Andrew Motion
Photograph © National Portrait Gallery, London
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Andrew Motion
by Jilly Sutton
wooden head, 2000
18 1/4 in. (462 mm) high
Purchased, 2000
Primary Collection
NPG 6543
This portraitback to top
The Devon-based sculptor met Andrew Motion during the eclipse weekend in 1999 and subsequently invited him to sit for her. The work is carved from limewood and sandblasted.
Events of 2000back to top
Current affairs
The world celebrates the start of a new millennium. Britain marks the occasion with a series of new buildings and landmarks including the Millennium Dome, the London Eye, the Millennium Bridge, and the Millennium Stadium. While the Dome was criticised by politicians and the public for wasting public funds, and the Bridge suffered initial stability problems, other projects have become major landscape and public attractions.Art and science
Tate Modern opens as a national gallery of international modern art under the directorship of Nicholas Serota. The gallery, housed in the former Bankside Power Station, took the novel step of arranging the collection by theme rather than chronologically. As well as the collection galleries, Tate Modern has two large temporary exhibition spaces, and commissions installation projects for the enormous Turbine Hall.International
British troops are deployed to Sierra Leone to establish order and evacuate foreign nationals from the country torn apart by civil war. Following a ceasefire President Kabbah declared the civil war officially over in 2002.George W. Bush becomes President of the United States after a close election where he lost the popular vote, but won the electoral vote thanks to a controversial Supreme Court decision on Florida.
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Jilly Sutton
27 December 2022, 17:49
I met Andrew Motion when he and his family visited my studio in Devon in 1999. He had just been made poet Laureate, and he asked me if I would “have a go” at doing a carved wooden portrait for the NPG. It was a big ask as although I had been carving wooden heads for many years I had only done one portrait before. But I accepted the invitation and made two plaster casts of his face and many charcoal drawings. A forester friend had a Lime tree about to be felled in a race-horses’s paddock on Dartmoor - lime being my preferred timber. I started carving with a graded up plasticine model from the plaster cast at double the human size. All went well until I hit two big metal staples buried about 11 years inside the wood, with bad staining. This was totally disastrous as I did not have time to start again. So I ‘pushed’ the carving further back into the timber - which meant the central rings of the tree would become part of Motion’s sloping forehead. This was also a problem as I always hollow out the centre of the tree of my carvings to remove the tension between the hard dense inner growth and softer faster growing outer part of the timber to prevent splitting. Having to leave the center of the tree showing in my carving was a worry but I let it dry out for 3 months (after the hollowing out) and it did not split. I was so thrilled when the sculpture was accepted by Kathleen Soriano to be bought by the NPG for their permanent collection. However I did not know about the computer controlled humidity level at the gallery which is very very dry … and sure enough it did begin to split. I was heartbroken as the shape changed and the face became wider as a result. (Before this happened a bronze cast was made) but I was pleased the NPG bought the original wood.
A film of the making of the head was made for Jeremy Isaac’s ‘Arts Hour’ on ITV (I can send you a copy?) Andrew Motion spoke about his portrait on Radio 4’s ‘Sitting Pretty’ and was kindly complimentary about the split on his forehead telling the story of how his mother had sadly died after falling from her horse - cracking her head in exactly the same place. (I have a cd of this recording if you would like it?)
I hope this story might be useful to you, with a little more information.
Is my carving still the only wooden head in your collection - still in store?
I love the NPG and often visit!
Best wishes for 2023,
Jilly Sutton.
www.jillysutton.com