This site celebrates the life and work of sculptor John
Cassidy (1860 - 1939).
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14 January 2012: Newly updated features, thanks to contributions from readers, include Harry Houdini and King Edward VII.
9 January 2012: Cassidy's 'Ship Canal Digger' disappears from public view.
12 November 2011: Feature on 'Adrift' updated to reflect its removal (again) to storage.
25 October 2011: The bust of Harry Houdini
(1914) and its adventures.
20 September 2011: An hour with a Sculptor. Cassidy in the Evening Chronicle, 1899.
8 August 2011: The John Kay memorial in Bury has been refurbished - and so has our feature about it!
29 July 2011: The List of Works and the Catalogue of a small collection have both been updated in the light of new information, particulary from the new Mapping of Sculpture website created at Glasgow University.
28 July 2011: The Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, of which Cassidy was a member, is still going strong and its annual exhibition is open at Bury Museum & Art Gallery until 3 September.
8 July 2011: A new feature: Stourbridge War Memorial (1922).
History:
Visits in 2009: 5769
Visits in 2010: 10271
Visits in 2011: 7831
John Cassidy, by Reginald Barber (1900). Courtesy of Manchester Art Gallery
This site developed from Charlie's interest in the John Rylands Library, Manchester, and its statues. He created a small online exhibition there about John Cassidy, which led to contacts with Cassidy admirers in Scotland and Ireland, and in turn to the creation of this larger tribute. We are not professional historians; if you find inaccuracies here, please let us know.
'Of all the sculptors mentioned
[in this book], John Cassidy is the most intriguing. A biography would
focus directly on the little-researched world of the provincial
sculptor. Given the range of his output - from statues and busts to war
memorials and architectural sculpture - it would appear that
versatility was one of the attributes needed by sculptors outside
London if they were to survive.' - Derek Brumhead and Terry Wyke. A walk round Manchester sculptures.
Walkround Books, 1990.
As you browse the features, you will find that we follow trains of thought and journeys inspired by Cassidy's work and the people he portrayed, as well as offering what biographical information we can discover, and illustrating and describing as many of his works as we can locate. We hope you find something of interest.
Special thanks to everyone who has helped with research and shown interest, especially Doug Cassidy, John Canner, John Doyle, Frances Lee Gargan, Sheila Crehan, Sheila Dewsbury, and all the archivists at the John Rylands Library.
(Then again, if you are looking for his modern namesake John
Cassidy, magician and balloon sculptor, you want www.johncassidy.com)