Hew Martin Lorimer, OBE (22 May 1907 – 1 September 1993) was a Scottish

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Early life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, the second son of

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Sir

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, Order of the British Empire, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scotland, Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, f ...

. He was educated at

Loretto School Loretto School, founded in 1827, is an independent school (UK), independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. History The school was founded by the Reverend Th ...

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

, then at

Magdalen College Magdalen College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and one of the strongest academically, se ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, but he left Oxford prematurely to study

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

and

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

under Alexander Carrick at the

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

. After graduating in 1934, he entered an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

with sculptor and

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as "the greatest artist-craftsma ...

Sculptor

Lorimer was principally an

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

sculptor, and his profound religious beliefs had a lasting effect on his art and subject matter. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he worked on many grand sculptures, including '' Our Lady of the Isles'', 1958, a massive

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

statue of the

mother and child A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestat ...

sited at Rueval on

South Uist South Uist (, ; ) is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the rest of the Hebrides, is one of the ...

. Between 1950 and 1955 he also sculpted the artwork adorning the facade of the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

in Edinburgh, for which he produced a series of tall,

allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

figures, depicting

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

. The architect of the library was

Reginald Fairlie Reginald Francis Joseph Fairlie LLD (7 March 1883 – 27 October 1952) was a Scottish architect. He served as a commissioner of RCAHMS and on the Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland. Life see Born at Kincaple, Fife, he was the son of J. Ogi ...

, who had been apprentice to Lorimer's father Robert. Lorimer carved the figures directly into the stone rather than copying from clay models, a practice known as direct carving. Also for Fairlie, Lorimer created a massive tympanum frieze showing St Francis returning to Assisi for The Friary in Dundee in 1959. Crucifix on exterior east wall of St Martin and St Ninian Church,

Whithorn Whithorn (; ), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christian church in Scotland, "White/Shining House", built by ...

(1959). Has suffered some damage and loss of detail after a botched cleaning job in 1987. A statue of St Meddan in niche above the main entrance to Our Lady of the Assumption and St Meddan's Church in

Troon Troon (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Truthail'') is a town and sea port in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with ferry and freight serv ...

. The font of

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church (building), church in Aberdeen, Scotland, located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a Kirk ...

(1954). One of Lorimer's final public commissions was the statue of Christ on the Cross for the University of Dundee Chaplaincy (1983, completed in 1986).

Honours

He was awarded an OBE in 1986 for services to architecture and conservation.

Published works

Personal life

Hew was the nephew of the Scottish painter

John Henry Lorimer John Henry Lorimer (12 August 1856 – 4 November 1936) was a Scottish painter who worked on portraits and Genre works, genre scenes of everyday life. Life Lorimer was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Lorimer (jurist), James Lorimer, who ...

and the grandson of Prof. James Lorimer, lawyer and academic. Lorimer lived in Kellie Castle in

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, and died in a nursing home in St Andrews in 1993. He is survived by his sons, Robert and Henry, and daughter, Monica. The castle is owned today by the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland () is a Scottish Building preservation and conservation trusts in the UK, conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organisation in Scotland and describes itself as "the charity that cares for, sha ...

who maintain a changing exhibition of his works plus those of his father,

, and his uncle, the

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

References

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External links

Hew Lorimer on the Gazetteer for ScotlandHew Martin Lorimer CBE, RSA, FRBS
at the Mapping Sculpture project
Our Lady & St Meddan
at Explore Churches {{DEFAULTSORT:Lorimer, Hew 1907 births 1993 deaths 20th-century British sculptors Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of the Edinburgh College of Art Artists from Edinburgh British architectural sculptors Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh Scottish male sculptors 20th-century Scottish male artists