Benno Elkan - Biography

Benno Elkan OBE (2 December 1877, Dortmund, Westphalia - 10 January 1960, London) was a German-born British sculptor and medallist. Married to Hedwig Einstein, sister of Carl Einstein and a concert pianist in her own right. Together they had two children: Ursula and Wolf, both of whom emigrated to the United States.

Education

• Gymnasium, Dortmund
• Château du Rosey, Rolle, nr Lausanne
• Royal Academy, Munich and Karlsruhe i/B as painter
• Self-trained as sculptor

Career

He studied and worked in Paris, Rome and Frankfurt am Main, and lived in London following the rise of the Nazis in 1933. His works included tombs, busts, medals and monuments. He was an exhibitor in International Exhibitions in Germany, France, Italy, and England; his works are in many museums in Europe.

Some major works

• The first statue in Britain of Sir Walter Raleigh, now at Greenwich
• Oran-Utan group, Edinburgh Zoological Gardens
• Mowgli's Jungle Friends, plaque in lead on Rudyard Kipling Memorial Building, Windsor
• Bronze candelabra with Biblical figures at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, New College, Oxford and Buckfast Abbey
• Two Great Bronze Candelabra of the Old and New Testament with about 80 figures erected in Westminster Abbey
• Tomb for Abbot Anscar Vonier in Buckfast Abbey
• Great War Memorial, To the Victims, Symbol of All Mourning Mothers at Frankfort am Main, removed by the Nazis in 1933, re-erected 1946
• Fighting Cock life size in silver gilt for Arsenal Football Club
• Seven-branched Candelabra (Menorah) for the Knesset in Jerusalem (a gift of British parliamentary members and others)

• Who was Who
• Dictionary of National Biography