Reg Butler
Dublin Core
Title
Reg Butler
Identifier
844
Person Item Type Metadata
Birth Date
1913
Birthplace
Buntingford, United Kingdom
Death Date
1981
Occupation
Artist
Biographical Text
Reginald Cotterell Butler (28 April 1913 – 23 October 1981) was an English sculptor. He was born at Bridgefoot House, Buntingford, Hertfordshire to Frederick William Butler (1880–1937) and Edith (1880–1969), daughter of blacksmith William Barltrop, of The Forge, Takeley, Essex. His parents were the Master and Matron of the Buntingford Union Workhouse. Frederick Butler, formerly a police constable, was a relative of the poet William Butler Yeats; Edith was of Anglo-French descent.
Butler studied and lectured at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1937 to 1939. He was a conscientious objector during the Second World War, being exempted from military service conditional upon setting up a small blacksmith business repairing farm implements. After winning the 'Unknown Political Prisoner' competition in 1953 he became one of the best known sculptors during the 1950s and 1960s, and also taught at the Slade School of Art.
Butler's later work consists of lifelike models of female figures, such as Girl on a Round Base, that have something in common with Hans Bellmer and the sculpture of Allen Jones and prefigure the work of Ron Mueck.
Butler studied and lectured at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1937 to 1939. He was a conscientious objector during the Second World War, being exempted from military service conditional upon setting up a small blacksmith business repairing farm implements. After winning the 'Unknown Political Prisoner' competition in 1953 he became one of the best known sculptors during the 1950s and 1960s, and also taught at the Slade School of Art.
Butler's later work consists of lifelike models of female figures, such as Girl on a Round Base, that have something in common with Hans Bellmer and the sculpture of Allen Jones and prefigure the work of Ron Mueck.
Bibliography
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/reg-butler-844
Citation
“Reg Butler,” DGAH Midterm, accessed August 29, 2026, https://midterm.shearerj.sites.carleton.edu/items/show/49.