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Nine original typed and signed letters (first, top copies) to the 1960's London based sculptor George Macdonald Reid, from: Anthony Wedgwood Benn, N S Gulbenkian, Lord Goddard, Charles Forte, Henry F Tiarks, Sir Miles Thomas, and Herbert Stanley Morrison, Baron Morrison of Lambeth. All relate in one way or another to the commissioning of a bust of the adressees (signatories) by Macdonald Reid. One letter is particularly interesting (see image), dated 5th July 1963. It is from Lord Herbert Morrison of Lambeth, then aged 75, to Macdonald Reid regarding his bust, and a bust of Hugh Gaitskell for the National Exhibition Center (N.E.C). [George MacDonald Reid (1907 - 1969) was a Canadian sculptor who worked in London during the 1960s. MacDonald Reid was born in Winnipeg in 1907. He developed a new approach to portrait sculpture using photography, a revolving dentist?s chair, and a machine he built himself that outlined the contours of the human face, for which he was awarded the US patent. This speeded up the early stages of the sculpting process, which he then rendered into an exact likeness using traditional artistic skills. MacDonald Reid was stationed in Madagascar during World War II and got the idea for his automated method making sculptures from the techniques used to make contoured terrain maps. His basement studio was in Alford House, Park Street, just off Park Lane. This agrees with the address on these letters. Macdonald Reid's portrait busts included Prime Ministers Harold Wilson (UK), John Diefenbaker (Canada); and President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya. Other busts included Gerald Nabarro MP, actor Jon Pertwee, racing driver Stirling Moss, Yama Saki, Madame Pandit, High Commissioner for India, and the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Edmund Stockdale. The Royal Automobile Association commissioned a portrait bust of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh for their head office. Macdonald Reid died in January 1969]. Sold as one lot. N.B. These letters must have originated from the estate of Macdonald Reid as they are all originals with, in one case, his handwritten annotations, see image. Further jpg images with pleasure. Seller Inventory # 004949
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