A. until 1929 and a Royal Academician until 1936. — George P. Landow.
Literary and allegorical works
- Primavera
- Elegy
- Der Selbstsüchtige
- Man and the Ideal
- Undine
- Echo and Narcissus
- Lady Constance
- The Magdalenes
- Children of Destiny
- The Song of the Siren
- Man and the Masks
- Solitude
- Adolescence
Portraits
- Alfreda [the artist's daughter as an infant]
- Alfreda [as an adult]
- John Bunyan
- Edward I
- Edward VII
- Untitled (Young Girl)
- King George VI
- King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
Bas and Alto Reliefs
Architectural sculpture
Miscellaneous
- Mother and Child
- Mask in Black Marble
- Penitent (ivory)
- Woman holding Open Book (ivory)
- Female Head (ivory)
- The Red Shawl (Japanese ash)
Decorative arts
Bibliography
“Richard Louis Garbe RA.” Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951. University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Web. 11 May 2011.
Ward-Jackson, Philip. Public Sculpture of the City of London. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Last modified 4 June 2021