Albert Bruce-Joy Explained

Albert Bruce-Joy
Birth Place:	Dublin
Death Place:	Shottermill
Nationality:	Irish
Field:	Sculpture

Albert Bruce-Joy (21 August 1842 – 22 July 1924) was an Irish sculptor working in England. His original surname was Joy but he became known under his hyphenated name Bruce-Joy later in life. He was the brother of the painter George W. Joy.

Biography

Son of William Bruce Joy, MD, Bruce-Joy was born in Dublin but educated in Offenbach am Main, Paris and at King's College London.^[1]

He trained as a sculptor with John Henry Foley at the National Art Training School, South Kensington, and the Royal Academy Schools. He began exhibiting at the Royal Academy from 1866 onwards.^[2] In 1867 he gave an address in Rome where he is said to have spent three years.^[3]

After his return to London, Bruce-Joy took over the commission for a statue of Robert James Graves for the Royal College of Physicians in Dublin. This was originally given to the late John Foley (died 1874) who had previously finished three statues for the College. This marked the start of his specialisation in portrait statues, busts and medallions which were praised at the time for their likeness, and for which he is now mostly known.

Bruce-Joy built his house in Shottermill near Haslemere in 1891, and travelled to America twice in his life.^[4]

Works

(a detailed list is given at the University of Glasgow's database)

• Statue of John Laird (1877) in Birkenhead.
• Statue of William Harvey (1878), Surgeon, The Leas, Folkestone, Kent.^[5]
• Statue of James Whiteside (1880) in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin.
• Monument known as the Ayer Lion (1880) sculpted from Italian marble for the grave site of James Cook Ayer in Lowell Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts.^[6]
• Statue of Gladstone (1882) in front of Bow Church, Bow, London.^[7]
• Statues of John Bright (1891),^[8] and Oliver Heywood (1894)^{[9] [10]} in Albert Square, Manchester.
• Statue of Alexander Balfour (1905) in St John's Gardens, Liverpool.
• The Victoria and Albert Museum in London holds three marble busts by Bruce-Joy, including Sunshine which was shown at the Royal Academy in 1866.^[11]

Further reading

• Gerhard Bissell, Joy, Albert Bruce, in: Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon, vol. 78, 2013.

Notes and References

1. Kate Newmann, in: Dictionary of Ulster Biography.
2. Web site: Albert Bruce-Joy (1842-1924), Sculptor. National Portrait Gallery. 1 January 2012.
3. http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib5_1205356326 Albert Bruce Joy ARHA, RHA
4. http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/brucejoy/index.html Victorian Web
5. Web site: William Harvey statue . Himetop (The History of Medicine Topographical Database) . 29 August 2019.
6. Book: Lowell Historical Society . Lowell: The River City . 2006 . Arcadia Publishing . 9781439632680 . 46 . illustrated . 28 August 2019.
7. Web site: London's Hidden History Bow Church. Modern Gent. 2012-01-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20131203002529/http://www.moderngent.com/history_of_london/hiddenhistorybow.php. 2013-12-03. dead.
8. Web site: John Bright. 1 January 2012. Manchester Art Gallery. 2009.
9. Web site: Oliver Heywood. 1 January 2012. Manchester Art Gallery. 2009.
10. Book: Wyke, Terry. Public Sculpture of Greater Manchester . 2004. Liverpool University Press. 0-85323-567-8. 21.
11. Book: Diane Bilbey with Marjorie Trusted . V&A Publications. 2002. British Sculpture 1470 to 2000 A Concise Catalogue of the Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum . 1851773959.