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The front of the sixth interleaf is a biography of Arnold Machin. The text is:
Arnold Machin was born at Oak Hill, Stoke-on-Trent, in 1911. His father was a freelance
modeller in the Potteries,
and when Arnold left school he was apprenticed to the Minton factory. In 1932 he began
work for the Old Derby China Works, attending Derby School of Art part time. Five years later he won a Scholarship
to the Royal College of Art, London, and studied sculpture under Professor Garbe. He returned to the Potteries
to work for Wedgwood,
and later became Head of Stoke Art School. However, as a conscientious objector
during the Second World War, he was forced to resign and sentenced to twelve months imprisonment in
Wormwood Scrubs Prison.
On release he returned to Wedgwood, and the follwoing year modelled the terracotta figure
Taurus the Bull. In
1944
the Tate Gallery purchased two of his terracotta
figures and three years later acquired his ambitious group
Spring(right),
which was exhibited at the Royal Academy
and later purchased by the President and Council of the Academy under the terms of the Chantrey Bequest
for £1,000. It was on the strength of this that he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy.
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The back of interleaf six continues the biography. The text is:
In many ways Machin was born out of time. He was an unashamedly figurative sculptor at a time when
the Modern Movement and abstraction were in the ascendant. Despite this, he became a full
Academician, Master of Sculpture at the Academy Schools and, in 1965 following his
successful design for the
new coinage [top three rows] for Royal Mint, he was awarded the
OBE [Officer of the Order of the
British Empire]. His profile of Queen Elizabeth II for the definitive stamps
first issued in 1967 and now celebrating 40 years,
ranks with William Wyon’s medal profile of Queen Victoria as one of the most
iconic
images of recent history.
Arnold Machin died in
1999.
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The description of the photograph is:
Right: Arnold and Pat Machin by a gas lamp in 1956. Machin campaigned to save the gas lamp, located at
The Villas, Stoke-on-Trent, from being replaced with an electric one by the council. The protest was
reported in many national newspapers and letters of support were received from all over the world.
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