The sculptor’s tools
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The sculptor’s tools
Transcript
A window on Canada’s First World War Visitor Education Centre, Vimy, France
Canada 150
The Sculptor’s Tools
Sculptor Walter Allward used wooden hand tools to create detailed models of the Vimy Memorial.
Before his death in 1955, he gave the tools to artist Emanuel Hahn with a request that they be passed from one generation of artists to the next.
Artist Christian Corbet explains the significance of the tools and their journey so far…
I got them from Dr. Elizabeth Bradford Holbrook. But she said she had these tucked away and that she wanted me to have them. She would share with me a story about their age and the importance of that it come from the hands of Walter Allward. She would pull the certain tools out and then she would say, you know this would have probably been used for the detail here. So, she was always giving me like these little lessons which I always thought was great. Her decision for passing on to me was somebody who was dedicated and somebody who was driven, and somebody who, I think, had already proven to her that I wasn’t just a dreamer. I think that’s what it would be for me as well.April 9, 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
To mark the anniversary, Walter Allward’s tools will be displayed at the new Visitor Education Centre at Vimy.
I’ve used them on lots of things… most of my busts and works. It’s part of what was already written when they were being made over a hundred years ago. I think it’s important for people worldwide to understand the role of the artists in the community and how they’re going to be laid out for people to see that the hand of this great mind actually used these tools for the concept to create this incredible monument that, you know, people flock to around the world to go see.VIMY 1917-2017
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Description
A window on Canada’s First World War Visitor Education Centre, Vimy, France.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Recorded:
- January 6, 2017
- Duration:
- 2:05
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