CESSNA GEAR PUMP

Bronze of Mother and Child, Prestonfield Primary School, Edinburgh

Thomas Whalen (1903-1975)
Tom Whalen (1903-1975) was born in Leith, Edinburgh and, after serving as a shipwright from 1914-18, he attended Edinburgh College of Art. In 1932 a scholarship enabled him to travel in Europe with fellow sculptor, Hew Lorimer, where they were particularly impressed by the sculpture in French Romanesque churches and cathedrals. Throughout his career, Whalen worked on both large-scale commissions (such as his Mother and Child at Prestonfield Primary School in Edinburgh) and small, individual pieces.

An unemployed ship's carpenter from Leith by the name of Tom Whalen (1903-1975) wandered into one of Alexander Carrick's evening classes at Edinburgh College of Art after having spent years whittling away on bits of scrap wood.

It was Alexander Carrick who recognised and nurtured an outstanding talent, becoming Whalen's guide and mentor, giving him studio space and nominating him for commissions whenever the opportunity arose.

From 1928 – 31 Whalen trained with wood-carver Thomas Good and with the Head of Sculpture – Alexander Carrick. Whalen was the first holder of the Andrew Grant Fellowship, during which he created a life-size Mother and Child in bronze as the centrepiece of a fountain-group at Prestonfield Primary School, Edinburgh. He was awarded the Royal Scottish Academy Travelling Scholarship and travelled to France and Italy with fellow student Hew Lorimer. He had his first solo-exhibition at the Colling Gallery, London in 1932.

During the 1930s his carvings in wood and stone were influenced by Mestrovic, Gill, Milles and by mediaeval sculpture; his bronzes were influenced by contemporary French sculpture. Whalen executed a large body of work for the 1938 Empire Exhibition in Glasgow including reliefs for the ICI Pavilion and the Garden Club; monumental figures for the Scottish Pavilion (North) and bronzes for the Palace of Art quadrangle.

His work over the next two decades was dominated by carved relief work for churches, public buildings and power stations but he also fulfilled private commissions for carved figures in wood, alabaster and stone. In 1951 he modelled monumental reliefs on the theme of ‘Coal’ for Basil Spence’s Festival of Britain Pavilion of Industry at Kelvingrove, Glasgow.

His broad, semi –abstract figures of women and clowns, and his experiments with glass were specific to him. He was a Fellow of Edinburgh College of Art, a member of the SSA and GI and was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1954.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
‘Scottish Sculpture: A Record of Twenty Years’ - T.S. Halliday and George Bruce, Dundee 1946

Tom Whalen – Exhibition Catalaogue 1973. Saltire Society Festival, Hamilton.

Willis Whalen from the NFL Players Association generates healthy living enthusiasm among McNair Elementary students.