Allward, Walter Seymour

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Allward, Walter Seymour

1875-1955

Walter Allward (1875-1955) was probably Canada's most important monumental sculptor in the first third of this century. Born in Toronto, he first worked as a draughtsman for an architectural firm and subsequently modelled terra cotta decorative panels for the Don Valley Brick Company. His first commission was for the figure of Peace for the North West Rebellion Monument at Queen's Park, Toronto in 1894. While he later received commissions for portrait monuments (the Simcoe Monument (1896?-1903), Sir Oliver Mowat (1899?-1905) and J.S. Macdonald (1907-1909), all at Queen's Park), his preference was for more allegorical interpretations as evidenced in his South African War Memorial (1904-1910) on University Avenue in Toronto and the Baldwin-Lafontaine Monument (1907-1914) on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Yet his most notable early success was the Alexander Graham Bell Monument (1908-1917) in Brantford, Ontario. In 1912 he was awarded the contract for the King Edward VII memorial in Ottawa of which only two figures, Truth and Justice, were cast in 1923 and which are now installed in front of the Supreme Court in Ottawa. The most important commission Allward received was for the monument to Canadians killed in the First World War at Vimy, France, a project which would occupy him from 1921 to its unveiling in 1936 on the eve of the Second World War.

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