Michael Black (sculptor)

Michael Black (1928 – 14 February 2019) was a British sculptor who lived and worked in Oxford. He is best known for carving the Emperors' Heads outside the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.

One of Black's carved heads outside the Sheldonian Theatre

Old head donated by Black's family to Wadham College

Biography

Michael Black was born in Portsmouth in 1928. His father was a vicar. After National Service Black moved to Oxford and studied at St Catherine's College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford.

Whilst a student, Black began working as a sculptor's assistant, before securing his own commissions.

In 1970, Black was commissioned to create 17 replacements for the Emperor's Heads outside the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. The original heads had been carved in Clipsham stone, by William Byrd between 1664 and 1669, before being replaced in 1868. The newer statues eroded faster than the older statues and thus needed to be replaced sooner. Black carved the replacement statues in his studio at Folly Bridge and then at Medley Manor Farm, Binsey, Oxford.

Black was also involved in restoration work at Wadham College, where he worked with Edgar Firth to recarve elements of the college's facade.

The statues were replaced by Black's new heads in 1972. The family later donated one of the original 17th-century heads to Wadham College; it is located in college gardens.

Personal life and death

Michael Black was married to the Oxford painter Jacqueline Black (1933–2000), with whom he had four children. Black died on 14 February 2019 aged 90.

Sources

• Garnett, Jane; Davies, C. S. L. (1994). Wadham College. Oxford: Wadham College.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Sherwood, Jennifer (1975). Oxfordshire (3rd ed.). Penguin. ISBN 0140710450.