12. Albert Sammons by Alexander Akerbladh (1950)

This portrait was displayed at the rear of the RCM Concert Hall

Hugh Bean first met Albert Sammons (1886-1957) in 1938 and studied with him first as a private pupil and later at the RCM (1942-1951). Sammons was a unique player, greatly admired by his peers (including Kreisler and Heifetz), who travelled little and so never gained an international reputation. In 1956 he retired from the staff of the RCM (he had suffered from Parkinson’s Disease for some years) and Hugh Bean, who retained the greatest respect and affection for his teacher, wrote in the RCM Magazine ‘I am convinced that he will live in the minds of his pupils and indeed the whole of the musical public as England’s greatest violinist.’ Nevertheless this admiration was tempered with shrewd judgement, and in a 1995 issue of the magazine Hugh Bean commented:

No one who has studied under Sammons can truly say he was a great teacher of the instrument. A self-taught violinist himself, he expected you to solve your problems by practice…. His strength lay in the example he set by his own playing.

In later years Hugh Bean published a commentary on Sammon's The Secret Technique in Violin Playing.

The portrait, which reportedly shows Sammons with the Goffriller violin Hugh Bean admired, was painted in 1950 by Alexander Akerbladh. The artist was born in Sweden, but spent much of his working life in Britain, having studied at the Glasgow School of Art, St John’s Wood School of Art and in Munich. Although trained as an architect he worked as a painter and as a cartoonist for such notable publications as Comic Cuts and Radio Fun. The portrait was exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1951, and presented to the College by the artist in 1967.

Oil on Canvas, 660 x 545 mm
Centre for Performance History

13. Albert Sammons by Phyllis Blundell (1928)

This bust was displayed at the rear of the Concert Hall

This portrait bust was presented to the College by the sculptor in 1964.

Bronze, 375 mm
Centre for Performance History, RCM