Sculptor, potter and teacher, of Scottish birth and French ancestry. His grandfather was the novelist Victor Hugo’s lieutenant in the 1852 revolt against Napoleon III and came to England as a political refugee. Rey’s education began at St Aloysius School in Glasgow and continued briefly at St Phillip’s Grammar School, Birmingham. Back in Glasgow he opted to become a chemist, working in a chemical plant near the city, attending West of Scotland Technical College in order to graduate. When aged 17 he was made redundant and after about three months was still unemployed, he became apprenticed to the architectural sculptor and teacher William Vickers, who specialised in church work. When Vickers died, Rey helped his widow to run the business for a while until he could study under Archibald Dawson, who had replaced Vickers at Glasgow School of Art.
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Rey appears on the registers there, 1921–7, receiving his diploma in modelling and sculpture, 1925–6. He won scholarships and prizes which facilitated studies in France and Italy. In 1927, Rey was appointed head of sculpture at Leeds College of Art, but his progressive ideas were disliked and in 1933 he resigned. He soon moved to London. Rey showed at the RA, NS where he also exhibited some original freehand pottery, RSA and Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and had a solo exhibition at Matthieson Gallery, 1939. This included a portrait bust of the academic and collector Sir Michael Sadler, a version of which is held by University College, Oxford, and a Trinity designed for a medieval setting in Christ Church Gateway, Canterbury. Rey was a fireman-artist during World War II, appearing in Humphrey Jennings’ 1943 film Fires Were Started. He was a member of Chelsea Arts Club, depicted in Paul Wyeth’s 1960 picture Concert at the Chelsea Arts Club, which it holds. Rey died in a London hospital. The sculpture study galleries at Leeds City Art Gallery held an informal display of his work in 2003.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
