Francis Derwent Wood
Encyclopedia
Francis Derwent Wood RA (1871–1926) was a sculptor, born in Keswick
, Cumberland
, in England
's Lake District
.
and Sir Thomas Brock
; he taught at the Glasgow School of Art
from 1897 through 1905 and was professor of sculpture at the Royal College of Art
from 1918 through 1923. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1920. He produced a good deal of architectural sculpture typical of the time, including four large roof figures for the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
in Glasgow, the British Linen Bank also in Glasgow, and the Britannic House in London for architect Sir Edwin Lutyens
. Freestanding sculptures by him may also be seen in various galleries, such as his 1907 Atalanta
(Manchester Art Gallery
http://www.manchestergalleries.org/the-collections/search-the-collection/display.php?EMUSESSID=c0c2555eaedb9f99ee343e1f3834b993&irn=1194, with a bronze cast of it now in Chelsea Embankment Gardens
http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Wood%2C_Francis_Derwent_(1871-1926)_sculptor).
, Wood volunteered in the hospital wards and his exposure to the gruesome injuries inflicted by the new war's weapons eventually led him to open a special clinic: the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department, located in the Third London General Hospital, Wandsworth
. Instead of the rubber masks used conventionally, Wood constructed masks of thin metal, sculpted to match the portraits of the men in their pre-war normality, as did Mrs. Anna Coleman Ladd
, of Pennsylvania, at a similar Paris clinic. Just as had been happening with soldiers operated upon with the recent advances in plastic surgery
, Wood's masks provided each with a renewed self-confidence, even self-respect, though they often proved uncomfortable. Face wounds were known to be the most devastating. By hiding the wounds behind the mask, the young men were able to return to relationships with their families and friends.
Each mask required many weeks of work on the part of Woods, and other surgeons who followed his lead. A plaster cast was taken of the subject's wounded face - but only after the wounds and subsequent surgeries had totally healed. The crude process was itself a trial. The plaster cast was used to make a squeeze of plastocene or clay. This disfigured bust was used as the foundation of all prosthetic restorative work, with the sculptor working to replace the missing components of the face with the shapes from the opposing side. The mask itself was made form a thin copper sheet - galvanized copper to facilitate painting after forming. Painting a realistic portrait onto the copper mask was as challenging as the sculpting: each was finished while the patient wore it, in order to most accurately match the tone of the flesh with the enamels.
The ward stayed open only two years, from 1917 to 1919. There is no record of the exact number of masks made, but it must have been several hundred: a tiny drop among the more than 20,000 wounded in the face. His earnest efforts may not have helped statistically, but they influenced the lives of those he helped dramatically. A team in England has begun researching both the techniques of Wood's and others, and the stories of the patients and their families in an effort named Project Façade, centered at The Gillies Archive, Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. The archive is named for Sir Harold Delf Gillies, a pioneering reconstructive surgeon in England. Gillies' seminal work was his text, Plastic Surgery of the Face.
called Canada's Golgotha
in 1919, which caused a diplomatic flap between the Canadian and German governments. His Machine Gun Corps Memorial
at Hyde Park Corner
was also controversial. Wood died in London in 1926. He was fifty-five.
Keswick, Cumbria
Keswick is a market town and civil parish within the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England. It had a population of 4,984, according to the 2001 census, and is situated just north of Derwent Water, and a short distance from Bassenthwaite Lake, both in the Lake District National Park...
, Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
, in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
.
Early life
Wood studied in Germany and returned to London in 1887 to work under Edouard LanteriEdouard Lanteri
Edouard Lanteri was a sculptor and medallist whose romantic French style of sculpting was seen as influential among exponents of New Sculpture.-Life history:...
and Sir Thomas Brock
Thomas Brock
Sir Thomas Brock KCB RA was an English sculptor.- Life :Brock was born in Worcester, attended the School of Design in Worcester and then undertook an apprenticeship in modelling at the Worcester Royal Porcelain Works. In 1866 he became a pupil of the sculptor John Henry Foley. He married in 1869,...
; he taught at the Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow School of Art
Glasgow School of Art is one of only two independent art schools in Scotland, situated in the Garnethill area of Glasgow.-History:It was founded in 1845 as the Glasgow Government School of Design. In 1853, it changed its name to The Glasgow School of Art. Initially it was located at 12 Ingram...
from 1897 through 1905 and was professor of sculpture at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
from 1918 through 1923. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1920. He produced a good deal of architectural sculpture typical of the time, including four large roof figures for the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is a museum and art gallery in Glasgow, Scotland. The building houses one of Europe's great civic art collections...
in Glasgow, the British Linen Bank also in Glasgow, and the Britannic House in London for architect Sir Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
. Freestanding sculptures by him may also be seen in various galleries, such as his 1907 Atalanta
Atalanta
Atalanta is a character in Greek mythology.-Legend:Atalanta was the daughter of Iasus , a Boeotian or an Arcadian princess . She is often described as a goddess. Apollodorus is the only one who gives an account of Atalanta’s birth and upbringing...
(Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery is a publicly-owned art gallery in Manchester, England. It was formerly known as Manchester City Art Gallery.The gallery was opened in 1824 and today occupies three buildings, the oldest of which - designed by Sir Charles Barry - is Grade I listed and was originally home to...
http://www.manchestergalleries.org/the-collections/search-the-collection/display.php?EMUSESSID=c0c2555eaedb9f99ee343e1f3834b993&irn=1194, with a bronze cast of it now in Chelsea Embankment Gardens
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Wood%2C_Francis_Derwent_(1871-1926)_sculptor).
World War One
When he was too old (at 41) to enlist in the Army at the onset of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Wood volunteered in the hospital wards and his exposure to the gruesome injuries inflicted by the new war's weapons eventually led him to open a special clinic: the Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department, located in the Third London General Hospital, Wandsworth
Wandsworth
Wandsworth is a district of south London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Toponymy:...
. Instead of the rubber masks used conventionally, Wood constructed masks of thin metal, sculpted to match the portraits of the men in their pre-war normality, as did Mrs. Anna Coleman Ladd
Anna Coleman Ladd
Anna Coleman Watts Ladd was an American sculptress in Manchester, Massachusetts, who devoted her time throughout World War I to soldiers who were disfigured....
, of Pennsylvania, at a similar Paris clinic. Just as had been happening with soldiers operated upon with the recent advances in plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
, Wood's masks provided each with a renewed self-confidence, even self-respect, though they often proved uncomfortable. Face wounds were known to be the most devastating. By hiding the wounds behind the mask, the young men were able to return to relationships with their families and friends.
Each mask required many weeks of work on the part of Woods, and other surgeons who followed his lead. A plaster cast was taken of the subject's wounded face - but only after the wounds and subsequent surgeries had totally healed. The crude process was itself a trial. The plaster cast was used to make a squeeze of plastocene or clay. This disfigured bust was used as the foundation of all prosthetic restorative work, with the sculptor working to replace the missing components of the face with the shapes from the opposing side. The mask itself was made form a thin copper sheet - galvanized copper to facilitate painting after forming. Painting a realistic portrait onto the copper mask was as challenging as the sculpting: each was finished while the patient wore it, in order to most accurately match the tone of the flesh with the enamels.
The ward stayed open only two years, from 1917 to 1919. There is no record of the exact number of masks made, but it must have been several hundred: a tiny drop among the more than 20,000 wounded in the face. His earnest efforts may not have helped statistically, but they influenced the lives of those he helped dramatically. A team in England has begun researching both the techniques of Wood's and others, and the stories of the patients and their families in an effort named Project Façade, centered at The Gillies Archive, Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup. The archive is named for Sir Harold Delf Gillies, a pioneering reconstructive surgeon in England. Gillies' seminal work was his text, Plastic Surgery of the Face.
Post-war
He produced a representation of the The Crucified SoldierThe Crucified Soldier
The Crucified Soldier refers to the widespread story of an Allied soldier serving in the Canadian Corps who may have been crucified with bayonets on a barn door or a tree, while fighting on the Western Front during World War I...
called Canada's Golgotha
Canada's Golgotha
Canada's Golgotha is a bronze sculpture by the British sculptor Francis Derwent Wood, produced in 1918. It illustrates the story of the Crucified Soldier from the First World War and depicts a Canadian soldier crucified on a barn door and surrounded by jeering Germans...
in 1919, which caused a diplomatic flap between the Canadian and German governments. His Machine Gun Corps Memorial
Machine Gun Corps Memorial
The Machine Gun Corps Memorial, also known as The Boy David, is a memorial to the dead of the Machine Gun Corps in the First World War at Hyde Park Corner in London. It is topped with a nude statue of a young David by Francis Derwent Wood. To either side of the statue is a real Vickers gun, encased...
at Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner
Hyde Park Corner is a place in London, at the south-east corner of Hyde Park. It is a major intersection where Park Lane, Knightsbridge, Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place and Constitution Hill converge...
was also controversial. Wood died in London in 1926. He was fifty-five.
External links
- Smithsonian Magazine article, February 2007
- National Public Radio story, February, 2007
- Project Façade's page on Wood
- Gillies Archives, Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup UK
- Francis Derwent Wood Article on The National Archives website which deals with some of Derwent Woods' work.