William Forsyth: Sculptor and Ecclesiastical & Domestic Decorator

Published to mark the centenary of his death in Worcester on 5 June 1915 and based on contemporaneous sources, this reference book is the first comprehensive study of William Forsyth’s life and work. Its publication begins the process of correcting the many wrong assumptions and factual errors made during the last 50 years. William Forsyth can now be re-positioned as an important precedent for those interested in inter-disciplinary collaboration, cross-art form working and city-building. “...cast–iron columns with extraordinary foliage capitals by William Forsyth, boldly three-dimensional, vividly coloured...cleverly introduced the foliage of the plants of the neighbourhood", The Builder, 1863. Research undertaken between 2011 and 2015 has identified that William Forsyth worked on 89 buildings and monuments, not including individual grave markers or general building work, and that he collaborated with some 102 different architects, builders, artists and allied tradesmen. William Forsyth’s life and work tell us much about the art of place-making. For almost sixty years, he was embedded in the social fabric and physical expression of the city of Worcester, and of nearby places like Malvern. He was “of this city” and made extraordinary art in collaboration with others.