Elizabeth Marion Rea (; 6 August 19042 April 1965) was an English sculptor and
educationalist
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
.
Early life and education
Betty Rea was born in London in 1904. Her father was Dr. Arthur Bevan and her mother's maiden name was Barnardo; Dr.
Thomas John Barnardo
Thomas John Barnardo (4 July 184519 September 1905) was an Irish-born philanthropist and founder and director of homes for poor and deprived children. From the foundation of the first Barnardo's home in 1867 to the date of Barnardo's death, nea ...
was her great-uncle.
She was educated at
Downe House School
Downe House School is a selective independent girls' day and boarding school in Cold Ash, a village near Newbury, Berkshire, for girls aged 11–18.
The ''Good Schools Guide'' described Downe House as an "Archetypal traditional girls' full bo ...
(in Kent at that time) and began to study painting at the
Regent Street Polytechnic
The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polyte ...
in 1922, almost at once changing to sculpture and transferring her studies to the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...
in 1924. Her teacher there was
Ernest A. Cole.
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...
was a student teacher at the RCA at that time, and became a friend.
In 1926 she married law student James Russell Rea (1902–1954), whose father became
Baron Rea, a Liberal peer. Together they had two sons,
Nicolas
Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to:
People Given name
* Nicolas (given name)
Mononym
* Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer
* Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer
Surname Nicolas
* Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...
and Julian, who were born in 1928 and 1931. The couple divorced in 1942.
Life and work
During the 1930s, partly influenced by her friendship with Professor
John Desmond Bernal
John Desmond Bernal (; 10 May 1901 – 15 September 1971) was an Irish scientist who pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology. He published extensively on the history of science. In addition, Bernal wrote popular book ...
, Betty Rea was greatly involved in
anti-fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
,
leftwing
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
politics. She was a founding member of
Artists' International Association
The Artists' International Association (AIA) was an organisation founded in London in 1933 out of discussion among Pearl Binder, Clifford Rowe, Misha Black, James Fitton, James Boswell, James Holland, Edward Ardizzone, Peter Laszlo Peri'Artist ...
(AIA), and served as secretary from 1934 to 1936. Founded in 1933, the AIA sought to oppose
imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
,
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
through art.
Rea was also an active member of the Communist Party Artists group, the Artists’ Refugee Committee, as well as Chair of the Arts Peace Campaign.
Communal care for children and their education was one of Rea's socialist interests. In 1934, following a trip to the Soviet Union, she published an article, 'Children and Art in Soviet Russia', which praised the educational advances being made in Russia.
In 1937 she worked upon a mural in the Unofficial Peace Pavilion at the Paris World Fair.
At the outset of the Second World War, Rea's personal life eclipsed her role as an exhibiting artist. For most of the war, Rea taught painting and model-making in evacuated children's homes in
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...
and other villages in the surrounding Cambridgeshire countryside. She set up home with her colleague,
Nan Youngman
Nancy Mayhew Youngman OBE, (28 June 1906 – 17 April 1995), was an English painter and educationalist. Youngman is remembered primarily as a painter, but from before the war to the mid-1960s she was an influential figure in art education, as ...
, first in a
caravan
Caravan or caravans may refer to:
Transport and travel
*Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together
**Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop
*Camel train, a convoy using camels as pack animals
*Convoy, a group of veh ...
in the grounds of
Hinchingbrooke House
Hinchingbrooke House is an English stately home in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, now part of Hinchingbrooke School.
The house was built around an 11th-century Benedictine nunnery. After the Reformation it passed into the hands of the Cromwell f ...
, then in
Godmanchester
Godmanchester ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is separated from Huntingdon, to the north, by the valley of the River Great Ouse. Being on the Roman road network, the town has a lo ...
, and in 1946 at 'Papermills' in
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
. The children's paintings from this time were included in several
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
exhibitions sent abroad and some are illustrated in
Herbert Read
Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...
's "Education Through Art".
It was not until 1942 that Rea would return to creating sculpture, when the members of the AIA, encouraged by the British government, staged the exhibition ''For Liberty'' to increase wartime propaganda and raise the public's spirits. Rea's sculpture ''New World'' was displayed in a section of the exhibition under the thematic title of 'this is how we are fighting'; the other two sections of the exhibition investigated the themes 'this is what will happen if we lose the war' and 'this is what we are fighting for'.
From 1949 Rea taught sculpture at
Homerton College
Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the co ...
, continuing this part-time until 1964, she also worked for some years as craft examiner for the
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
Local Examinations Syndicate.
Betty Rea died in April 1965. At the time of her death she was working on a clay sculpture commissioned for Hockerill College, to be cast in bronze.
Works
Betty Rea's 1959 ''Stretching Figure'' (bronze resin), was described by Gillian Whiteley as "expressing the diverse emotions, activities, and grace of youth". It is held by the
Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum (also known as the Herbert) is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre, media studio and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, England.
Overview
The museum is named after Sir Alfred Herb ...
,
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
.
Her last work, ''Swimmers'', completed posthumously by
John W Mills, stands in the grounds of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
Parkside swimming pool.
Rea's work is held in many collections, including
Leeds Museums and Galleries; various education authority collections; Cambridge Institute of Education; University of Warwick; Hockerill College, Bishop's Stortford; Harlow Art Trust; Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, Coventry.
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
*''Betty Rea'', 14 June – 9 July, Zwemmer Gallery, London.
*''Betty Rea 1904–1965'', – 3 June July 1965, Zwemmer Gallery, London.
* ''Memorial Exhibition'', 1966, Cambridge Society of Painters and Sculptors, Arts Council Gallery, Cambridge.
* ''Betty Rea 1904–1965'', May 1985, Royston Museum.
Group exhibitions
* ''Artists for Peace'', Woburn Place, London 1952.
* Co-organised ''Looking at People'',
Whitworth Art Gallery
The Whitworth is an art gallery in Manchester, England, containing about 55,000 items in its collection. The gallery is located in Whitworth Park and is part of the University of Manchester.
In 2015, the Whitworth reopened after it was transfor ...
, Manchester 1955 and expanded version at
South London Gallery
The South London Gallery, founded 1891, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art in Camberwell, London. Until 1992, it was known as the South London Art Gallery, and nowadays the acronym SLG is often used. Margot Heller became its direct ...
, which then travelled to Moscow in 1957.
* ''Artists of Fame and Promise'', Leicester Galleries, London 1956, 57.
* Women's International Art Club exhibition 1957.
* ''Three Humanist Sculptors'', Zwemmer Gallery, London 1960.
Betty Rea exhibited annually with Cambridge Society of Painters and Sculptors from 1955. Posthumously, her work was included in the AIA exhibition, curated by Lynda Morris, held at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford in 1983.
More recently, Betty Rea's sculpture was the subject of research at the
Henry Moore Institute
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
*Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
, Leeds in 2003, resulting in the exhibition ''A Fine Tomorrow: Sculpture and Socialism in mid-century Britain'' (29 May – 29 August 2003), with a companion publication of the same name by Matthew Withey.
References
External links
Papers of Betty Rea: Archive of Sculptors Papers, Henry Moore Institute ohn W Mills 'Bathers' sculpture
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1904 births
1965 deaths
20th-century British sculptors
20th-century English women artists
Alumni of the Royal College of Art
Alumni of the University of Westminster
Fellows of Homerton College, Cambridge
People educated at Downe House School
Sculptors from London