John Skeaping

John Rattenbury Skeaping, RA (9 June 1901 – 5 March 1980) was an English sculptor and equine painter and sculptor. He designed animal figures for Wedgwood, and his life-size statue of Secretariat is exhibited at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Biography

Born in South Woodford, Essex, Skeaping was the eldest son of the painter Kenneth Mathieson Skeaping, and studied at Goldsmiths College in London, the Central School of Arts and Crafts between 1917 and 1919, and later at the Royal Academy until 1920. In 1924, he won the British Prix de Rome and its scholarship to the British School at Rome.̣ The couple had a joint exhibition in 1928 at the Alex Reid and Lefevre Gallery in Glasgow. Hepworth and Skeaping began divorce proceedings in 1931; the divorce was finalised in March 1933. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1960, having exhibited there since 1922. The Tate Gallery owns eight works by Skeaping. His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Two life-size racehorses by Skeaping were cast by H.H. Martyn & Co., Hyperion in 1962 and Chamossaire in 1966. The statue of Hyperion is now located in the National Horse Racing Museum, while that of Chamossaire is in Snailwell.

Portrait sculptures Marble heads dating from London, c. 1927 of Barbara Hepworth by Skeaping, and of Skeaping by Hepworth are documented by photograph in the Retrospective catalogue, but are both believed lost. A stone head of Arthur Lett-Haines dates from 1933, when Skeaping was living in the artists' colony at the house of Sir Cedric Morris after the breakup of his marriage to Hepworth. A bronze sketch (1978) of Skeaping exists by Sally Arnup.

Animals for Wedgwood