Who was BOWCHER, FRANK?

BOWCHER, FRANK (Brit.). The artistic advance made by the modern French School of Medallists is represented in this country by the work of a young artist of indisputable talent, Mr. Frank Bowcher. He is a clever exponent of the art which Roty, Chaplain, Bottée, Dupuis, and their colleagues have brought in recent years to such perfection . Gifted with an uncommon faculty for creation, a genuine artistic feeling and manipulative dexterity, he knows how to impart to his portraits warmth, expression and life ; so that they impress one with a sense of their reality, much as do the works of his distinguished contemporary, the late Prof. A. Scharff of Vienna. Mr. Bowcher was a student and “National Scholar " at the National Art Training School, South Kensington (now Royal College of Art), and afterwards a pupil for six years in the studio of E. Onslow Ford R. A., sculptor. He then turned his attention to the modern French medallic art and had advice from the best French medallists of the present day, including artists of such brilliant reputations as Chaplain and Roty. Since the late G. W. de Saulles' death, in 1903, Mr. Bowcher has been called upon to fill his place as Engraver at the Royal Mint. His first medal work dates from 1886, and was executed for Tewfik Pacha, Khedive of Egypt. Since, the artist's productions have been very numerous. Struck medals. Medal of award for the Cope and Nicol School of Painting, South Kensington ; — Corporation Medal, King and Queen of Denmark's visit to the City of London; — Presentation medal to Baron Schröder; — Corporation medal on the Opening of the Tower Bridge for the City of London (illustrated); — The Weber-Parkes Prize Medal ; — Memorial Medal of Professor Huxley for the Royal College of Science ; — Medal of awards for the Science and Art Department (Royal College of Art and Royal College of Science) ; — A 2-inch gold medal of Nusset, presented to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, who was pleased to pass a favourable criticism upon it ; — Presentation Medal of Sir Joseph Hooker (obv. only) for the Linnean Society (illustrated). Cast medals and plaques. Portrait-Medallion of Signor Antonio Redaelli (obv. and R) ; — Do, Mrs. Frank Bowcher; — Do, Madame Charlotte Boyd ; — Do, Auguste Derouette Esq. ; — Do, C. H. Bowcher Esq.; — Do, Madame C. Sanford ; — Do, Charles Welch Esq., Librarian at the Guidhall, City of London; — Do, Reverse to portrait of Dr Hermann Weber by Alphée Dubois ; — Sir John Evans, K. C. B., President of the Numismatic Society of London, &c. Among medal-designs and dies supplied to well-known firms, his fine bust of Her Majesty Queen Victoria which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1899 and appears on the Diamond Jubilee medals issued by Messrs Spink & Son Ltd, was adopted for the medals of the School Board of London. The Lady Mackenzie Medal, the obv. of the Blackwall Tunnel medal, and that of a commemorative piece of the Accession of Queen Wilhelmina of Holland were also engraved by Mr. Bowcher for the same firm. For the trade he cut the dies of several other medals : Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Victoria ; — Indian Princes ; — Earl and Countess of Aberdeen ; — Four Generations of the British Royal Family ; — Robbie Burns; — Faudel Phillips (ex Lord Mayor) ; — Another Coronation medal of Queen Wilhelmina ; — Gladstone; — Dr Francis Bisset Hawkins Medal of Award for the Royal College of Physicians ; — Cast medal of Dr F. Parkes Weber, Numismatist (obv. and R.); — Thos. Henry Huxley (1825-1895); — Hong-Kong Plague, 1894; — The Worcester County Medal, 1902 ; — Royal College of Physicians ; — Royal College of Music ; — a label in ivory, representing Fame (?) — a beautiful bronze cast Portrait-medallion of Sir John Evans, K. C. B., which was presented to him at the meeting of the Numismatic Society of London, 15th June, 1899, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his Membership and 25th of Presidency, of that Society; —The Rajah Supendro Mohun Tagore Medal struck in honour of the Duke of York's marriage ; — The City Corporation Diamond Jubilee Medal ; — The Absent Minded Beggar Medal ; — General Baden-Powell (illustrated); — Lord Roberts; — Peace Medal; — The Lady Mackenzie Challenge Medal; — Accession of Queen Wilhelmina; — Queen Victoria's Visit to Ireland ; — Opening of the Blackwall Tunnel; — Edward VII. Coronation Medal (illustrated); the last eight were modelled for Messrs Spink & Son Ltd. From an Article on Mr. Bowcher, by Mr. M. H. Spielmann, in The Magazine of Art , February 1900, l extract the following interesting comment : " In his numerous works, Mr. Bowcher has been influenced by French practice, especially that of M. Chaplain, who, with M. Roty, is incontestably at the head of French medallists. Thus, the reverse of the Huxley medal, in its architectural background, somewhat recalls the background in that artist's noble medal of the Paris Hôtel de Ville ; and in the reverse of his " School of Painting " — one of the most charmingly composed of all — the sitting figure is clearly inspired by that in Chaplain's " Roubaix" medal. But there is no direct imitation, still less any hint of plagiarism, nothing more than is amply justifiable, and, indeed, desirable. As a matter of fact, closer borrowing is to be found in more distinguished masters, as when Chaplain, in that very " Roubaix " medal, reproduced in 1890 the exquisitely treated workbasket which appears in Roty's “Secondary Education of Young Girls ", which had been struck six years before. Mr. Bowcher has wisely chosen his own noble model and is working out his own artistic individuality. “It is but a very few months since I was reminded by the late M. Jacques Wiener, the distinguished medallist of Belgium, that he was the last living practitioner who from first to last had engraved his own steel dies entirely with his own hands. The fact is that, although most if not all modern workers have themselves cut dies, modern medallists have taken advantage of the newest methods, and the " graveur en médailles " has simply become a “médailleur". His knowledge of effect is the same, his aims are coincident ; but he sees no object in pursuing the slow laborious system that used to be practised, when he can gain freedom, save time, and increase effect by seizing the advantages of recent inventions. Nowadays the medallist commonly works out his design in wax, upon a disc of plaster about twelve or fourteen inches in diameter. From that a simple mould or matrix is made, a plastercast is taken, whereupon the artist can complete his work to the utmost perfection. Then, to ensure against accidents, a metal casting may be made, and from that a reduction to the size required for the ultimate work is made by means of the " reducing machine. " " Thus the hard precision, mechanically complete and technically immaculate, of a former generation has given way to a method not less accomplished, not less exquisite in execution, hardly less classic in its intention, coloured by a return to the romantic handling of the Italian renaissance, refined and modernised. A figure, nowadays, is no longer an uncompromising sculpturesque symbol in the medallist's hands, but an attempt at truthful rendering of living flesh and blood — not stiff in arrangement, but as suave and graceful in composition as the artist can make it, and as pleasing in its purely decorative design as imagination can inspire or example suggest. “ L. Forrer. — Biographical Notices of Medallists. — I.

Source: Biographical dictionary of medallists; coin, gem, and seal-engravers, mint-masters, ancient and modern, with references to their works B.C. 500-A.D. 1900; compiled by L. Forrer, London 1904

BLUM, JOHANN
BLUM, JOHANN (Germ.). Medallist, residing at Bremen, where he worked from 1631 to 1660. The Houses of Saxony, Brunswick and Orange employed him largely, and for them he cut a number of commemorative medals. One on the Marriage of William II., Prince of Orange, and Princess Mary, 1641, is interesting to English collectors; two varieties are known. His work bears some resemblance to that of Sebastian Dadler. Among his best medals I would not omit : Portrait of the Swedish General Banner; — Gustavu...
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BOEHM, JOSEF DANIEL
BOEHM, JOSEF DANIEL (Austr.). Medallist and Mint-engraver of Vienna, during the second quarter of the nineteenth century. He was born in 1794; studied under Pichler and at Rome under Canova and Thorwaldsen. For a number of years he filled the office of Director of the Vienna Mint. Among Boehm's principal medallic works and coin-dies are : Josepha Fodor, Viennese actress, 1825; — Archduke Charles Louis, 1843; — Dedication of the new cathedral at Erlau, 1837; — Enthronization of Ferdinand Maria, ...
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BOEHM, SIR JOSEPH EDGAR, BART., R. A.
BOEHM, SIR JOSEPH EDGAR, BART., R. A. (Brit.). Sculptor and Medallist ; born at Vienna, 1834, settled in England after 1862; died Dec. 12, 1890. He was the son of J. D. Boehm, the Medallist and Gem-engraver. The Queen appointed him Sculptor in ordinary in 1881; in 1882, he was made a Royal Academician, and in 1889 was granted a baronetcy. Besides a number of medals, such as those commemorating Thomas Carlyle, 1875 ; — General Charles Richard Fox, the Numismatist, 1862, &c, he prepared the model ...
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BOELGAR, HUBERT VAN
BOELGAR, HUBERT VAN (Belg.). Jeweller and Seal-engraver; worked for the Abbey of Grand Bigard, near Brussels. He is mentioned from 1497 to 1500, and is the author of a seal of Marguerite de Douvrin, who succeeded Philippa Smols as Abbess. He also engraved her arms on plate, and in Feb. 1500, repaired her ring. His son, Arnould, followed the same trade ; in some accounts of 1501-1502, his name appears as having cut a small seal in silver by order of the Abbess. Bibliography. — A. Pinchart, Les Mé...
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