Nicholas Monro (1936 – 2022) was an English pop art sculptor, print-maker and

art teacher Visual arts education is the area of learning that is based upon the kind of art that one can see, visual arts—drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and design in jewelry, pottery, weaving, fabrics, etc. and design applied to more practic ...

. He is known for being one of the few British pop artists to work in sculpture and is known for his use of

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

Life and work

Monro studied art at the Chelsea School of Art from 1958 to 1961. After graduating he began teaching at Swindon School of Art, then returned to Chelsea School of Art in 1968. In 1969 he received an

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

Award and was included in the exhibition ''Pop Art Re-Assessed'' at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Royal ...

. In the early 1970s, he had a studio at Hungerford.Radio Birmingham interview with Munro, 11 May 1972, transcribed in part in His work was included in the 2004 pop art retrospective "Art and the 60s: This Was Tomorrow" at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

, and Birmingham Gas Hall and, in the same year, "British Pop Art 1956–1972" at the .

Public collections

Monro's works are in the collections of the Berardo Collection Museum,

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

Key works

* ''Money Bags'', painted fibreglass (1965) * ''Flock of Sheep'', painted fibreglass, (1968) – now in a private collection in Wuppertal, Germany * Statue of King Kong, painted fibreglass, (1972) * ''The Sand Dancers'' (a statue of

Wilson, Keppel and Betty Wilson, Keppel and Betty formed a popular British music hall and vaudeville act in the middle decades of the 20th century. They capitalised on the fashion for Ancient Egyptian imagery following the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The "Sa ...

), made for the Sands Hotel, Edinburgh, now part of the Treadwell Collection. * Bust of Max Wall, painted fibreglass, sold for £6,875 ($11,323) at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

, London, on 23 August 2011 * Statue of

Eric Morecambe John Eric Bartholomew (14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984), known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's de ...

& Ernie Wise, in painted fibreglass, commissioned in 1977 by the Arts Council, this statue was to form part of the British Genius exhibition at Battersea Park, London

References

External links

Film interview with Monro
filmed by ATV in Birmingham, in 1972
Monro prints in the Rose and Chris Prater gift, at Tate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monro, Nicholas 1936 births British pop artists English sculptors English male sculptors Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts British art educators 20th-century English educators People from Hungerford 2022 deaths Date of birth missing Date of death missing