Betty Rea was born in London in 1905 and died in Cambridge in 1965. She studied at Regent St. Polytechnic and at the Royal College of Art.
She was a founding member of the Artists’ International Association. Her public commissions include works at Hornerton and many other colleges, the London Institute of Education and the Cambridge Examinations Syndicate. In addition to London exhibitions, including the Royal Academy, Rea had major exhibitions in Moscow and Prague in the 1950s. Rea’s Stretching Figure is in the Gibberd Garden.