Explore: Sir William Ernest Reynolds-Stephens

(1862 - 1943)

Although Sir William Reynolds-Stephens was born to English parents in Detroit, Michigan, his family moved to London, where he trained as an engineer, before entering the Royal Academy Schools. From the mid-1890s he concentrated on sculpture and design, maintaining a lifelong belief in the ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement. He was elected to the Art Worker’s Guild in 1888 and became a versatile artist and designer, designing interior schemes, furniture, textiles, etc; while also sculpting statuettes, portrait busts, funerary monuments and war memorials. He was a founder of the Society of British Sculptors in 1904. He served as President of the Royal Society of British Sculptors (1921-33) and received a knighthood in 1931. He died at 81.