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Gillian Jagger (October 27, 1930 – October 21, 2019) was a British multimedia sculptor and installation artist, based in the
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...
of the United States. She is known for her plaster
casting
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a casting, which is ejected or ...
s of
manhole cover
A manhole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening of a manhole, an opening large enough for a person to pass through that is used as an access point for an underground vault or pipe. It is designed to prevent anyone or anythi ...
s on the streets of New York City in the 1960s, during which time she was "erroneously being identified as a
Pop artist".
In her work Jagger "
appropriates">Appropriation_(art).html" ;"title="nowiki/>Appropriation (art)">appropriatesmaterials from nature", and incorporates tracings, rubbing (art)">rubbing
Rubbing is moving an object in contact with another object.
Rub, RUB, rubs or rubbing may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Rub'' (album), by Peaches, 2015
* Rubbing (art), a method of recording and reproducing the texture of a surface ...
s, and castings of found objects in both urban and rural environments.
Personal life
Gillian Jagger was born in the United Kingdom in 1930.
Her father, sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger, was known for his
war memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
s, most notably the
Royal Artillery Memorial
The Royal Artillery Memorial is a First World War memorial located on Hyde Park Corner in London, England. Designed by Charles Sargeant Jagger, with architectural work by Lionel Pearson, and unveiled in 1925, the memorial commemorates the 49,0 ...
at
Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner is between Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair in London, England. It primarily refers to a major road junction at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park, that was originally planned by architect Decimus Burton. The juncti ...
in London. Jagger’s maternal grandmother,
Lillian Wade
Lillian Maud Wade née Morris (1870– 4 December 1923) was a British sculptor.
Biography
Wade was born in the Battersea area of London and studied at the National Art Training School in South Kensington, between 1895 and 1897, where she was t ...
was also a professional sculptor.
After the death of her father Jagger’s mother remarried, when she was aged 7, to an American coal
industrialist
A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...
and the family relocated to
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
.
The artist has worked and resided in a converted "five-barn" dairy farm in
Kerhonkson, New York
Kerhonkson is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 1,722 at the 2020 census.
The Kerhonkson CDP is an urban concentration that straddles the border of the town of Rochester a ...
, with her partner Consuelo (Connie) Mander since 1978.
Early career
In 1953 Jagger received her BFA in painting at
Carnegie Tech
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a Private university, private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became t ...
(now
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
), where artist
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
was also an alumnus.
Although Jagger and Warhol were contemporaries and "friends", Jagger disaffiliated herself from the
Pop Art movement associated with
Warhol’s Factory.
She writes:
…the worst for me was that I was identified on all those news programmes and newspapers as a Pop artist. I was certain that I wasn't. I didn't know much about Pop Art – but I knew I did not like beer cans or pieces of pie under plastic covers.
Jagger later studied under
Vaclav Vytlacil
Vaclav Vytlacil (November 1, 1892 – January 5, 1984) was an American artist and art instructor. He was among the earliest and most influential advocates of Hans Hofmann's teachings in the United States.
Life
Vaclav "Vyt" Vytlacil was born in N ...
at the
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College (FAC) is an arts center located just north of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. Located on the same city block are the American Numismatic Association and part of the campus of Colorado ...
, Colorado; and completed further studies at the
University of Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...
, New York and
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. She received a Masters of Art from
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
in 1960.
Later career
In 1968 Jagger joined the faculty of
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...
in Brooklyn, where she taught for 40 years.
She also held teaching positions at New York University,
Post University
Post University is a private for-profit university in Waterbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1890 as Post College. The university offers over 25 undergraduate and graduate programs in day, evening, and online courses.
History
Post Univer ...
, and New Rochelle Academy.
She died in New York.
Work
Gillian Jagger worked in large-scale
plaster
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
, stone, cast
cement
A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...
, and
sheet lead; as well as found
biogenic substance
A biogenic substance is a product made by or of life forms. While the term originally was specific to metabolite compounds that had toxic effects on other organisms, it has developed to encompass any constituents, secretions, and metabolites of p ...
s such as
animal carcasses and sections of fallen tree trunks.
Often the artist casts
readymade
A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already have ...
materials from nature, including her own body.
“An interest in time, tracks, imprints and shadows has long dominated my work,” she writes.
In her early work Jagger cast automobile tracks, footprints, and various
infrastructural
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...
elements of the
urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
built environment
The term built environment refers to human-made conditions and is often used in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, sociology, and anthropology, among others. These curated spaces provide the setting for human ac ...
.
Her castings of
manhole cover
A manhole cover is a removable plate forming the lid over the opening of a manhole, an opening large enough for a person to pass through that is used as an access point for an underground vault or pipe. It is designed to prevent anyone or anythi ...
s on the streets of
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
attracted attention from local and national news media during the early 1960s. At the time Jagger was being misidentified as a
Pop artist.
She explains, however, that this
epithet
An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...
was "a distortion of what
hewas actually trying to achieve".
"That wasn't what I was going for," she said; "I was trying to make a statement about what would be here when we were all gone." Jagger later said of the period: "I was casting facts because I couldn't believe in the metaphors."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jagger, Gillian
1930 births
2019 deaths
New York University alumni
English sculptors
20th-century American sculptors
Pratt Institute faculty