William Reid Dick
Sir William Reid Dick, KCVO RA (13 January 1878 – 1 October 1961) was a Scottish sculptor known for his innovative stylisation of form in his monument sculptures and simplicity in his portraits. He became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1921 and a Royal Academician in 1928. Dick served as president of the Royal Society of British Sculptors from 1933 to 1938. He was knighted by King George V in 1935. He was Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland to King George VI from 1938 to 1952, then held the post under Queen Elizabeth until his death in 1961.
William Dick
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Born into a working-class family in the Gorbals, Glasgow, Dick was apprenticed to a firm of stonemasons at the age of twelve and during the next five years he learned to carve stone and took evening classes at the Glasgow School of Art.[1] In 1892, under the supervision of George Frampton, Dick worked on some of the external carvings for the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and completed his apprenticeship in 1896.[2][1] From 1904 to 1907, Dick returned to the Glasgow School of Art to take a mixture of day and evening classes in drawing and sculpture.[1] In 1907, he graduated and accepted a teaching position at the Bellshill Academy in Lanarkshire but moved to London in 1908.[1] There Dick took evening classes at the South London Technical School of Art whilst working as a studio assistant for the sculptor Edwin Whitney-Smith.[1] Also in 1908, Dick had his first work exhibited at the Royal Academy in London.[3] He earned further recognition in 1911 with a marble bust of Harry Lauder which was also shown at the Royal Academy.[4]
In 1914 Dick married Catherine Emma Treadwell, with whom he had three children. The couple lived in the St John's Wood area of London until 1938 when they purchased a large house and studio in Maida Vale, where they lived for the rest of their lives.[4]
Several public galleries, including the Tate in Britain and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, hold collections of works by Dick.[63][64]
Media related to William Reid Dick at Wikimedia Commons