Born: 1922 Aarhus, Denmark
Died: 2008 London, United Kingdom
Year of Migration to the UK: 1948
Other name/s: Eva Castle , Eva Skytte Birkefeldt, Eva Hauerbach, Eva Britton
Biography
Sculptor Eva Castle Britton (née Skytte Birkefeldt) was born on 6 December 1922 in Aarhus, Denmark, one of three children of a church organist. After initial training in art in Denmark and work as a scene painter at the theatre in Aarhus, she studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1944 to 1947 (David Buckman ed., 2006). During the Second World War she became connected to the Danish Resistance through her involvement with Sven Hauerbach, a member of the Samsing Group; they later married, though Hauerbach died in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. She also produced watercolour sketches of Grethe Bartram, a Nazi double agent who had betrayed Resistance members; it has been noted that offering Bartram her choice of these sketches may have contributed to her survival (National Portrait Gallery, person record mp142126). After the war she came to London and enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1948 to 1950, where she studied with the sculptors A. H. Gerrard and F. E. McWilliam (Buckman); she later described the Royal Academy in Copenhagen as 'a very traditional school' in contrast to her experience at the Slade ('Eva Britton: harsh materials into gentle art', TV Times, 17 November 1972). She subsequently married the former RAF pilot Clive Castle and, following his death, the actor Tony Britton in the early 1960s; their son Jasper was born in December 1962.
Castle Britton's sculptural practice was characterised by a wide range of materials. She worked in wire, plastic metal, stone, terracotta, ceramics and broken glass; a 1972 press profile described the productive contrast between these 'harsh materials' and the 'gentle art' they yielded (TV Times, 17 November 1972). Her ceramic work included individually shaped pieces produced through improvised methods, as well as figurines depicting the signs of the zodiac, described in contemporary accounts as 'very lively and elegant' (ibid.). Her subjects were drawn from the domestic and personal: family members, pets and portrait sitters, the latter of whom she described as becoming friends through the sitting process. Her work also reflected a sustained engagement with the art of antiquity, cultivated through visits to Italy and Cyprus, particularly evident in her approach to stone carving. An earlier phase of her career had involved incorporating old clocks and timepieces into sculptural work, but by the early 1970s she had moved away from this approach.
Castle Britton was a founding member of the Society of Portrait Sculptors and exhibited with the society from its earliest exhibitions. At the third annual exhibition at the Imperial Institute, London in 1955, she showed a study of the Duchess of Kent and a bronze portrait of the athlete Chris Chataway, described by the Kensington Post as the work of a 'younger sculptor' (Birmingham Daily Post, 3 December 1955; Kensington Post, 16 December 1955); a photograph of Castle Britton alongside Chris Chataway at this exhibition is held by the National Portrait Gallery (NPG, portrait mw236678). She also exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Chenil Gallery, the City of Bradford Spring Exhibition and with the National Society and the Contemporary Art Society, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors (F.R.B.S.) (Buckman; TV Times, 17 November 1972). In 1957 she worked as guest artist at the Chelsea Pottery in London (TV Times, 17 November 1972). Her commissions included a sculptural portrait of Lord Dowding (1882-1970), now held at the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, a Madonna for St. John's Church, Newbury, a Madonna for Umvukwe Church, Zimbabwe, and a work for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, London.
Eva Castle Britton died in London, England on 16 December 2008. Works by Castle Britton are held in UK public collections, including the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon, while her photographic portrait is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. The Ben Uri Research Unit welcomes contributions from researchers or family members who may have further biographical information..
Michal Mel
Related books
- Brian Pendreigh, 'Obituary: Tony Britton, Character Actor Who Was a Well-Known TV Face, and Father of Presenter Fern', The Scotsman, 8 January 2020
- 'Deaths: Eva Castle', The Times, 24 December 2008, p. 52
- Barbara Denny, 'Eva Britton: Harsh Materials into Gentle Art', TV Times, 17 November 1972, p. 9
- Who's Who in Art, 11th edition (London: Art Trade Press, 1962), p. 128
- 'Annual Exhibition of the Society of Portrait Sculptors at the Imperial Institute', Kensington Post, 16 December 1955, p. 4
- 'Eva Castle: Danish Sculptress with Her Study of the Duchess of Kent', Birmingham Daily Post, 3 December 1955
Public collections
Related organisations
- Slade School of Fine Art (student)
- Royal British Society of Sculptors (fellow)
- Society of Portrait Sculptors (founding member)
Related web links
Selected exhibitions
- The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, London (1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1969)
- Third Annual Exhibition of the Society of Portrait Sculptors, Imperial Institute, London (1955)
