John Tweed was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 21 January 1869. Following the death of his father, in 1885, he left school to run in his family's publishing firm. At the same time, he studied part-time at Glasgow School of Art. In 1890 he sold the business and moved to London. Between 1891 and 1893 he assisted the sculptor Hamo Thornycroft (1850-1925) in carving friezes for the Institute of Chartered Accountants' building in Moorgate, London. Encouraged by Thornybroft, Tweed also continued his studies at South London Technical Art School in Lambeth, and at the Royal Academy Schools in London. In 1893 he went to Paris and briefly attended the École des Beaux-Arts where he was trained by Alexandre Falguière (1831-1900). On his return to London he embarked on a full-time career as a sculptor and over the next decade worked on commissions in South Africa.
Tweed was a close fried of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) and did much to promote his work in Britain
Between 1915 and late 1920s Tweed was commissioned to create numerous public sculptures. These included a monument to Joseph Chamberlain at Westminster Abbey in London (1915); a portrait statue of Lord Clive in Whetehall, London (1917); a war memorials to the King's Royal Rifle Corps in Winchester (1922); a war memorial to the rifle brigade in Grosvenor Place, London (1924); a portrait sculpture of Lord Kitchener in Whitehall, London (1926); and a monument to Field Marshal Earl Roberts in St Paul's Cathedral, London (1926).
Tweed was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy in London from 1905 and 1932. He also exhibited at Grosvenor Gallery, London Salon, New Gallery, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and at the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in London; Aberdeen Artists' Society; Royal Birmingham Society of Artists; Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts; Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; and at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. He also participated in the International Exhibition in Glasgow in 1901.
Tweed was elected a member of the Art Workers Guild in 1904; a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1905; and as Associate of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in 1907.
His address was given as 18 Willowbank Street, Glasgow in 1894; 108 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London in 1900; and 14A Cheyne Row, Chelsea, London in 1900 and 1904. He maintained studios at 2 Harley Studios, Priory Grove, London from 1895 to 1897; and 8 The Avenue Studios, 76 Fulham Road, London from 1905 to 1933. Tweed died in London on 12 November 1933.
Text source: Arts + Architecture Profiles from Art History Research net (AHRnet) https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/
