Dr Fenwick Justin John Lawson carved many sculptures from trees in Durham and was a familiar and much-loved figure
Fenwick Lawson(Image: @TarkId=363298)
A North East sculptor who was renowned for depicting the Northumbrian saints has died at the age of 93. Dr Fenwick Justin John Lawson carved many sculptures from trees in Durham and was a familiar and much-loved figure.
His work was rooted in the landscape and history of the north of England and he was particularly well known for his depictions of the great Northumbrian saints, Cuthbert and Bede. His works can be found across the country, as well as two sculptures in Rome at the The Pontifical Beda College.
The main concentration of his work was in Durham city. These include ‘The Journey’ in Millenium Square, ‘The Pieta’ and ‘Sarcophagus’ in Durham Cathedral, ‘Cuthbert of Farne’, ‘Gaia’ and ‘Jacob and the Angel’ in St Mary-le-Bow, and ‘Cry For Justice’, ‘The Hostage’, ‘Young Bede’, ‘The Burning Bush’ ‘Celtic Spirit’ and ‘The Wheel Cross’.
The Journey sculpture(Image: NEC)
Funding for the bronze casting of ‘The Journey’ was raised through public donation and was unveiled by The Princess Royal in September 2008. Born into a coal mining family on May 19, 1932 in South Moor, County Durham, Fenwick spent much of his childhood in the neighbouring villages of The Middles and Craghead.
On leaving Stanley Grammar School, he was assigned as a pupil architect to Durham County Council. He studied art at Sunderland College of Art and the Royal College of Art, London under John Skeaping, where he was influenced by the sculptures of Sir Jacob Epstein and the medieval tombs in Westminster Abbey, experimenting with wood, clay and mixed media.
In 1958 and 1959, having been awarded the Sir James Knott Travelling Scholarship, Fenwick completed his studies travelling in France, Italy and Greece, being inspired by the sculptural masters such as Michelangelo and Donatello and by the simplicity of form in Cycladic art. On returning to the North East, he taught at St Aidan’s and St Joseph’s between 1959 and 1961 before being appointed as the first lecturer in sculpture at Newcastle College of Art.
ARTIST FENWICK LAWSON, WITH HIS WORK THE PIETA AT DURHAM CATHEDERAL.(Image: @TarkId=33207)
When this merged into Newcastle Polytechnic in 1970, he became a principal lecturer and Head of Sculpture before retiring from teaching in 1984. At the time of his first one man show at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, Fenwick was established as one of the emerging generation of ‘neo-brutalists’.
His work, largely in welded and distressed scrap metal, was powerful and uncompromisingly non-figurative, inspired by Auguste Rodin’s definition of sculpture as ‘the art of the hole and the lump’. In the 1970’s his focus returned to wood carving and to figurative work, initially exploring religious themes.
During his career, Fenwick had many exhibitions including being the invited artist at the Humanism in Contemporary British Sculpture exhibition in 1985, in Oxford, followed by exhibitions at the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank, London, and the Glynn Vivian art gallery in Oxford and Swansea, where he was also the invited Artist in Residence.
The statue of St, Bede by Fenwick Lawson at St. Paul’s Church in Jarrow.(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
He was chosen to be the invited sculptor at the Royal Academy Summer Show, in 1994 after exhibiting there in 1992. Fenwick was also visiting lecturer at many at colleges, including the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, Scotland and at the Royal Academy in London. He worked with architects on various projects including Ralph Pattisson, but most notably, between 1965-97, with his friend, Vincente Stienlet.
They were able to work together as artist and architect on six new churches and three alterations for the RC Dioceses of Hexham and Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Leeds and Hallam. Fenwick was always engaged from an early stage so that his work was an integral part of the design. As part of his collaboration with architects, he also produced other elements including altars, stained glass screens and windows, ambo’s and lecterns, baptismal fonts, processional crosses, paschal candles and stations of the cross.
Katie Corrigan, with artist Fenwick Lawson(Image: handout)
Fenwick was awarded a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) from Durham University in 2008 and was also made an Honorary Freeman of the City of Durham in the same year. The family house in Bow Lane, his studio from 1977, was recognized with a blue plaque in 2024.
Fenwick shared his life with Joan, who he had been married to for for 74 years. They had four children, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He passed away on January 23, 2026.