Harold Parker

Who was Harold Parker?

Harold Parker was a British-born sculptor, raised in Australia and subsequently working in the UK.

His family moved to Brisbane, Australia in 1876 He studied at the Brisbane Technical College under John A Clarke and Godfrey Rivers, then in 1896 left for London where he studied under William Silver Frith, then worked as assistant to Thomas Brock, Hamo Thornycroft and Goscombe John.

He rented a studio near that of fellow sculptor John Tweed, and from 1903 to 1929 regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, and occasionally at the Old Salon, Paris. He was commissioned to portray Queensland expatriates and became a rival of Bertram Mackennal. In 1906 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. The triumph of his career came in 1908 when for £1000 the Chantrey Bequest purchased his 'Ariadne' for the Tate Gallery. In 1910 his 'Prometheus Bound' received a 'mention' at the Salon.

In 1911 the newly married Harold Parker visited Brisbane and was received enthusiastically, but apart from his First Breath of Spring to the Queensland National Art Gallery, sold none of his work.