Elected ARSA: 17 March 1940
Elected RSA: 10 February 1954
Thomas Whalen RSA was born in Leith on 16th October 1903. During the First World War, he worked as a shipwright and began to whittle using materials sourced from the yard. Whalen’s whittled sculptures were first noticed by a dues collector, who was so impressed with his work that he took him and his carvings to Thomas Good’s benches in the Edinburgh College of Art. Here, Whalen was awarded a scholarship, allowing him to attend classes full-time.
In his early career, Thomas Whalen and his work were recognised numerous times. As early as 1930 he exhibited three works at the Academy. In 1932 he won the Carnegie Travelling Scholarship and twelve months later he was awarded the Guthrie Award.
Whalen’s commissioned works can be found throughout Edinburgh in places such as the Lawnmarket, St Andrews Square and George Street.
