Glasgow - City of Sculpture
By Gary Nisbet
Phyllis Muriel Cowan Archibald
(1880-1947)

Exchange and Security
The daughter of a designer, she was born in Turnbridge Wells and studied sculpture at GSA , winning a Diploma in 1908.

Her commissions include the Memorial Tablet to A H Charteris in Kirk O' Field Church, Edinburgh, which features a portrait relief, and the choirstall figures in the Congregational Church, Whitchurch (1910).

She also produced the models for at least two important commissions for architectural sculpture in Glasgow, of which only one example survives.

These were for the figures representing Science, Industry and Learning on J J Burnet 's McGeoch's Warehouse, 28 West Campbell Street, executed by Holmes & Jackson (1905-6, dem. 1971); and the figures representing: Exchange, Security, Prudence and Adventure, on the Royal Bank of Scotland, 30 St Enoch's Square (1906-7), executed by McGilvray & Ferris .

From 1908-33, she exhibited work at the RSA , including portraits in bronze of Lady Archibald and Professor Smart, 1908; Mischief, 1910; The Pillar of Salt, 1920; Demeter, 1925; and David Dancing Before the Ark, 1933.

Whilst studying in Glasgow, she lived at 20 Kew Gardens and 13 Highburgh Terrace, and then, after becoming Mrs Charles Clay, moved to 3 Wildwood Rise, London, and Thyme Cottage, Bletchingley, Surrey, before settling at Grasmere, Westmoreland.

Sources:

 
Works in our Database:
#280 1: St Enoch Square (City Centre),
Royal (formerly National) Bank of Scotland, 22-4 St Enoch Square
Symbolic Figures and Associated Decorative Carving (1906-7)
Sculptors: PMC Archibald; Executed by: McGilvray & Ferris,
Architect: AN Paterson; Builder: Alexander Muir & Sons; Foundry: JW Singer & Sons
 
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