Renowned Trini sculptor Baney dies at 84

Internationally celebrated Trinidadian sculptor Ralph Baney has died at age 84.

His younger brother, former Express photographer Sookdeo Baney, said yesterday “Baney’s work was his grand passion” while Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh lauded him as “an international icon”.

“He did the first Coat of Arms for the Central Bank (1970). He did a mural for Scotia Centre in Port of Spain (1984). He left Trinidad to go to teach at one of the universities abroad in the 1970s. There is a piece in the lobby of the Pan American building in New York.
“He did a number of exhibitions in wood carving and cera­mics. His late wife, Vera, worked more in ceramics. He made the Baneys proud.”

Ralph Baney was one of ten chil­dren born to the late Seecharan Ba­ney and Bhagia Seecharan in 1929. He attended Naparima College and Naparima Teachers College. He received a government art scho­larship to study at Brighton Col­lege of Art in England where he earned the NDD and ATC degrees (1957 to 1962).  After nine years as an art officer in the Ministry of Education and Culture, he embarked on graduate studies at the University of Mary­land (1971 to 1976), earning the MFA and PhD degrees. He has had 12 one-person shows, including at Georgetown University (1974) in the US and a retrospective at the National Museum in Trinidad in 2004. He has participated in numerous group shows in the United States, Canada, England, Japan and Jamaica. Honours include an honorary doctorate (DLitt) from The University of the West Indies (UWI), in recognition of his lifetime achievements in sculpture. He participated in an international sculpture museum in Yugoslavia in 1984.