Ben Uri Research Unit

Born: 1902 St. Andrew, Jamaica

Died: 1992 Miami, USA

Year of Migration to the UK: 1947

Other name/s: Alvin Tolman Marriott , Hon Alvin Tolman Marriott OJCD

Biography

Sculptor Alvin Marriott was born into an artistic family in St. Andrew, Jamaica in 1902. His father was a craftsman who made hats and other items out of straw and his mother was a playwright and musician. In 1913 the family moved to Port Antonio, the then tourist capital of the island, where his father's trade was likely to be more successful. As a child, Marriott showed an early talent for drawing and soon began carving in the soft limestone found locally.  After completing school, he was apprenticed as a furniture maker. Following his father's death in 1923, the family moved to the capital, Kingston, where he began working as a sculptor. Already by 1929, he was cited by Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey as the most outstanding West Indian sculptor (Poupeye 2022). His bust of King George V was placed on display in a historic merchant's home, Headquarters House, and afterwards he produced busts of many prominent members of society. In 1938 Marriott was awarded a Certificate of Merit at the first arts and crafts exhibition held at St. George’s College. In order to earn a living, he also worked as a furniture maker and carver, creating bespoke furniture for the Art Deco furniture designer Burnett Webster, among others. In 1944 he travelled to the USA by enlisting as a farm worker. He was described in local newspapers as an enterprising sculptor and while there he presented a bust of then President F.D. Roosevelt to the White House.

Marriott received a scholarship from the British Council in 1947 to study at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in London, where he honed his skills as a sculptor, adopting the classical style which would characterise his work. Impressed with his talent, the school recommended a further year's extension during which he was employed as a lecturer to the diploma and intermediate classes. While in London, Marriott maintained his presence in the furniture trade but continued to promote himself as a sculptor, even carving a mahogany tray as a wedding gift for HRH Queen Elizabeth II. Marriott also carried out carvings for the restoration of the Houses of Parliament to replace wartime bomb damage and also carved for various furniture makers, including Beresford and Hicks, Gable and Taft, and Maples. English furniture manufacturer Burnett Webster said about Marriott that he ‘could carve as fluently as an experienced calligrapher could write’ (Brian R. Owens).

On his return to Jamaica in 1951, Marriott was employed for three years in carving the series of Coats of Arms which decorated the roof of the University chapel, as well as the mahogany pelican for the lectern. At the time, Jamaica sought to replace colonial European artforms with those that better represented a Jamaican aesthetic. Marriott’s ability to capture the likeness of his sitters, as well as his versatility across different media, including wood, clay and bronze, led to a series of significant commissions. He produced busts of all of Jamaica’s recently selected national heroes, such as Marcus Garvey and the first premiere of Jamaica, Norman Manley. He also created monumental sculptures, including that of Jamaica’s Olympic sprinter Arthur Wint, completed in 1962 and unveiled by HRH Princess Margaret before the 9th Central American and Caribbean Games. Marriott taught at the Jamaica School of Arts and Crafts from 1955–61. In 1975 he was featured in an exhibition of Jamaican contemporary sculptors at the Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London, alongside artists such as Edna Manley and Mallica 'Kapo' Reynolds. In 1984, already in his eighties and suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, Marriott was commissioned to create a life-sized bronze figure of reggae singer Bob Marley, to be installed in Celebrity Park near the National stadium. The sculpture was completed in his studio in north London, as Marriott worked under the supervision of a physician. His assistant Neville Garrick later recalled that with medication Marriott’s hands would be steady for at least a four-hour session. He also added that he had never seen such a personal struggle and such courage as was needed to finish the work (Brian R. Owens).

In 1965 Marriott was awarded a gold Musgrave Medal by the Institute of Jamaica and in 1967 the Jamaica Badge of Honour in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for long and meritorious service to the nation in the field of arts. He was also awarded Artist of the Year in 1969. Marriott retired to Florida, USA, where he lived with his daughter and her family. Alvin Marriott died on 25 September 1992 in Miami, Florida, USA, at the age of 90. His work is not currently represented in any UK public collections.

Related books

Veerle Poupeye, Caribbean Art (London: Thames & Hudson, 2022)
Emma Roberts, Jamaica Making: The Theresa Roberts Art Collection (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2022)
Amanda Bidnall, The West Indian Generation: Remaking British Culture in London, 1945-1965 (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2017), p. 46
Petrina Dacre, 'Marriott, Alvin', in Franklin W. Knight and Henry Louis Gates, Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016)
Amanda Bidnall, 'The Birth Pangs of a New Nation: West Indian Artists in London, 1945–1965', dissertation, Boston College (2010)
Jerry Philogene, National Narratives, Caribbean Identities, Diasporic memories: Haitian and Jamaican Modern Art 1920-1950, dissertation, New York University (2009)
'Hon. Alvin Marriot [sic] Dies at 89', Weekly Gleaner, 29 November 1992
Norman Rae, 'Marriott's Sculpture', Daily Gleaner, 7 March 1967
'Artist of the Year', Daily Gleaner, 9 July 9 1969, p. 24
'Another Laurel', Daily Gleaner, 9 March 1962
'Alvin Mariott's Show', Daily Gleaner, 24 January 1959

Related organisations

Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (student and teacher)
Jamaica School of Arts and Crafts (teacher)
Musgrave Medal (recipient)

Selected exhibitions

Ten Jamaican Sculptors, Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London (1975)

Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Alvin Marriott]