Lot 372
SIR WILLIAM REID DICK (1878-1961) §
'CONTROLLED ENERGY'; PAIR OF FIGURES, CIRCA 1930
Auction: 19 April 2023 at 10:00 BST
Description
bronze, mounted on green marble plinths as book ends
Dimensions
11cm high, 9cm wide, 12.7cm deep excluding base, 12.5cm high, 10.5cm wide, 16.5cm deep including base
Footnote
Note: The Art Deco headquarters for the Unilever Group, Unilever House was built in 1930-31 to a design by J. Lomax-Simpson with Sir John Burnet and Partners. The building is noted for its monumental facade, mounted with a large pair of statues by Sir William Reid Dick entitled 'Controlled Energy'. Other artists involved in the project included Eric Gill and Gilbert Ledward. These rare figures by Reid Dick are reductions of the figures on the facade. At the inauguration of Unilever House on 18 July 1932, a pair of small models of these groups in bronze, designed to form book ends were presented to the Lord Mayor and Lord Leverhulme. Another pair, the only other known apart from the current lot, is now in a London private collection.