Granite Fountain with two swans entwined by Willi Soukop, film 1996, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon, England
The gardens were created by Dorothy Elmhirst with the involvement of major landscape designers Beatrix Farrand and Percy Cane and feature a tiltyard (thought actually to be the remains of an Elizabethan water garden) and major sculptures, including examples by Henry Moore, Willi Soukop and Peter Randall-Page.
Willi (Wilhelm Josef) Soukop was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1907. His father committed suicide in 1919. To help his mother, who had two other children to care for, he began carving umbrella handles and ivory boxes for a local trader. This income, together with his earnings as an apprentice engraver, enabled him to study at the Academy of Fine Art, Vienna, 1928-34. In 1934, he was invited to work at Dartington Hall, which allowed him to escape the escalation of political and economic problems in Vienna. At Dartington he was given the use of a studio, a teaching post, and access to an international network of arts contacts.
Granite Fountain with two swans entwined by Willi Soukop, film 1996, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon, England
The gardens were created by Dorothy Elmhirst with the involvement of major landscape designers Beatrix Farrand and Percy Cane and feature a tiltyard (thought actually to be the remains of an Elizabethan water garden) and major sculptures, including examples by Henry Moore, Willi Soukop and Peter Randall-Page.
Willi (Wilhelm Josef) Soukop was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1907. His father committed suicide in 1919. To help his mother, who had two other children to care for, he began carving umbrella handles and ivory boxes for a local trader. This income, together with his earnings as an apprentice engraver, enabled him to study at the Academy of Fine Art, Vienna, 1928-34. In 1934, he was invited to work at Dartington Hall, which allowed him to escape the escalation of political and economic problems in Vienna. At Dartington he was given the use of a studio, a teaching post, and access to an international network of arts contacts.