| Education Charles attended St Luke's Church School and the Wolverhampton Higher Grade School (the Gram-mar School). His interest in art developed and, at the age of 15, he won a scholarship to the Wolver-hampton School of Art. Robert Emerson, a local artist, was his mentor and his talent turned towards sculpture. Emerson's ex-pupils were called 'the Wolverhampton School'. Charles won a scholarship to the South Kensington Royal College of Art – a clear acknowledgement of his talents, but it took time for recognition to come. He studied under Professor Edouard Lanteri. He won second prize, worth £200 (a lot of money in those days) in a competition and, he says, that enabled him to marry Muriel Bourne whom he had met in art class in Wolverhampton. Life was understandably austere, but his fortune changed when he got a commission to fashion a bronze memorial tablet to Rudyard Kipling's son, John, who had been killed at the age of 17 at Loos in the First World War. The bronze is in Burwash Church, Sussex. Marriage Charles married Miss Muriel Bourne in 1918 – herself a gifted sculptor and painter and the younger daughter of A W Bourne. They had a son Robin and a daughter Carol. The Man "A charmingly modest person of gentle conversational manners though he could be courageously forthright in condemning the worst aspects of modernist art. It was always a pleasure to meet him at the Chelsea Arts Club which he frequently visited" "His personal charm and integrity of character irradiated all his actions. From the chair, his invariable courtesy and patience encouraged open discussions, but he was firm in his recommendations and in accepting the majority view. As a leader, Sir Charles had the knack of extracting support above the ordinary effort from colleagues and subordinates at all levels. The overriding sense that all who wor-ked with this unusual personality must feel is one of affectionate gratitude." "His physical stature was Liliputian against his monuments. He could only be described as a dapper little man with a bow tie; however, Wheeler's unassuming charm and sensitivity transcended even his monolithic Telamons on the Bank of England." "Sir Charles looks almost fragile until you notice his large, muscular hands." Profession Charles Wheeler exhibited for the first time at the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1914. He became an Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1934 and was advanced to memb-ership in 1940 – he was not yet 50 years old. He was President of the British Society of Sculptors from 1945-1949. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the United States Academy of Design. He was instrumental in founding the Society of Portrait Sculptors of which he became the first President in 1953. During his Presidency of the Royal Academy of Arts, he had to deal with putting the Acad-emy's finances on a sound footing. This was achieved primarily through the sale in 1962 of a most treasured possession, the Leonardo cartoon of the Virgin and Child with the Infant St John. At the Academy's banquet in 1960, Sir Charles made an attack on "absurdities in modem art" which he described as "feverish" disorders. He resigned from the Arts Council in 1959 when they arranged an exhibition by the Italian sculptor Giacometti which Wheeler described as "not genuine". He said: "if art is to be worthy, we must go back to the old masters, who never worked without supreme exertions". |
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