Frank Martin

Vocation

British sculptor, who served as head of the sculpture department of Saint Martin's School of Art from 1952 to 1979. He brought young and forward-thinking sculptors into the department to teach, among them Anthony Caro, Robert Clatworthy, Elizabeth Frink and Eduardo Paolozzi. They and those round them came to be known as the New Generation of British sculptors. The young Frank Martin studied at Portsmouth Art School, and moved to London where he worked as an artist's model. He also worked as a sculptor's assistant, first to Charles Wheeler, later president of the Royal Academy, and then, for about two years until the outbreak of war, for William McMillan, for whom he also sat. During the Second World War Martin was a Royal Marine. After the war he studied part-time at the Royal Academy Schools. In 1946 or 1947 he began teaching clay modelling at Saint Martin's, and soon after was asked to set up a sculpture department. Martin died of cancer at his home in Clacton-on-Sea on 19 January 2004. Link to Wikipedia biography