Anita Mandl was born to Jewish parents in Prague in 1926 and escaped to England in 1939, as one of the so-called 'Winton children', on a Kindertransport organised by British humanitarian, Nicholas Winton. Her first career was as a medical researcher; however, while working at the Medical School, University of Birmingham, she took sculpture classes at Birmingham College of Art, gaining early success. In 1965, she married and moved to Devon, setting up a home studio, from where she continued to sculpt, best known for forms inspired by nature.
Sculptor Anita Mandl was born to a Jewish family in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1926 and came as a refugee to England in 1939, with her brother, as one of the so-called 'Winton children', who travelled on a Quaker-sponsored Kindertransport organised by British humanitarian, Nicholas Winton. Her father died soon after the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia and her mother was deported to Terezín (Theresienstadt) concentration camp (which held many Czechoslovak women) where she perished. On arrival in England, Mandl's guardian was Anne Stephens, a Quaker schoolmistress in London, where she began her English education. She was soon transferred to the care of one of Anne's sisters, Mrs. Rogers in Dudley, near Birmingham. On leaving Dudley High School in 1942 she trained as a zoologist at Birkbeck College, University of London, gaining a first class honours degree in 1947, before becoming a Research Assistant at the Royal London Hospital. She then joined the staff of the Medical School, University of Birmingham, gaining a PhD in 1951, followed by a DSc in 1960.
During this time, she attended evening classes in sculpture locally at Birmingham College of Art, where she completed her first wood-carving in mahogany in 1955. Her teacher, Bill Daley, encouraged her to pursue sculpture, and she worked on figurative and animal pieces, with early success. Her carved Family Group (1958/1959) was presented to Birmingham University following its exhibition with the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1960, and she executed several portrait commissions, including bronze busts of the distinguished zoologists, South African-born, Jewish émigré, Sir Solomon Zuckerman (University of Birmingham Research and Cultural Collections; correspondence between Mandl and Zuckerman is held by the British Archives for Contemporary Writing, University of East Anglia) and Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell CBE FRS FZS (c. 1965, Zoological Society London collection). Mandl spent several holidays attending Summer Schools at Attingham Park in Shropshire where she was able to immerse herself in carving. In 1965, she married, resigned her University Readership and moved to Devon, where she set up a sculpture studio in her garden, where she continued to carve for the rest of her life. In 1978 she became a member of the Royal West of England Academy (FRWA) in Bristol, and in 1980, a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors (FRBS).
The majority of Mandl's sculptures are simplified animal forms, with highly polished surfaces, in which extraneous details are eliminated in order to enhance the beauty of the natural materials with which she worked. While Mandl's early carvings were mostly hardwoods, she subsequently turned to alabaster, soapstone and marble and, for some time, experimented with two-tone effects and polished areas with chiselled or scratched finishes or inlaid resins. Unusually for a stone carver, many of Mandl's pieces were also cast in bronze. Since 1987 her works were cast by Pangolin Editions at their Gloucestershire foundry; some of the bronzes were patinated in two contrasting colours, and Mandl also worked in silver. Mandl exhibited many times in the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art, London, with Ben Uri's then Secretary, Barry Fealdman praising her Hippopotamus in his review in the Jewish Chronicle (19 June 1981, p. 17). In May 1992, she joined Franta Belsky and Irena Sedlecka in exhibiting a group of her animal sculptures as part of Czech and Slovak Sculpture in Great Britain at the Czechoslovak Embassy. In 2002 she was one of four Czech sculptors who exhibited at the New Academy Gallery in London, and her work is now held by private and corporate collections, including Pictet Fund Managers and Mercury Asset Management, London. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has also awarded her Young Hippo sculptures as prizes for its annual Stamford Raffles Award, succeeding Animal Form sculptures by Henry Moore. In October 2017, in a blog posted by the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Mandl was cited as a particular influence on young sculptor Jo Naden.
Anita Mandl died at home in Devon, England on 24 December 2022. Her work is represented in UK public collections, including the Royal West of England Academy, University of Birmingham, and Zoological Society of London.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Anita Mandl]
Publications related to [Anita Mandl] in the Ben Uri Library