Benno Schotz

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| caption = Benno Schotz in 1949, taken by Lida Moser

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| birth_place = Arensburg, Livonia, Russian Empire

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| death_place = Glasgow, Scotland

| resting_place = Jerusalem

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| education = Royal Technical College, Glasgow School of Art

| known_for = Sculptor

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Benno Schotz (28 August 1891 – 11 October 1984) was an Estonian-born Scottish sculptor, and one of Scotland's leading artists during the twentieth century.

Biography

=Early life=

Schotz was the youngest of six children of Jewish parents, Jacob Schotz, a watchmaker, and Cherna Tischa Abramovitch.{{cite journal |title=This year the Glasgow sculptor Benno Schotz celebrates his 93rd birthday |journal=Scottish Field |date=1984 |volume=130 |page=4 |publisher=Holmes McDougall|lccn=51031311}} He was educated at the Boys Grammar School of Pärnu, Estonia. Later he studied at the Grossherzogliche Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, Germany.

In 1912, he immigrated to Glasgow, where he gained an engineering diploma from the Royal Technical College. From 1914 to 1923 he worked in the drawing office of John Brown & Company, Clydebank shipbuilders, while attending evening classes in sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art.Manz, S. & Panayi, P. (2013) Refugees and Cultural Transfer to Britain [https://books.google.com/books?id=aS-PAQAAQBAJ&dq=john+keppie&pg=PA56 page 56] Routledge. {{ISBN|1317965930}} Retrieved March 2015

=Artistic career=

Schotz became a full-time sculptor in 1923. An important early patron was the Dundee art collector William Boyd, thanks to whose influence both Dundee Dental School and Dundee Art Galleries & Museums hold pieces by him.{{Citation

| title = DENTAL HOSPITAL BENEFACTRESS

| newspaper = Dundee Courier

| page = 5

| date = 19 September 1936

}} From this point onwards his reputation grew and he became a full member of the Royal Scottish Academy, head of sculpture at the Glasgow School of Art (a post he held from 1938 until his retirement in 1961), and eventually was appointed the Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland in 1963. His pupils included the artists Hannah Frank, Stewart Bowman Johnson, and Inge King (née Neufeld).

His homes at West Campbell Street and later Kirklee Road were a focus for meetings of artists, writers, actors, and politicians. He was a member of the Glasgow Art Club.[http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/organization.php?id=msib6_1231758399 Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851–1951] Retrieved 17 August 2011 He helped refugees including Jankel Adler and Josef Herman.

He was a committed Zionist, and also proud of his adopted Scotland. He worked until a few weeks before his death at the age of 93. He was buried in Jerusalem.

He was made a Freeman of the City of Glasgow in 1981. In that year, Gordon Wright published his autobiography, Bronze in My Blood.

Work

During his career, Schotz produced several hundred portraits and compositions including figure compositions, religious sculptures, semi-abstracts, and modelled portraits. His bust of James Maxton is on public display at the Maxton remembrance garden in Barrhead near Paisley. Other publicly accessible work includes:

Memorial to Provost John Jarvie of Kilsyth, first freeman of the burgh, commissioned in 1954 is a portrait in relief and can be seen in John Jarvie Square, off East Burnside Street, Kilsyth.{{cite web |url = http://www.kilsyth.org.uk/landmarks.htm |title = Kilsyth Today |website = Kilsyth Community Council |accessdate = 7 January 2014 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140107235410/http://www.kilsyth.org.uk/landmarks.htm |archivedate = 7 January 2014 |df = dmy-all }}
The Psalmist (1974) in the T. J. Honeyman Memorial Garden of Kelvingrove Park,
the Joseph Black Memorial (1953) at the University of Glasgow,
the statues of Saints Margaret and Ninian on the front of the 1929-31 (former) Bank of Scotland building on Sauchiehall St,
the Painting and Sculpture reliefs on the Mercat Building (1928–29) and
the Stations of the Cross sculptures in St. Charles' Parish Church North Kelvinside.
the Crucifix in St Columba's Church, Woodside, Glasgow
Ex Terra in Glenrothes town centre next to the bus station
bust of James Pittendrigh Macgillivray, Scottish National Portrait Gallery (1924)
busts of William Boyd, Mrs William Rettie, and William Tattersall in Dundee Dental Hospital & School, University of Dundee
a bust of William Boyd's daughter Joan at The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum
bust of Keir Hardie, People's Palace, Glasgow{{cite news |title=Keir Hardie bust goes on display in Glasgow |url=https://www.scotsman.com/regions/glasgow-and-strathclyde/keir-hardie-bust-goes-display-glasgow-1494061 |access-date=22 February 2023 |work=The Scotsman |publisher=JPIMedia Publishing Ltd |date=30 September 2015}}
eleven foot high sculpture 'The Window on the World', Vale of Leven Academy Alexandria.

The majority of these works were in Glasgow and the surrounding area. He was responsible for the repair of the bridge sculpture at Kelvingrove Park beside the now refurbished art gallery and museum.

Although Benno Schotz is frequently referred to as an Estonian sculptor, all his professional life was in Scotland. He became a naturalised British subject in 1930.

He became a full member of the Royal Scottish Academy, in 1937. He headed the Sculpture and Ceramics dept. of the Glasgow School of Art from 1938 until his retirement in 1960. His active life as a sculptor continued thereafter with renewed vigor and he created his most ambitious and monumental works over the next 20 years.

In 1963, he was appointed The Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland, a member of the Royal household.

A major retrospective exhibition of his works (1971) was held at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.

His interest in the drawing of trees developed, with the drawings becoming more and more complex and abstract. He mounted a successful exhibition of Sculptures and Related Drawings in Glasgow (1961). His last sculpture was executed less than six weeks before his death, aged 93.

He was Life-President of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts.

Honors include: Freedom of the City of Glasgow; Honorary Fellow of The Hebrew University; Honorary LL.D, Strathclyde University; Honorary Member of the British Society of British Sculptors; Honorary Member of the Royal Institute of Architects in Scotland.

Source: his daughter, Mrs. S. C. Crome, and son, Mr. A. M Schotz.

Books

{{cite book |last1=Schotz |first1=Benno |title=Bronze in my blood : the memoirs of Benno Schotz. |date=1981 |publisher=G. Wright Pub |location=Edinburgh, Scotland |isbn=9780903065375}}