UCL professor and sculptor Edward Allington dies

Sculptor, artist and UCL professor Edward Allington who taught and inspired a generation of artists including some of Britain's most famous modern sculptors has died at the age of 66. The Cumbrian-born artist was best known for his part in the 1980s New British Sculpture Movement but will also be remembered for the young artists he taught at UCL's Slade School of Fine Art and other colleges over nearly four decades including Turner Prize Winner Rachel Whiteread. Rachel, currently exhibiting at Tate Britain, credited Edward with teaching her casting when she was a student at Brighton (and the rest is history). Edward's work has been exhibited widely in America, Japan and throughout Europe and is represented in major public, private and corporate collections, including the Arts Council, Tate, Henry Moore Institute, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and The British Museum. He also completed major public and private commissions in the UK, Germany and France. Born in Cumbria in 1951, Edward studied at Lancaster College of Art (1968-1971), Central School of Art and Design (1971-1974) and at the Royal College of Art (1983-1984). Usually identified with the British object sculptors of the 1980s, his practice is based on drawing and the assimilation of the abhorrent through the use of contemporary artificial objects and classical imagery. Edward taught at the Slade from 1990 alongside artists including Phyllida Barlow and Bruce McLean, becoming Head of Graduate Sculpture in 2000 and Professor of Sculpture in 2006.