George William Hill | |
---|---|
Born | 8 May 1861 |
Died | 17 July 1934 Outremont (Montreal) |
Known for | sculptor |
Spouse | Elsie Annette Kent |
George William Hill RCA (1861 – 1934) was one of the Canada's foremost sculptors during the first half of the 20th century because of his numerous public memorials.[1] He was elected in 1917 as a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.[2][3]
The son of George Taylor Hill and Eleanor A. Carty
Hill was born in Shipton, Eastern Townships, Canada East, the son of a marble cutter. He began to carve marble in his father's workshop and worked there for eight years and he became a chief sculptor[4] then went to Paris in 1889 to study at the École nationale des beaux-arts with Alexandre Falguière,Jean Paul Laurens,[5] Henri Chapu at the Académie Julian and Jean-Antoine Injalbert at the Académie Colarossi.[3] He returned to Canada about 1894 and worked with the architects William Sutherland and Edward Maxwell.[3] By 1897, was producing monuments. In 1902 he had won his first commission, the Strathcona and South African soldiers' memorial.[3] Many commissions followed such as Sir George-Étienne Cartier (1912), marking the centenary of Cartier's birth.