Bust

James Butler made this bust in the 1950s when he was an evening student at the City and Guilds of London Art School. At the time he was earning a living as a stone carver working on various stone sculptures on new buildings in London.

Geoffrey Whitworth's wife and son commissioned James Butler to make the bust from photographs since there was an existing bust made by Oscar Nemon which they did not like and wanted one to replace it. The bust would have been cast in the Meridian Bronze foundry in Peckham in London. James Butler remembered that when he was making the bust in clay his wife who came to see the head commented that he should: 'pay attention to the eyes for he had such poetic eyes!'