Laurence Broderick

Laurence Broderick FRSA (18 June 1935 – 18 April 2024) was a British sculptor. His best known work is 'The Bull', a public sculpture erected in 2003 at the Bull Ring, Birmingham. The Bull is about 4.5 meters long, about 220 cm high and weighs about 6.5 tons. It is one of the largest bronze animal sculptures in the country. His work consists largely of figurative carvings in stone and editions in bronze.

Laurence Broderick MRBS, FRSA
Broderick with The Bull
Born	(1935-06-18)18 June 1935 Bristol, England
Died	18 April 2024(2024-04-18) (aged 88) Waresley, Cambridgeshire, England
Nationality	British
Education	Bembridge School
Alma mater	Regent Street Polytechnic Hammersmith School of Art
Occupation	Sculptor

The Bull

Early life

Broderick was born in Bristol, in the west of England, on 18 June 1935, and attended Bembridge School on the Isle of Wight. He studied painting, illustration and sculpture under Ray Millard and Geoffrey Deeley at the Regent Street Polytechnic from 1952 to 1957, and with Sidney Harpley and Keith Godwin at the Hammersmith School of Art from 1964 to 1965.

Career

Broderick began his artistic career as an historical and educational illustrator and painter. He taught Art at the Haberdashers' Aske's School in Cricklewood from 1959 and Elstree from 1961, and was Director of Art there from 1965 to 1981. He continued working as a freelance artist and sculptor throughout this period and became a full-time sculptor in 1981.

Predominantly a stone carver, working with many types of stone including: Marble, Alabaster, Soapstone, Hopton Wood and Ancaster Limestone, he also modelled in clay, plasticine, plaster and wax for casting in bronze.

In 1983, he competed as part of the British snow sculpture team during The Quebec Winter Carnival. The team gained second place.

Broderick was a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

In 1978, Broderick visited the Isle of Skye with his young family where he saw his first wild otter. It was just off the Island of Ornsay, once owned by Gavin Maxwell, the Scottish naturalist and author best known for his work with otters. Skye became Broderick's second home and he held annual sculpture exhibitions on the island for 26 years. For many years he divided his time between his studios on Skye and Waresley near Cambridge, England.

Broderick was joint president of the International Otter Survival Fund, a charity dedicated to the conservation, protection and care of otters in the UK and around the world.

Death

Broderick died on 18 April 2024, at the age of 88.

Commissions and collections

Maxwell Otter at ADC Engineering Aberdeen

Leaping salmon, Chester Business Park

June Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair

Lord Philimore, bronze portrait

Indian Elephant Calf, Collection Royal Caribbean International

Otter Sculpture unveiling by HRH Princess Anne Loch Lomond

Madonna of the Magnificat, Dunstable Priory

Lord Macdonald, bronze portrait

International Tennis Federation World Champion Trophies 2009

Snow Elephants 1983 Quebec Winter Carnival

• The Bull, Birmingham
• Leaping Salmon, Chester Business Park
• Annual World Champion Trophies, International Tennis Federation
• Goddess Athena and the Owl, Royal Caribbean International
• Family of Otters, E.ON UK plc, Coventry
• Turtle, Prudential plc Art Collection, London
• Mother and Child, Diageo plc, Perth.
• Indian Elephant Calf, Royal Caribbean International
• Teko, Kyleakin, Isle of Skye
• Madonna and Child, All Saints, Weston-super-Mare
• Tortoise, Turtle & Mayan Figures, Vision of the Seas
• Crucifix, The Priory, Christchurch
• Madonna of the Magnificat, The Priory, Dunstable
• St Mark and the Lion, St Mark's, Mansfield
• Sir Roy Calne, Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge
• June Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, Haddo Arts Trust
• Philippe Chatrier, International Tennis Federation, Stade Roland Garros, Paris
• Maxwell Otter, ADC Ltd, Aberdeen.
• Teko, Balloch, Loch Lomond.
• Elephant Calf, Java Hill Resort, Crozet, Ain, France.

Exhibitions

Group shows with the Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Society of British Artists, Contemporary Portrait Society, Society of Wildlife Artists and the Royal West of England Academy.

Exhibitions in Scotland, England, Jersey, France, Monaco, Germany, USA and Canada.

Published works

• Soapstone Carving. Tiranti. 1977. ISBN 978-0854586264.

Works containing Broderick's illustrations

• Ports and Harbours. Macdonald Phoebus.
• Henry Purcell and his Times. Hamish Hamilton.
• Uncle Matt's Mountain. New York St Martin's Press.
• Persia The Immortal Kingdom. New York Graphic Society Publishers.
• Everyday Life in Imperial Japan. Hippocrene Books Inc.
• Everyday Life in Traditional Japan. Tuttle Publishing.

External links

• Tributes pour in after death of Waresley sculptor Laurence Broderick
• Cambridgeshire artist who designed Birmingham's Bullring bull dies
• Laurence Broderick, 88: ‘Otter man of Skye’ and Birmingham bull sculptor (subscription required) at The Times
• Laurence Broderick obituary at The Guardian
• The Birmingham Bullring Bull: 22 fun costumes styled by the Brummie icon through the years
• Tributes pour in for the creator of Birmingham’s iconic Bullring bull at The Times
• Birmingham's Bullring Bull declared one of the world's top public works of art at Birmingham Mail
• The Bull of the Bullring - an amazing fashion icon through the years at Birmingham Mail
• The story behind the Bull sculpture at the Bullring shopping centre at Birmingham Mail
• Tributes to creator of Birmingham's Bullring bull at BBC News
• Sculptor who gave Birmingham its Bullring bull dies at 88 at Birmingham Mail
• Installation of The Bull at Birmingham Bullring
• The International Otter Survival Fund
• Top Ten Public Art at The Independent
• YouTube Gallery