Meadows, Bernard

Meadows, Bernard (1915–2005). British sculptor, mainly in bronze, born in Norwich. After studying at Norwich School of Art, 1934–6, he was studio assistant to Henry Moore in London, 1936–9. He had two periods of study at the Royal College of Art, 1938–40 and 1946–8, interrupted by war service in the RAF, 1941–6. During his period in the RAF he spent some time on the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean, from which he derived the crab motif that he used in many of his works (Black Crab, Tate Gallery, London, 1952). Characteristically his sculpture is abstract but suggests animal and plant forms—during the 1960s he sometimes used real fruits in his casting. Meadows taught at Chelsea School of Art, 1940–60, and was professor of sculpture at the Royal College of Art, 1960–80.