Richard Garbe


Richard Louis Garbe was a British sculptor.
Richard Louis Garbe was born in Dalston, London, on 26 October 1876, with a twin Franz Paul Garbe. He had been christened Louis Richard, but was known as Richard. His father was Gustave Garbe, a Prussian ivory carver. Richard studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts as well as learning his father's trade. In 1892 and 1893 he was awarded prizes for his wood carvings by the Turners Company at their annual exhibition at the Mansion House.
He taught at Central School of Arts and Crafts and was also Head of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. He was elected an Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1929 and full Academician in 1936. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition from 1898 to 1957. In 1929 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, while in 1938 he was elected as the Master of the Art Workers' Guild.
His work is in many major collections, including the Tate. In the 1930s he produced ceramic sculptures for Royal Doulton.
Some of his major architectural work was Medieval Age and Modern Age for National Museum Cardiff, and in London his sculptures are on Five Kings House by Southwark Bridge.
In 1908 he married Gertrude Julia Sabey in Barnet. He had lived in Hornchurch and died on 28 July 1957 at Milton Way House, Westcott, Surrey, where he had lived from about 1933.

Works Exhibited at the Royal Academy

YearTitleType
1898MemoriesBust
1899Portrait of a childBust
1901L'inconnueHead; marble
1902A song to passing summerPanel; ivory
1904SereniteRelief; marble
1905Echo and NarcissusGroup; bronze
1906Der SelbstsuchtigerStatue
1907Man and the idealGroup
1908The idealistGroup
1909UndineStatuette
1910Man and the masksStatue
1911The EgoistStatuette; bronze
1911The voice of the pastRelief
1912The MagdalenesGroup
1913AdolescenceStatue
1914Mother and childGroup
1915Youth and the shadowRelief