Grizel Niven

English sculptor (1906–2007)

Grizel Niven

Niven in 1991

Born|

Grizel Rosemary Graham Niven

(1906-11-28)28 November 1906

Belgravia, London, England

Died| 28 January 2007(2007-01-28) (aged 100)
Known for| Sculpture
Notable work| Bessie, the award that is given to recipients of the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction

Grizel Rosemary Graham Niven (28 November 1906 – 28 January 2007) was a British sculptor. She created the figurine presented to the winner of the annual Women's Prize for Fiction, formerly the Orange Prize for Fiction, since its inception in 1996. Known as "The Bessie", the trophy is cast each year with a different mixture of bronze, making each award unique.

Niven created abstract and figurative works in a variety of materials such as fibreglass, resin, paint, metal, Perspex, and hardboard. For several years, she was the resident sculptor at the Edith Grove Gallery in Chelsea, London, which held a solo retrospective of her work.

## Early life and education

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Grizel Niven was born in Belgravia, London, in 1906, the third of four children of William Edward Graham Niven (1878-1915) and Henriette Degacher (1878-1932).[1][2][3] Her elder siblings were Margaret Joyce Niven (1900–1981), Henry Degacher Niven (1902–1953), and her younger brother was the actor, writer and soldier David Niven (1910-1983).[4] Grizel, pronounced "Grizzle", was described as "an odd Scots name" in her brother's authorised biography.[3][5]

Niven's mother, Henriette, was born in Brecon, Wales. Her father was Captain (brevet Major) William Degacher (1841–1879) of the 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, who was killed at the Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879.[6] Although born William Hitchcock, in 1874, he and his older brother Lieutenant Colonel Henry Degacher (1835–1902), both followed their father, Walter Henry Hitchcock, in taking their mother's maiden name of Degacher.[7][8] Henriette's mother was Julia Caroline Smith, the daughter of Lieutenant General James Webber Smith CB.

Niven's father, a lieutenant in the Berkshire Yeomanry of Scottish descent, was killed in action in Turkey during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War on 21 August 1915.[2] In 2002, Niven recalled "I remember my father only very slightly" and "He seldom came home and we weren't all that close as a family."[3] Of her mother, she said, "We always had a nurse or governess, but I don't know what [mother] did all day. She didn't do any work or painting, cooking or gardening."[3] Grizel and her brother David were close as siblings, and both suspected that William was not their real father.[9] Following his death their mother remarried in 1917 to diplomat and Conservative politician Sir Thomas Walter Comyn-Platt (1869-1961), whom Grizel said they disliked intensely.[9] Literary editor and biographer, Graham Lord, wrote in Niv: The Authorised Biography of David Niven, that Thomas Comyn-Platt and Henriette Niven may have been in an affair well before her husband's death in 1915 and that Comyn-Platt was actually David Niven's biological father, a supposition that had some support among David's siblings. In a review of Lord's book, Hugh Massingberd from The Spectator stated photographic evidence did show a strong physical resemblance between David Niven and Comyn-Platt that "would appear to confirm these theories, though photographs can often be misleading."[10] David is said to have revealed that he knew Comyn-Platt was his real father a year before his own death in 1983.[11]

The family moved to Rose Cottage in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight after selling their London home, where Grizel and David played cricket and sailed in a dinghy during school holidays.[4][12] Grizel Niven attended boarding school in Norfolk.[4] She discovered her love of carpentry when she had to make a set of wooden steps for the school library.[4] In 1930, Niven graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) with a diploma in Acting.[13][14] Following a brief career in theatre, she studied sculpture with Henry Moore at Chelsea Polytechnic.[15]

## Career

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### Acting

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After completing her studies at RADA, Niven joined a touring theatre group, acting alongside Jean Anderson, Robert Morley, and Sir John Clements.[15] In 1929, Niven's portrayal of Dolly Sales in the touring production of Many Waters was called out as "worthy of note".[16] She once shared a stage with Dame Edith Evans in the West End, playing her maid.[4][15]

### Sculpture

[edit]

As a sculptor, Niven was influenced by the abstract figures of Henry Moore, although she also created portrait sculptures including a "naturalistic" bust of her brother David.[4][15] She perfected a technique to create wall sculptures made of fibreglass, resin and paint.[15] Her interest in architecture and the way that light is reflected off buildings led her to experiment with metal strips on Perspex or card; she also created black-and-white paintings and drawings which she called Catoptrics.[1]

Niven was one of 20 finalists in The Unknown Political Prisoner competition in 1953.[1] In 1959, Niven, in collaboration with architect Paul Clinton, was awarded a £100 prize for one the six best designs in an international competition for the memorial sculpture at the Dachau Concentration Camp.[17][18][19] Their entry, the only one from England, was described as "an open square surrounded by a double wall of dark grey stone with the sculpture of two hands reaching for the sky in the centre".[17] The prize was eventually won by Nandor Glid (the son of parents murdered in Auschwitz) in 1967.[18][19]

In 1980, Niven's studio in Fulham was broken into by a burglar who stole valuables, including her carving tools for wood and stone, and smashed everything in sight.[4][9] Although some works which had been hidden were recovered and some were repaired, she lost the will to work for several months.[4][9]

Her work was shown in group exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts, as part of The London Group, and around the world.[17][4] When Niven was in her eighties, her work was featured in a solo retrospective at the Edith Grove Gallery in Chelsea, which continued for several years; she became known as the gallery's "resident sculptor".[4][1][20] She also had a solo exhibition at The Place.[1] The Cortauld Institute of Art holds information about Niven's work.[1] Her Abstract Figure (1991) is in the collection of the Harris Museum in Preston.[21]

### "The Bessie"

[edit]

Niven heard Kate Mosse talking on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour about setting up a Women's Prize for Fiction, and had her representative call Mosse to offer a cast of a sculpture of hers as a trophy.[22][23] The bronze Bessie figurine itself is 7.5 inches (19 cm) high.[24] Each year, the sculpture is recast with a different mixture of bronze, making each trophy unique.[25] Mosse once stated that the reason behind the name "Bessie" is that it is the first name of the benefactress of the annual £30,000 award, who wished to remain anonymous.[26][25]

When Bessie debuted as the Orange Women's Prize for Fiction trophy in 1996, The Daily Telegraph described it as "what sounds like a frightfully politically incorrect bauble – a bronze statuette of a nude woman, boasting prominent breasts".[26] In 2001, critic Helen Brown described the statuette in the same paper as "a small, female figure with a surface texture resembling the inside of a golf ball and peculiarly high-sitting breasts".[25] Brown quoted 2000 prize winner Linda Grant as saying, "When I got the Bessie I thought 'Oh God, what an ugly thing!' But now the more I look at her, the more I enjoy looking at her. She's on my mantelpiece as a concrete symbol of success".[25]

## Personal life

[edit]

Niven remained close to her brother David throughout his life, accompanying him to dinner with Elizabeth Taylor and producer Mike Todd, and to drinks with Jackie and John F. Kennedy before he became president.[4] David died in 1983 of motor neurone disease, leaving her £60,000.[27][4] In 1993, Grizel held an exhibition in Chelsea as a fundraiser for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.[27] In 2002, she was interviewed by Graham Lord as a source for David's biography titled Niv.[3]

Niven was a lesbian with a long-term partner.[9][28] Although David had bought her a house on Fulham Road, she disliked it, and lived alone for many years in a council flat on Jubilee Place in Chelsea.[9] She later moved to a care home in Hammersmith.[29][9] She died on 28 January 2007, aged 100.[29][30]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e f Buckman, David (1998). Dictionaries of Artists in Britain since 1945. Bristol: Art Dictionaries. p. 911\. ISBN 0-9532609-0-9.
2. ^ a b "We remember William Edward Graham Niven". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
3. ^ a b c d e Lord, Graham (9 January 2005). "'Niv'". New York Times. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Studholme, Alexander (8 May 1991). "A head start over Niven". Evening Standard. London, England. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
5. ^ Handy, Bruce (9 January 2005). "'Niv': Blithe Spirit". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
6. ^ "Marriages". The Times. 26 October 1888.
7. ^ "Notices". The Times. 18 February 1874. p. 1.
8. ^ "Henry James Degacher CB". www.britishempire.co.uk. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
9. ^ a b c d e f g Lord, Graham (2004). Niv: The authorized biography of David Niven. T. Dunne Books. pp. 3, 5, 8, 10–12, 32, 39, 44, 49, 59, 101, 110, 139, 150, 170, 216, 230, 239–240, 256, 271, 278, 289, 305, 307, 312, 365. ISBN 031232863X.
10. ^ Massingberd, Hugh (15 November 2003). "It's being so cheerful that keeps me going". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2009.
11. ^ "The flawed real life of the perfect movie gentleman". Irish Independent. 19 July 2009.
12. ^ "David Niven's idyllic childhood home comes up for sale: 'I adored it and was happier there than I had ever been'". Country Life. 23 January 2020. "Part of the reason that the young Niven enjoyed his school holidays in Bembridge so much is that his mother saw very clearly that her two teenage sons needed space and freedom to let their hair down — so much so, in fact, that she built an extension to the rear of the house which was quickly dubbed the 'Sin Wing'. [When] David and his brother used to come in rather noisily at night [...] his mother got a bit cross so she built two bedrooms and a bathroom at the back."
13. ^ "Grizel Niven". RADA. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
14. ^ "Jean Anderson". The British Entertainment History Project. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
15. ^ a b c d e "Opening with Niven retrospective". Westminster & Pimlico News. 28 April 1988. Retrieved 27 September 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
16. ^ "'MANY WATERS' AT THE 'NEW'". Western Mail. 22 October 1929. Retrieved 3 October 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
17. ^ a b c "2 Britons win Dachau prize – Memorial design". The Daily Telegraph. 17 December 1959. Retrieved 28 September 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
18. ^ a b James Edward Young (1993). The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning. Yale University Press. pp. 65–66\. ISBN 978-0-300-05991-5.
19. ^ a b Architectural Association Journal. The Association. 1960. p. 216.
20. ^ "Short cut to the arts". Kensington and Chelsea News. 11 April 1991. Retrieved 3 October 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
21. ^ "Abstract Figure (1991)". contemporaryartsociety.org. Contemporary Art Society. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
22. ^ Salter, Jessica (23 August 2013). "The world of Kate Mosse, author". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
23. ^ The Europa Directory of Literary Awards and Prizes. Routledge. 2015. p. 314\. ISBN 978-1-135-35631-6.
24. ^ "About". The BAILEYS Women's Prize for Fiction. Archived from the original on 8 March 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
25. ^ a b c d Brown, Helen (5 June 2001). "Works of friction". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 September 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
26. ^ a b "Orange gets fruity". The Daily Telegraph. 20 April 1996. Retrieved 28 September 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
27. ^ a b "Star's sister shows sculpture". Kensington and Chelsea News. 5 May 1993. Retrieved 28 September 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
28. ^ Osborne, Helen (24 November 2003). "He had charm, but not to spare". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
29. ^ a b "Grizel NIVEN". Thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
30. ^ General Register Office; United Kingdom. Grizel Rosemary G Niven. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes.

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

Artists|

* ULAN