{{Short description|Manx artist and sculptor (1930–2025)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox artist | image = Bryan Kneale.jpeg | caption = Kneale in 2025 | birth_name = Robert Bryan Charles Kneale | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|RA}} | birth_date = {{birthdate|1930|6|19|df=y}} | birth_place = Douglas, Isle of Man | death_date = {{death date and age|2025|9|19|1930|6|19|df=y}} | alma_mater = Douglas School of Art<br/>Royal Academy schools | name = Bryan Kneale | elected = Royal Academy of Arts (1970–2025) | relatives = Nigel Kneale (brother)<br>Matthew Kneale (nephew)<br>{{Ill|Tacy Kneale|de}} (niece)<br>Judith Kerr<br>(sister-in-law) }}
'''Robert''' '''Bryan Charles Kneale''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|RA}} (19 June 1930 – 19 September 2025) was a Manx artist and sculptor, described by BBC News Online as "one of the Isle of Man's best known artists."<ref name="bbc">{{cite web|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/isle_of_man/4439116.stm|title=Sculptor supports island museum|publisher=BBC News Online|date=15 November 2005|access-date=2007-02-11}}</ref>
==Life and career== Born in the island's capital, Douglas, on 19 June 1930,<ref name="sculpture">{{cite web|url=http://www.sculpture.org.uk/artist/51/bryan-kneale|title=Bryan Kneale|publisher=sculpture.org.uk|accessdate=2007-02-11|url-status = dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121124000853/http://www.sculpture.org.uk/artist/51/bryan-kneale|archivedate=24 November 2012}}</ref><ref name="rwa">{{cite web|url=http://www.rwa.org.uk/rwa-artists/academicians-listings/k/kneale-prof-bryan-ra-rwa/|title=Bryan Kneale|publisher=Royal West of England Academy|accessdate=2007-02-11|url-status = dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220152813/http://www.rwa.org.uk/rwa-artists/academicians-listings/k/kneale-prof-bryan-ra-rwa/|archivedate=20 December 2013}}</ref> Kneale studied painting at the Douglas School of Art, from which he graduated in 1947, and then moved to London, to study at the Royal Academy Schools.<ref name="ra">{{cite web |title=Bryan Kneale RA |url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/artist/bryan-kneale-ra |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150416185006/https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/artist/bryan-kneale-ra |archive-date=16 April 2015 |accessdate=11 February 2007 |publisher=Royal Academy}}</ref> In 1948, he won the Rome Prize and spent some time living in Italy.<ref name="sculpture"/> During the 1950s, he learned welding, and in 1960 took to sculpture in preference to painting and became a teacher.<ref name="sculpture"/>
Kneale taught at Hornsey College of Art and Design, and from 1963 until his retirement from teaching in 1995 he taught sculpture at the Royal College of Art.<ref name="ra"/> He was also Master and later Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy between 1982 and 1990.<ref name="rwa"/> In addition to his teaching, numerous exhibitions of his own painting and sculpture work have been held since 1953,<ref name="sculpture"/> and his works are displayed in countries such as Australia, Brazil, England, New Zealand and the United States.<ref name="sculpture"/> In the U.S., the Museum of Modern Art in New York City includes examples of his work amongst its public collections<ref name="rwa"/> and in England his work is displayed at Manchester Art Gallery.<ref name="ra" />
He was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Prize in 1952, as well as the ''Daily Express'' Young Painters' Prize (1955) and an Arts Council Purchase Award (1969).<ref name="ra"/> After a successful solo show at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1966, Kneale became the first abstract sculptor to be elected a Royal Academician in 1974. He accepted the honour only on the condition that he be allowed to curate a show of contemporary sculpture which resulted in a groundbreaking survey of some of the period's most exciting sculptors.{{cn|date=September 2025}}
Kneale was the younger brother of the screenwriter Nigel Kneale (1922–2006),<ref name="murray">{{cite book |last=Murray |first=Andy |title=Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale |publisher=Headpress |year=2006 |isbn=1-900486-50-4 |location=London |type=paperback}}</ref> best known for his ''Quatermass'' television serials. Kneale illustrated the covers for Penguin Books' releases of his elder brother's ''Quatermass'' scripts in 1960.<ref name="pixley">{{cite book | last=Pixley| first=Andrew | title=The Quatermass Collection – Viewing Notes | year=2005 |type=paperback|location=London|publisher=BBC Worldwide |id=BBCDVD1478}}</ref> He was also responsible for a painting of a lobster from which BBC special effects designers Bernard Wilkie and Jack Kine drew their inspiration for the Martian creatures they constructed for ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1958–59).<ref name="demons">{{cite video|people=Jack Kine and Bernard Wilkie|year=2005|title=Making Demons|type=DVD documentary using archive interview material. Extra feature on ''The Quatermass Collection'' set|publisher=BBC Worldwide}}</ref>
For his sculpture ''Capt Quilliam'', he received the 2007 Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture.<ref name="MCT">{{cite web |title=Marsh Award for Excellence in Public Sculpture |url=https://www.marshchristiantrust.org/award/marsh-award-for-excellence-in-public-sculpture/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402135402/https://www.marshchristiantrust.org/award/marsh-award-for-excellence-in-public-sculpture/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=2 April 2019 |publisher=Marsh Christian Trust |accessdate=2 April 2019}}</ref> He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours, for services to British Art.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=29 December 2018 |supp=y |issue=62507|pages=N19}}</ref><ref name="ra"/>
Kneale died on 19 September 2025, at the age of 95.<ref>{{Cite web |date=19 September 2025 |title=Acclaimed Manx sculptor Bryan Kneale dies |url=https://motorsport.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/acclaimed-manx-sculptor-bryan-kneale-dies/ |access-date=19 September 2025 |website=Manx Radio Motorsport}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Darwent |first=Charles |date=29 September 2025 |title=Bryan Kneale obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/sep/29/bryan-kneale-obituary |access-date=29 September 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Bryan Kneale}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201218/http://www.gov.im/lib/news/mnh/anewlimitedediti.xml Bryan Kneale] at the Isle of Man Government. * {{Art UK bio}} * [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/kneale_bryan.html Bryan Kneale] at [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/ ArtCyclopedia.com]. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090302094245/http://www.hartgallery.co.uk/artists/kneale/index.htm Bryan Kneale] at hartgallery.co.uk (The London-based Hart Gallery was closed down sometime time after 2012) * {{imdb name|11428915}} * {{discogs artist|Bryan Kneale}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kneale, Bryan}} Category:1930 births Category:2025 deaths Category:Academics of the Royal College of Art Category:Manx sculptors Category:Manx artists Category:Members of the Royal West of England Academy Category:People from Douglas, Isle of Man Category:Royal Academicians Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Alumni of University College Isle of Man