Sculptor’s love of home island inspires final work

The final artwork by a renowned sculptor is a “celebration of the landscape” that inspired it, his daughter has said.

Kate Kneale said her father Bryan Kneale, who died in September at the age of 95, had always returned to his home island to “recharge his batteries” and “drew on his love” of it.

Born on the Isle of Man in 1930, Kneale began studying painting at the Douglas School of Art before being accepted to the RA Schools programme.

Having started out as a painter, Kneale quickly turned to sculpture and became the first abstract artist in that field to be made a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1974.

As a teacher he held positions at Hornsey College of Art and Design, Royal College of Art in London, and at the Royal Academy Schools, where he helped shape the next generation of artists.

His work is held in collections across the world including the British Museum, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Victoria in South Australia, and the Museum of Modern Art São Paulo, in Brazil.

Paying tribute following his death in September at the age of 95 the Isle of Man Arts Council described him as a “prolific and celebrated” sculptor who work had “inspired generations of artists at home and abroad”.

In its tribute, the Royal Academy said he was a “sculptor, educator and curator” who was “best known for his elegantly poised abstract forms”.

It added it was “fitting” his final “magnificent work” would be “placed in the landscape that first inspired him”.

That sculpture – the 8.2ft (2.5m) steel Eelips artwork – has now been installed at the Tynwald National Park and Arboretum in St John’s.

Made of duplex stainless steel, with its height inspired by the ancient cross stones found around the island, it forms a portal that frames the landscape behind it.

Funding for the project was provided by the Isle of Man Arts Council via a lottery-funded grant, the Kneale family, the Frampton Fund, and Culture Vannin, and it was put in place in partnership with the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture.

Kate Kneale said the design had come out of an exhibition her father had put together in 2022, and he had “always envisaged this sculpture as sitting in the Manx landscape”.

She said she had “perhaps foolishly” said “I’m sure we can make that happen”, and the family spent the last three years “making that dream come true for him”.

“And until very recently we thought he was going to live to see it put in place,” she said.

But she said it had been “enormously important” for him to visit it in the workshop prior to his death because it had “allowed him to dream and revisit all his Manx memories”.

As the younger brother to screenwriter and author Nigel Kneale, whose works included the television series The Quatermass Experiment, Kate Kneale said the brothers had been “pioneering in the field of culture”.

“They’ve both been about opening it up to many people, making it popular, making it accessible,” she said, adding: “I think that that is an important legacy for both of them, really”.

“My hope is that there’s future Manx artists and creators who are both pioneering and brave, and take their skills and their talents off the island and then loop back and draw deeply on the uniqueness of the island.”

She said she had been “just overwhelmed” when she saw Eelips in place for the first time as it was “so nice”.

“Of course, at the moment, I’m a bit sad,” she said, “but it’s so lovely seeing it, so pure, so confident and generous.”

“It’s a wonderful piece and I do hope it will be enjoyed and creatively played with by people because that is what it’s inviting.

“You can’t but celebrate the landscape when you see it, and I do think the fact that it’s a work completed by the viewer is fabulous.”

“I can see my dad smiling when I look at it.”

A series of talks by visiting artists and academics is being held in St John’s on Saturday to coincide with the unveiling of the public artwork.