20th century crafts

20th century crafts: a review of the first Crafts Study Centre exhibition 1972 Adrian Bland Tass Mavrogordato Jean Vacher

1SBN 0 9541627 9 X Published by Canterton Books Yawl Cliff Yawl Uplyme Dorset DT7 3XF www.cantertonbooks.co.uk Distributed in addition by Crafts Study Centre The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College Falkner Road Farnham Surrey GU9 7DS Book design by celsius.eu.com Book production by Guilder Graphics Ltd Paper supplied by Curtis Fine Papers Ltd First published June 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photographic or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher.

The rights of Adrian Bland, Tass Mavrogordato and Jean Vacher to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.

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l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

Foreword The publication of 20th Century Crafts by the Crafts Study Centre and Canterton Books marks the continuation of our desire to see researchbased exhibitions and essays presented in the public domain. The original exhibition, held at the Holburne Museum, Bath, in 1972, was groundbreaking for the newly established charity, and began to fulfil the Centre’s charitable mission to ‘educate the public in the artistic crafts’.

The recreation of the exhibition in the Tanner Gallery of the new Crafts Study Centre, based at the Farnham campus of The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College, established a notable opportunity both to reflect on craft history, and to shape a new exhibition programme in a contemporary setting.

This book gives a context to the exhibition. It draws on the exhibition panels written by Tass Mavrogordato (Director, Contemporary Applied Arts). The curator of the exhibition, Jean Vacher (Collections Manager at the Crafts Study Centre) sets out the historical context and makes a comparison between the shows in 1972 and 2004. Adrian Bland, (Contextual Studies Co-ordinator in the Faculty of Design at The Surrey Institute) reviews wider sources and places the exhibition in a theoretical and museological setting. The catalogue of objects completes the book.

The design and production of 20th Century Crafts would not have been possible without the financial support provided by the Surrey Institute’s External Research Award. In addition, David Hyde, Design Director of Celsius, has sponsored the design of the book. The paper costs have been met by the sponsorship of Curtis Fine Papers Ltd. The production costs have been sponsored by Guilder Graphics Ltd. The Crafts Study Centre is deeply grateful to our partners and sponsors to enable this new book to be published. It would not have been possible without their serious commitment.

Professor Simon Olding Director, Crafts Study Centre The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

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Contents Introduction Tass Mavrogordato

2

Making Craft Tass Mavrogordato

4

Crafts Study Centre Archive

The New Beginning Jean Vacher

6

Left:

From Sideboard to Showcase Adrian Bland

18

The 2004 Display

28

Acknowledgments

44

Inside front cover: EXHIBITION CATALOGUE FRONT COVER ‘20th Century Craftmanship, Work by Artist Craftsmen of the 20th Century’, 1972.

HAND-WOVEN SHAWL Silk warp and fine wool weft.

Geraldine St Aubyn-Hubbard, c.1992.

T.92.8

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Introduction EXHIBITION POSTER ‘20th Century Craftmanship, Work by Artist Craftsmen of the 20th Century’, 1972.

Crafts Study Centre Archive

The original ethos of the Crafts Study Centre was ‘to advance the education of the public in artistic crafts’. Visual, written and verbal communication via channels such as exhibitions, catalogues and lectures are obvious vehicles for disseminating information and for learning through collections and archives. How do we understand these experiences? What does an exhibition first seen in 1972 mean today, in 2004?

The crafts have always enjoyed a popular position, being readily identified and associated with our everyday environments and experiences; all of us interact daily with objects made from textiles, wood, ceramics and metal.

This familiarity aids recognition and understanding and is essentially timeless. Craft can be viewed as the combination of the maker’s skill and knowledge of materials, with a profound regard for form and fitness for purpose. These criteria are timeless – they are as meaningful today as they were in any other era.

From the Arts and Crafts movement inspired by William Morris to the present, craft like any other cultural phenomenon has responded to change and progression. Globalisation and technological advancement have increased opportunities and choices relating to materials and methods of making and production. Design and manufacture are underpinned by the essential knowledge that represents craft practice; it impacts on mass produced as well as one off objects.

The work in this exhibition tells us about the 20th century in terms of technology, aesthetics and cultural trends. It also reflects the commitment of the makers involved - pioneers of their disciplines and mentors for the future. Now in that future, this exhibition both illuminates the past and relates it to the present. The work engages us on a personal level, speaking without boundaries about the timeless entities of skill and purpose.

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Making Craft PAGE FROM ‘PHYLLIS BARRON 1890-1964 DOROTHY LARCHER 1884-1952: A RECORD OF THEIR BLOCK-PRINTED TEXTILES’ Volume One, compiled by Robin Tanner, 1968.

2001.1.5

The media of wood, textiles, ceramics and calligraphy are all areas represented by the Crafts Study Centre collections. The objects themselves celebrate the materials they are made from. The emphasis is on ‘handmade’ and all of the pieces in the collections have been individually crafted following long-standing traditions of making.

What does this mean? To some extent the objects are products of the techniques and processes used. In most cases we can directly identify these techniques within the work. For example, a ‘thrown’ bowl has distinctive bands, a dovetailed furniture joint is a characteristic feature, block printed fabric has motifs which sit on the surface of cloth. These making processes are fundamental to the work. The intention of the makers was to use their technical ability and knowledge to express their aesthetic concerns and design interests.

The individuals represented in this exhibition are champions of their disciplines. Influential makers such as Edward Barnsley, Rita Beales, Bernard Leach and Edward Johnston are celebrated for their commitment to simplicity of form, truth to materials and aesthetic clarity. All of the pieces in the collection are designed for functional applications – they have a place in our experiences and lives as known objects with known uses.

The newly commissioned works from 21st century makers for the interior of the Crafts Study Centre building continue this dialogue and explore similar issues. The showcases and the gallery and reception furniture represent contemporary expressions within the medium of wood. The materials and construction methods used are evident as is their purpose and function. The textile length, internal and external signage and metal gates, collection box and coat rail all similarly address these concerns; the balance of material and technical skill with aesthetics and functionality.

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The New Beginning DISPLAY OF EXHIBITS IN ‘20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION, 1972’ Crafts Study Centre, The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, 2005

20th Century Crafts: a Review of the First Crafts Study Centre Exhibition, 1972 showcases for the first time, the Centre’s permanent collections in its new and contemporary, purpose-built home at The Surrey Institute of Art & Design. It reflects and contemplates upon the Crafts Study Centre’s inaugural exhibition held in 1972. That exhibition had its origins in the last century, in a different era and a different place. The Centre was founded in 1970 as a Trust, and this first exhibition, held at the Holburne of Menstrie Museum – now the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath, marked the birth of the Centre’s life as a public collection (although it was not until 1977, when the Centre formed a formal partnership with the Museum and the University of Bath, that it opened to the public there).

The physical differences between both exhibitions would be strongly apparent to any visitor, who had seen both the first opening exhibition, and that of today. The Crafts Study Centre moved from the Holburne Museum of Art, where it shared accommodation with the Museum’s main collections, to form a partnership with The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, Farnham in 2000. This move is the realisation of its founding members’ vision to see the work of pioneering craftsmen and women of the first half of the 20th century, preserved, stored and displayed in a dedicated space, where it would be seen, studied and enjoyed by a wide range of people. The objects included in the 2004-5 exhibition, with their soft muted browns and creams, are redolent of the 1970s – an era rich in associations with the ‘good life’, the beginnings of the movement for whole foods, David Canter’s restaurant Cranks and a fashion for studio pottery.

Examples of work on display in the 2004-5 show and produced in the 1970s include pieces by Henry Hammond, Gwyn Hanssen (now Gwyn Hanssen Pigott), Lucie Rie and Richard Batterham. They now enjoy 21st century methods of display, in a light and spacious contemporary setting, in cases made by leading furniture designer-maker, Matthew Burt, as part of a sitespecific commissioning programme.

Similarities however, resonate across time, and these are at the heart of the exhibition. With a few exceptions and additions, the displays are based on the objects included in the original 1972 exhibition. The choice of these objects reflects the convictions of the men and women who were the driving force behind the founding of the Centre. Each piece was perceived 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

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ONE OF 77 PAGES FROM A DIARY ‘26 DAYS AND 25 NIGHTS OF SUMMER’ Bound in leather.

Irene Sutton, (Wellington), 1934.

C.84.29.21

as embodying the essence of the early 20th century crafts revival and would, it was hoped, inspire and gain widespread public support for the founding members’ aim of finding a permanent home for the body of material that this represented. In the first ever meeting that took place in London in 1967 to discuss the setting up of a trust to achieve this aim, quality was perceived to be of the utmost importance and the selected craft work was to be of ‘outstanding quality’ 1. Many of the objects seen here were given or bequeathed by people involved at the time, and together with future donations, have come to form the core of the Centre’s collections.

Foremost of these founding Trustees was Robin Tanner, who mounted this first exhibition as a drive to raise funds for the opening of a museum dedicated to modern and contemporary crafts; a hitherto unprecedented step. Known for his work as an educationalist and etcher, he had also played a crucial role in preserving the work of the inter-war hand-block printed textile artists Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher. This he catalogued and presented in two massive volumes between 1965-7, Volume One of which is on display 8

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

DISPLAY OF HAND-BLOCK PRINTED LENGTHS BY PHYLLIS BARRON, DOROTHY LARCHER AND ENID MARX IN ‘20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION, 1972’ Crafts Study Centre, The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, 2005

in the 2004-5 show. These have become icons in the Centre’s collections and were key exhibits in the three memorial exhibitions, held in the west of England, that Robin Tanner mounted following Phyllis Barron’s death in 1964, which inspired and helped to galvanise support for the founding of the Crafts Study Centre in the late 1960s 2. In 1967 therefore, a debate was opened which centred on the need to preserve an outstanding body of work, which included not only textiles, but other areas of the crafts.

As the campaign gathered momentum between 1967 and 1972 four areas of collecting were identified; pottery, wood, metal, woven and printed textiles and embroidery. A fifth area of collecting, that of practitioners’ archives was seen as fundamental to the Centre’s aims of supporting an understanding of the crafts, and as the committee meeting minute records of that period state It is therefore proposed to raise funds to establish a centre, which must necessarily be attached to an existing institution such as university or museum, with easy access... There would be library space not only for books but for personal records, notebooks and other manuscripts... 3.

Potential gifts resulted from this early campaign which subsequently formed the nucleus of the collections. Support was attracted and a group of people, closely interconnected, either through practice, connoisseurship or sale of the crafts, agreed to donate or loan objects for an exhibition that would attract public support for the opening of a museum and study centre dedicated to bringing together this body of work. Other founding Trustees included the gallery owner, craft curator and writer Muriel Rose, who lent work for that inaugural exhibition. Gifts of objects came from a wide range of people, including makers themselves such as Bernard Leach who 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

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VASE, THROWN AND ALTERED Stoneware, pinkish cream to grey textured surface over manganese on exterior, manganese over interior and recessed foot.

Hans Coper, 1966.

P.74.28

donated over a hundred pots, including his source collection of Far Eastern and English domestic ware, and the textile weaver Rita Beales.

The exhibits ranged across textiles, wood, ceramics, calligraphy and metalwork and were later swelled by further gifts and bequests pledged at the time, and it is these that have made the Centre’s collections what they are today. The 1972 exhibition was specifically aimed to attract funds to support the opening of a new museum and study centre, and this focus was expressed in the meetings held by the Centre’s founding members.

The money needed in the first instance is not for contents – of which a nucleus already exists – but for the building to accommodate them... 3.

This first exhibition was just the beginning of a programme of exhibitions and publications held to show the Centre’s permanent collections, which

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l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

DISPLAY OF HAND-WOVEN LENGTHS BY ETHEL MAIRE AND RITA BEALES IN ‘20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION, 1972’ Crafts Study Centre, The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, 2005

in turn attracted new donations. Today, the collections have grown to include some 6,000 objects and over 27,000 items from makers’ archives.

Contemporary and historic pieces are added to the collection on the advice of a panel of experts on an Acquisitions Committee. A series of contemporary lettering commissions by Ewan Clayton, Thomas Ingmire and Hazel Dolby are included in the 2004-5 exhibition, and link the work of practitioners of today to that of the earlier makers represented in the exhibition. These are displayed alongside the work of Edward Johnston, who began the great lettering revival at the end of the 19th century, and his pupil Irene Wellington who carried this forward. Although of a more informal compositional style, these draw references to the early pioneers and to works held in the Centre’s collections. Ewan Clayton’s work A book of Hours for the Vernal Equinox, 2004, for example, draws on Irene Wellington’s A Diary: 26 days and 25 nights of Summer for inspiration.

One crucial difference between 1972 and today for the Crafts Study Centre and the staging of this exhibition, is its place as a university collection within a college of art and design, where the methods of pre-industrial, hand-produced crafts such as printed and woven textiles and ceramics, are taught, taken forward and expressed in new directions. Central to the aims of the Centre’s founding members was to find a home for the collections where the experimental nature of the crafts movement and the body of

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work that was being collected, would be understood by a new generation of students. As evidence of material culture, this meant not merely an appreciation of design, but of the analytical nature of the movement which, in the disciplines of ceramics, textiles, calligraphy, wood, metal and furniture, went to the roots of historic crafts traditions to rediscover and apply techniques associated with centuries-old traditions in danger of vanishing. The ‘Statement of Aims and Policy’ for the proposed new centre states The present moment offers unique opportunities to assemble, before it is irretrievably dispersed, examples of the output of those pioneers, such as Bernard Leach, who began work after the first World War, and who found themselves obliged to rediscover, largely by trial and error, much of the technique which industrial development had retarded or obscured 4.

Exhibits included in the current show illustrate this experimental and pioneering approach to the crafts. The work of Barron and Larchers’ handblock printed textiles was underpinned by experimentation and research into 18th century sources of vegetable dyes, and printing techniques that have their origins in Europe, Russia and the East. This, in turn, was to inspire the work of Susan Bosence who carried this progression of ideas forward with her printed and paste-resist techniques. The area of ceramics is well-represented by the work of Bernard Leach, Katharine PleydellBouverie, Henry Hammond, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper, among others in this exhibition. The Centre’s founders’ aim moreover, to establish a body of archive material to support the interpretation and enhance an understanding of the working methods and techniques of these makers since 1972, has been fully realised. For example, the absorption of artistpotters with exploring colour and surface textures, such as Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie, who experimented with a wide variety of wood ash glazes to achieve soft, warm and muted glaze effects on her pots, can now be understood within the context of a complete set of working notebooks used by her and since bequeathed to the Centre. In addition over 15,000 archive items now exist in the Bernard Leach archive, to inform an understanding of the fusion of ‘East and West’ in his pots.

The Centre’s founders recognised therefore, that although this body of makers’ material drew on the earlier Arts and Crafts movement of the 19th century, and the beliefs associated with this, that is the celebration of the 12

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

HIGH BACK CHAIR Oak and cane, from an original 1968 design.

Richard La Trobe-Bateman, 1977

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SCONCE FOR TWO CANDLES Hand-wrought brass.

Designed by Ernest Gimson and made

by Alfred Bucknell, c.1918 2004.2

hand-made, as opposed to machine-made, massed produced objects, what distinguished these crafts makers from the figures involved in the earlier movement was that they were pioneers of their own time. Their work did not merely look to earlier ideas and designs, but through the use of new forms, materials and designs, resulted in a body of contemporaneous work, which embodied quality, and would set the scene for future generations of crafts practitioners. This view was expressed with some cogency in the introduction to the 1972 exhibition catalogue.

The First World War brought about a disastrous break in tradition; and it is the pioneers of the twenties and thirties, who found themselves obliged to rediscover many of the techniques and qualities that had become submerged, 14

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that we owe an immeasurable debt. In the finest work of those years there is a harmony between idea and purpose, material and technique, form and decoration, that raises it to the highest level of any age. It is essentially of its own time, yet not dated, and will always be a criterion of design and workmanship and a source of inspiration to laymen and professionals alike 5.

20th Century Crafts: a Review of the First Crafts Study Centre Exhibition therefore, takes place within a new and dynamic environment where through the Centre’s partnership with The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, the aims of its founders to see the collections used for study and research by both the public and the academic community alike, have been realised.

The exhibition also realises the historic connections between the two institutions. The Institute (then the West Surrey College of Art & Design) was at one point considered as a possible home for the Centre. On May 31 1969 the Centre’s committee members were invited by the then Principal, David Hockey to attend a two-day visit to the WSCAD in Farnham to discuss this very possibility, and ‘were driven in cars organised by Henry (Hammond) and Ella (McCleod) 1. Their visit included a trip to see Farnham Maltings. According to the Committee Meeting Minutes ...although there was an attraction about these old dark malt making sheds, it was difficult to imagine the big job of conversion 1

Rich connections moreover, exist between the Centre’s collections and those involved in its history. For example, Susan Bosence who taught at the then WSCAD in Farnham between 1967 and 1983 and Henry Hammond (a founder Trustee of the Centre), who taught and led the Ceramics Department from 1946 to 1980, were both present at the very first meeting held in London on 11 November 1967. Both have work on show in the 2004-5 exhibition. In a letter to Robin Tanner’s wife Heather, 5 February 1972 in response to the Tanner’s appeal for exhibits for the 1972 show, Susan Bosence wrote of what she considered to be the most creative and experimental period of her life.

Since I have been deeply involved in teaching, say the last 7 years I have not achieved v. much new work but I have learnt a vast amount & shall never regret this most creative period in my life: creative through working with marvellous young people who believe in us. The most important bit of

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knowledge to me, has been to learn & practice the intricacies of Procion dyeing & printing, combined, because I didn’t see why they wouldn’t work, with the “natural” “mineral colours. I’ve lots of examples” and continues..........”.

Well - I went back to my blocks and decided that I would work on dyed grounds. So - I have been dyeing lengths of silk, cotton, linen & wool, ready for a printing bout! The prints will be from some of my old blocks & a few new ones, natural colours on Procion & some discharges” 6.

Bosence is known for the use of Soledon dyes in her printed and resistdyed textiles, and examples of this are on display in the 2004-5 show. An example of her use of Procion dyes (with a WSCAD provenance and dated 1974), however, can be seen in a sample book held in the Centre’s reserve collections 7. This book replaces an earlier pattern book commissioned and presented to her by Leonard Elmhirst in the 1950s but tragically destroyed by an accidental fire in 1992. She had offered this earlier sample book to the Tanners as a loan for display in the 1972 exhibition “So – I can lend blocks and photographs of my London exhibition if you would care to have them, and the leather bound pattern book which Leonard Elmhirst gave me”. 6

The pattern book was indeed included in the 1972 exhibition and described as Pattern Book, Samples of dyed and printed stuffs from 1947 onward 5.

Its 1995 replacement is constructed from samples from the original pattern book and scraps from lengths salvaged from the fire.

Ella McLeod who led the bid for founding the Dip A.D. in Ceramics and Woven Textiles courses at the WSCAD and taught there between 1949 and 1973, was also present at that first meeting. She helped to build the Centre’s textile collections by donating a substantial amount of material by the weaver, spinner and dyer, Elizabeth Peacock, whose work can be seen in the three ‘cottage tapestries’ and woven lengths on display in the 2004-5 show.

The voices of the Crafts Study Centre founding members and all those associated with its beginnings in the 1960s, can be heard with passion, conviction and urgency through the Centre’s own archives. The 2004-5 exhibition therefore, by drawing together many of the objects that were included in that first show in 1972 represents the outcome of their long-awaited aspiration to create a unique centre for British 20th century and contemporary crafts. It brings to full circle that chapter in the Centre’s history.

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PAGE FROM ‘A BOOK OF HOURS FOR THE VERNAL EQUINOX’ Ink and gouache on paper.

Ewan Clayton, 2004.

2004.29.5

1

Unpublished Committee Meeting Papers 1967-75 (including first preliminary meeting 11/11/67), CSC archives. Ibid.

2

Barley Roscoe, Crafts Study Centre Essays for the Opening (Canterton Books, 2004).

3

Unpublished Committee Meeting papers 1967 -72 Minute Book, CSC archives.

Ibid.

4

‘Proposed Crafts Collection, Permanent Collection with Study Centre of the Work of British Artist-Craftsmen of the Twentieth Century, Statement of Aims and Policy’.

5

‘20th Century Craftmanship, Exhibition Held at The Holburne Museum of Mentrie, Bath July 5 1972, Works by Artist Craftsmen of the Twentieth Century’. Ibid.

6

Unpublished letter from Susan Bosence to Heather Tanner, 5 February 1972, CSC archives. Ibid.

7

Susan Bosence A Review of her Hand Block Printing and Resist Dyeing, with an introduction by Deryn O’Connor, 1992, page 103.

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From Sideboard to Showcase PHOTOGRAPH OF DISPLAY IN

Twentieth Century Studio Craft Within the Context of Display

‘20TH CENTURY CRAFTSMANSHIP, WORK BY ARTIST CRAFTSMEN OF THE 20TH CENTURY’ EXHIBITION HELD AT THE HOLBURNE OF MENSTRIE MUSEUM, BATH 1972 Crafts Study Centre Archive

In drawing attention to its own particular history through an opening exhibition designed to reflect upon the inaugural exhibition of 1972, the Crafts Study Centre is acknowledging the role of display in the creation of meaning, articulating a self-consciousness based on the understanding that any grouping of objects creates a narrative contingent upon the circumstances within which that narrative is made, and that this narrative creates knowledge 1. This opening exhibition, 20th Century Crafts: A Review of the First Crafts Study Centre Exhibition 1972, seeks to make us aware of the fact that our understanding of craft is significantly dependent on the means by which handmade objects are given a public presence, and that this public presence is not fixed but subject to change through both historical determinants and individual readings.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the changing status of craft and its sometimes fragile public perception, histories and criticisms of the handmade object have generally attached themselves to matters of production, from considerations of personal biography and studio practice to issues of workmanship and aesthetic intent. The reflexive nature of the current exhibition offers itself as a prompt for greater appreciation of craft as a specific category of object that has a life beyond the studio, however, and suggests that the ways in which particular crafted objects have been historically consumed, particularly through the act of display, has had a significant impact on how they have been both perceived and valued. In order to promote this contextual territory as a means by which to respond to the reassessment suggested by the exhibition, this essay draws upon strategies of analysis drawn from studies in both material culture and museology. It proposes that meaning is attached to handmade objects beyond that originally intended, and that it is primarily through public display that this meaning is first renegotiated.

Fundamental to this contextual position is the belief that handmade objects have, certainly during the period of the studio crafts movement, constituted a particular category of commodity with both use and exchange value, and that such value has been subject to change through their actual use within culturally specific settings 2. All objects entering the public arena become

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subject to any number of possible interpretations based on both cultural classification (hence the very word ‘craft’) and individual use, and in doing so can be said to have ‘lives’ extending far beyond the boundaries of the studio, workshop or factory. Accepting that ‘things’ have biographies, that they are variously appropriated by the everyday world in ways that were perhaps not intended, allows for the recognition that far from being ‘fixed’, meaning is something that is unstable and endlessly negotiated according to both time and place 3. Seen in this way, the various trajectories of twentieth century craft, the ways in which individual handmade objects have entered into a dialogue with both audiences and users through acts of display and consumption, can be seen to play an important role in mapping transformations in the status of craft, in articulating its ever changing position within the wider cultural field. Any individual object biography is likely to incorporate issues of design, making, distribution, consumption and use that are themselves subject to any number of physical and mental interventions - the relationships between people and the objects that constitute the world around them are almost invariably complex and often almost impossible to pin down. This is especially true of individual objects likely to attract emotional investment, as might be suggested by the word ‘craft’. Taken as a specific category of objects, however, craft can also claim a collective biography (the history of craft) that can be understood through critical discourse (Craft History), and it is within the framework of the latter that its display can be seen to act as a cultural unifier of diverse objects through the creation and management of specific narrative constructs. ‘Craft’, it could be argued, is made outside of the studio, and at least partially through practices of display.

If it is no longer possible to believe that individual objects carry fixed meaning, that they can speak for themselves, then groups of objects cannot be contained by neutral means. Just as objects must be seen as culturally specific, so the act of display must be understood as the creation of meaning through an ethnography of representation 4. Objects on display may enable individual reflection and evaluation 5, but it is equally the case that ‘the choice of objects, their placing in groups or sets, and their physical juxtaposition construct conceptual narratives ...assemblages of objects produce knowledge’ 6. But beyond this, we must also accept the concept of cultural change, and that knowledge is historically context specific and therefore always provisional 7. What we

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have, then, is a contextual framework for understanding display practices that recognises the effects of both cultural and historical specificity on narrative possibilities. Within this framework, ‘strategies of display are necessarily artificial’ 8, and these strategies set boundaries on both what we see and how we see it. While such thinking allows for individual experience, it does require that we see display as providing a theatrical framework within which particular dialogues are both encouraged and curtailed. Within any grouping, ‘the object is accompanied by an implicit set of instructions, a script, that is inscribed on the material object.

Consequently, objects prescribe a certain behaviour on their users’ 9. The notion of an experiential ‘script’, proposed by Julia Noordegraaf 10, offers a valuable contextual tool in the attempt to negotiate the role of display in the creation of meaning. As she argues, ‘an analysis of the script of museum presentation can bring to the fore the set of instructions that defines the relationship between the museum and its audience’ 11. Areas of display thus become ‘dramatic fields’ 12 within which human behaviour is structured and certain types of ritual performance are enforced 13.

Applied to the public display spaces occupied by studio craft since its emergence in the early years of the twentieth century, the concept of the ‘script’ can provide a useful platform from which to consider the various meanings and narratives that have formed around this category of object, and may well further our understanding of its changing status with reference to the wider context of material culture.

With this in mind, the remaining evidence of past display can serve to furnish at least a partial appreciation of changes in practice and meaning.

Photographs particularly can be used to detail the ways in which spaces have been put to use in the creation of a ‘dramatic field’ through the layout of installed furniture and lighting, and can often allow the location of specific crafted objects to be considered as part of a wider narrative construct 14. So it is with the opening exhibition at the Crafts Study Centre, where specific display practices can be compared with, and contextualised by, its previous incarnation at the Holburne Museum, Bath in 1972. By prefacing such a comparison with evidence drawn from earlier in the twentieth century, an heightened narrative emerges that may well be useful for thinking about the objects currently on display beyond the specifics of that display.

Through the application of the concept of ‘script’, the evidence provided by this photograph of The Little Gallery in London in the 1930s (above) 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

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PHOTOGRAPH OF INTERIOR DISPLAYS IN THE LITTLE GALLERY, LONDON, 1930s Muriel Rose Archive, Crafts Study Centre

suggests a transitional moment in the history of studio craft consumption that significantly prefigures later developments in the display, and therefore reception, of such objects. Through the juxtaposition of two substantially different ‘scripts’ it acknowledges their construction and in doing so offers alternative views of how display might affect both the understanding and appreciation of the objects contained by it.

In the foreground of the photograph, the script clearly references the domestic interior, offering a familiar setting within which both function and lifestyle are primary markers. The placement of objects encourages an affinity through which an audience might most easily imagine itself at home, and although the groupings of objects could be considered somewhat didactic in their suggestion of ‘correct’ combinations and procedures, hinting at patterns of consumption based on both aspiration and emulation, the ‘value’ of craft is primarily explained according to its ability to offer comfort through an appeal to the visceral. It is clearly useful.

With hindsight it is possible to ‘place’ these objects according to what they are not, or have not yet become, although the podium structure to the rear of the photograph allows for some more immediate consideration. Here the script has moved away from the home through an equally strategic yet more hierarchical framework that accords a greater sense of individual presence to specific objects. In the light of foreground activity, these objects appear privileged, somewhat removed from the banality of domestic endeavour, 22

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

prioritised by a greater appeal to an aesthetic response. Framed by a clearly separated space, these crafted vessels are both more visible and more abstract in their proposed meaning, making reference to a greater exclusivity than that available in the ‘domestic’ script. In moving towards a display strategy that values aesthetic over functional meaning, the script is rewritten before our eyes. Craft, in the foreground a commodity, here becomes more singularised, more distanced from its tactile and bodily resonances 15. In terms of social meaning, what is being scripted here mirrors a more general trend within production and the possibilities of consumption, whereby the scarcity of handmade objects changes their perceived cultural and economic value 16.

The process of aestheticisation, whereby traces of context are strategically removed in order to lay stress on private and inward contemplation, has visibly reached a maturity by the time of the Crafts Study Centre’s inaugural exhibition of 1972. Here, what is suggested by the photographic remains (page 18) is more laboratory or intellectual workshop than living room, where ‘works had to be contemplated in peaceful, quiet surroundings, away from the bustle of daily life’ 17. Such a strategy might explain the seemingly covered window of the Little Gallery, but here it is evidenced by the isolation of individual crafted objects within plots of pure white space, or alone on plinths, both contributing towards what Noordegraaf has termed ‘the invisible script’ 18. The seeming emptiness of such spaces, often erroneously considered ‘neutral’, the cleanliness, order and discipline, are in fact lines of a modernist script ‘intended to encourage similar efforts on the part of the audience to clean, regulate and internally discipline themselves’ 19. The development and dissemination of this particular script is well documented 20, but it is nevertheless worth noting its ability to deny the outside world in an attempt to suggest the timeless authority of the objects contained, or entombed, by it. In terms of our own narrative, what happens within what is now generally known as the ‘white cube’ gallery space is that individual craft becomes even more singularised, its status more pronounced, its meaning akin to ‘cultural sacredness’ 21. The attendant de-contextualisation, whereby social and cultural understanding is often limited to what can be gained by simply looking, however, suggests that such a script is aimed at those already able to read between the lines. For an audience with little or no prior knowledge this script may well be problematic. As Peter Vergo comments, ‘the notion

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

23

VIEW OF DISPLAY CASES ‘20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION, 1972’ Crafts Study Centre, The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, 2005

that works of art, in particular, should be left to speak for themselves takes no account of the fact that such works are, for most visitors, remarkably taciturn objects’ 22 (my italics).

If the exhibition of 1972 can be seen as a product of its time, its script drawn from the larger cultural field of museum and gallery display practices influenced by modernism, then we can argue a similar case for the current exhibition (above), where the effects of postmodern thinking are both implicit and visible. Primarily this is embodied through a rejection of modernism’s attempted timelessness, its denial of change, in favour of a script that not only recognises the provisional nature of knowledge, but also articulates it through introductory text panels that serve to put the audience centre-stage by opening up a potentially creative dialogue, encouraging ‘different points of view that may be inconclusive and keep the interpretation open for discussion’ 23. In the attempted recreation of groups of objects from an ‘original’ exhibition, undertaken with an admission of both similarities and differences, it acknowledges the degree to which display invariably operates as re-presentation, demonstrating a self-conscious interrogation of its own history and a sensitivity about its own role in the creation of meaning. There is no authoritative voice to this script, so that, ‘the contingent character of meaning is admitted, and new ways of thinking about how objects could be grouped, and how they might be spoken about’ 24 are ever in the background.

24

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

The admission that any script has only a limited degree of legitimacy is framed by the exhibition itself, which, typical of much postmodern design, combines older elements of display, synthesising them into a new, hybrid script 25. The commissioned cabinets are reminiscent of the glass cases of the very first museums, yet frame objects that maintain a singular, authoritative existence. Context sits alongside aesthetic value, and craft is organised by category, yet dispersed. What this amounts to is a melting pot of possible thinking about twentieth century studio craft and its potential value to future generations, an open-ended script that might be abstractly theoretical, historically contextual or even both.

The exhibition prompts both backward, and forward thinking. If it is true that ‘today, cultural maps are being re-plotted and re-territorialised’ 26 , then given both the exhibition and the archives that have informed it, there is the potential through the Crafts Study Centre for ever new meanings and narratives to be wrested from the studio crafts, and not least from their past, present and future display.

1

Eilean Hooper-Greenhill Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (Routledge, London, 2000) p.77

2

Igor Kopytoff ‘The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process’, in Arjun Appadurai (ed.) The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986)

3

Judy Attfield Wild Things: The Material Culture of Everyday Life (Berg, Oxford, 2000)

4

Charles Saumarez Smith ‘Museums, Artefacts and Meanings’, in Peter Vergo (ed.) The New Museology (Reaktion Books, London, 1989) p.21

5

Eilean Hooper-Greenhill Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (Routledge, London, 2000) p.108

6

Ibid. p.77

7

Ibid. p.141

8

Charles Saumarez Smith ‘Museums, Artefacts and Meanings’, in Peter Vergo (ed.) The New Museology (Reaktion Books, London, 1989) p.20

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

25

9

Julia Noordegraaf Strategies of Display: Museum Presentation in Nineteenthand Twentieth-Century Visual Culture (Nai Publishers, Rotterdam, 2004) p.14

10

Julia Noordegraaf Strategies of Display: Museum Presentation in Nineteenthand Twentieth-Century Visual Culture (Nai Publishers, Rotterdam, 2004)

11

Ibid. p.15

12

Ibid. p.16

13

Ibid. p.16. See also, Carol Duncan Civilizing Rituals (Routledge, London, 1995)

14

Although it is also important to note the limitations of evidence provided by a photograph, which is itself a constructed account of its subject. Interiors are usually only partly accounted for, and the general lack of people in such spaces points to a selective, idealised reality.

15

Igor Kopytoff ‘The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process’, in Arjun Appadurai (ed.) The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986)

16

Judy Attfield Wild Things: The Material Culture of Everyday Life (Berg, Oxford, 2000) p.64

17

Julia Noordegraaf Strategies of Display: Museum Presentation in Nineteenthand Twentieth-Century Visual Culture (Nai Publishers, Rotterdam, 2004) p.96

18

Ibid. pp.150-193

19

Eilean Hooper-Greenhill Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (Routledge, London, 2000) p.131

20

See, for example, Brian O’Doherty Inside The White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space (University of California Press, California, 1976); Christoph Grunenberg ‘The Modern Art Museum’ in Emma Barker (ed.) Contemporary Cultures of Display (Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 1999)

21

Igor Kopytoff ‘The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process’, in Arjun Appadurai (ed.) The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986) p.81

22

Peter Vergo ‘The Reticent Object’ in Peter Vergo (ed.) The New Museology (Reaktion Books, London, 1989) p.49

26

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

DISPLAY OF HAND-BLOCK PRINTED TEXTILES BY SUSAN BOSENCE IN ‘20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION, 1972’ Crafts Study Centre, The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, 2005

23

Judy Attfield Wild Things: The Material Culture of Everyday Life (Berg, Oxford, 2000) p.234

24

Eilean Hooper-Greenhill Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (Routledge, London, 2000) p.125

25

Julia Noordegraaf Strategies of Display: Museum Presentation in Nineteenthand Twentieth-Century Visual Culture (Nai Publishers, Rotterdam, 2004) p.194-243. See also Julian Spalding The Poetic Museum (Prestel Verlag, Munich London New York, 2002)

26

Eilean Hooper-Greenhill Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (Routledge, London, 2000) p.140

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

27

The 2004 Display TALL NARROW NECK VASE Stoneware using two different clay balls in throwing, glazed.

Archives

Lucie Rie, 1972

Supporting the Centre’s collections,

P.74.112

its makers’ archives now number over 27,000 items. Included are diaries, notebooks, photographs, correspondence, drawings, press cuttings, journals, memorabilia, reference and textile sample books. The Bernard Leach archive forms the most significant group of material, with some 14,000 items. Smaller, but no less significant archives relate to Lucie Rie, Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, Ethel Mairet, Peter Collingwood, Muriel Rose, the Oxshott Pottery and the Red Rose Guild, Irene Wellington and Edward Johnston.

The presence of these archives within the Centre fulfils the aims of its founding

EXHIBITION POSTER ‘20th Century Craftmanship, Work by Artist Craftsmen of the 20th Century’, 1972.

Crafts Study Centre Archive VISITORS’ BOOK

members to provide a major scholarly

‘20th Century Craftmanship, Work by Artist Craftsmen

resource, at an international level,

of the 20th Century’, 1972.

for research into the lives of 20th

Crafts Study Centre Archive

century crafts men and women, an understanding of their methods of work and an appreciation of their philosophies regarding the role of the crafts in society.

MINUTE BOOK Crafts Study Centre 1967-70.

Crafts Study Centre Archive MINUTE BOOK Crafts Study Centre 1970-73.

Crafts Study Centre Archive EXHIBITION CATALOGUE ‘20th Century Craftmanship, Work by Artist Craftsmen of the 20th Century’, 1972.

Crafts Study Centre Archive

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

29

Recently commissioned pieces by Hazel Dolby, Thomas Ingmire, Ewan Clayton and Tom Perkins (who was also commissioned to design the Centre’s slate entrance and Tanner Gallery signs) reflect the policy to collect relevant and contemporary work.

MANUSCRIPT ‘The Testament of Beauty’, by Robert Bridges, written on vellum in book form for Charlotte Wellington.

C.75.1 Irene Wellington, 1940, Edinburgh TRIAL ‘The Psalter’, written on vellum.

Probably intended for a manuscript book of the psalms that was never completed.

C.74.3 Edward Johnston, 1902

Calligraphy and Lettering

PANELS ‘Chapman’s Pool, Purbeck’ (diptych).

Acrylic paints and gilding on mill board.

Hazel Dolby, 2004

Only a small number of works of calligraphy were included in the Crafts Study Centre’s opening show in 1972.

This however, was to change over its

PORTFOLIO ‘A Book of Hours for the Vernal Equinox’.

Ink and gouache on paper.

Ewan Clayton, 2004 BOOKLETS

32-year period of collecting. Its collections

‘Calligraphy... some thoughts’.

now include the largest body of work by

B9 hand-made paper, Saunders mould-made paper,

Edward Johnston outside London. Other

Chinese and Japanese sumi inks, gold leaf on gesso.

Thomas Ingmire, 2004

leading 20th century calligraphers and letterers represented in the collections include among others, Margaret Alexander, Ralph Beyer, Heather Child, Alfred Fairbank, Eric Gill, Ann Hechle, Graily Hewitt, Donald Jackson, David Kindersley, David Peace, Tom Perkins, Joan Pilsbury and Irene Wellington.

30

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

Furniture, Wood and Metalwork This exhibition includes furniture and metalwork from the Crafts Study Centre’s opening exhibition in 1972. The makers of these pieces - Edward Barnsley, Alfred Bucknell, Ernest Gimson, Gordon Russell, Eric Sharpe and Harry Davoll - were the eminent makers and designers of their day.

These names were later joined by David Pye and Romney Green, Neville Neal, Eric Sharpe and William Simmonds. The Centre’s recently-acquired woodturning engine, lathe and tools, designed and used by David Pye, provides important contextual support for his 14 bowls, dishes and boxes held in the collections.

The Centre has a small but interesting collection of metalwork by Paul Cooper and Catherine Cobb.

FURNITURE AND WOOD ONE OF FOUR CLISSETT CHAIRS English ash with rush seat.

F.74.2.a-b Ernest Gimson, designer Edward Gardiner, maker, 1930s

COLLECTOR’S CABINET Ebony and satin aluminium.

Alan Peters, 1976

Philip Clissett, maker of traditional chairs at Bosbury,

CHEST OF DRAWERS AND MIRROR

Hertforshire, taught Gimson.

English walnut, ebony and holly beading, mother of

ROCKING CHAIR English ash with rush seat.

pearl inlay, brass furniture.

Sidney Barnsley, 1903

F.75.1 Ernest Gimson, designer Edward Gardiner, maker, c.1956

METALWORK SET OF FIRE IRONS

ARMCHAIR

Hand-forged with chiselled and stamped decoration,

English yew with bobbins of bog oak and rush seat.

c.1914.

F.74.14

2004.1

Gordon Russell, c.1928

Ernest Gimson, designer

HIGH BACK CHAIR

Alfred Bucknell, maker

Oak and cane.

SCONCE FOR TWO CANDLES

Richard La Trobe-Bateman, 1977

Hand-wrought brass, c.1918.

From an original 1968 design.

2004.2 Ernest Gimson, designer Alfred Bucknell, maker

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

31

CUTSIDED BOWL Stoneware, thrown, tenmoku glaze.

P.74.153 Richard Batterham, c.1965 LIDDED JAR Stoneware, thrown, tenmoku glaze.

P.74.37 Richard Batterham, c.1962-63 JUG Stoneware, thrown, wood ash and felspar glaze P.74.207 Richard Batterham, 1971 BOTTLE Stoneware, thrown, tenmoku glaze below, wood ash and felspar glaze at rim and shoulder.

P.74.14 Richard Batterham, 1966 BOWL Stoneware, thrown, wood ash glaze.

P74.209 Richard Batterham, c.1963

Ceramics

COFFEE POT Stoneware, thrown.

P.74.211

The ceramics in this display are largely those chosen for the Crafts Study Centre’s opening exhibition. They include work by the leading potters of the day, Bernard and David Leach, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie, Nora Braden, Michael Cardew, Henry

Richard Batterham, c.1968 BOWL Earthenware, thrown, galena glaze and copper over white slip decoration.

P.74.132 Michael Cardew, c.1930 CIDER JAR Earthenware, thrown, slip trailed decoration.

P.74.97

Hammond, Richard Batterham, Ray Finch

Michael Cardew

and Gwyn Hanssen.

Winchcombe Pottery, 1936

Not on show but gifted at around this time were pots by other significant makers such as Shoji Hamada, Denise Wren and Bernard Leach’s historic source collection of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and English ware.

LIDDED JAR Earthenware, thrown, glazed, slip decoration on lid.

P.74.96 Michael Cardew Winchcombe Pottery, 1936 DISH Stoneware, thrown, flecked ash glaze overall, brush decoration.

P.74.126

Since then the collection has grown to

Michael Cardew

include work by Svend Bayer, Michael

Wenford Bridge, 1962

Casson, John Leach and Alan Caiger-

VASE

Smith, whilst other idioms were introduced with the addition of work by Audrey Blackman and John Maltby.

32

Stoneware, unglazed, brown-black manganese neck.

P.74.104 Hans Coper Albion Mews, London, c.1956

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

VASE Stoneware, thrown, unglazed, manganese neck and interior.

P.74.103 Hans Coper Albion Mews, London, c.1955 VASE Stoneware, thrown, unglazed, manganese upper half and interior.

P.74.105 Hans Coper Albion Mews, London, c.1958 STEMMED VASE Stoneware, thrown, pale textured surface over manganese body, manganese interior.

P.74.28 Hans Coper Hammersmith, London, 1966 COVERED CROCK Stoneware, thrown, glazed interior, incised decoration.

P.74.100 Ray Finch Winchcombe Pottery, c.1962

LIDDED JAR Stoneware, thrown, grey flecked glaze overall.

TEA CADDY

P.74.34

Stoneware, press-moulded, tessha glaze, wax-resist

William Marshall

decoration

Leach Pottery, St Ives, 1956

P.74.86 Bernard Leach Leach Pottery, St Ives, 1924

BOTTLE Stoneware, thrown, grey ash glaze, incised decoration.

DISH

P.74.92

Stoneware, thrown, glazed, incised decoration.

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

P.74.87

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, 1971

Bernard Leach Leach Pottery, St. Ives, 1963 Made specially for Robin Tanner by Bernard Leach.

BOWL Stoneware, thrown, grey ash glaze.

P.74.91

VASE

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Stoneware, thrown, glazed, brush decoration.

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, 1971

P.74.94 Bernard Leach Leach Pottery, St Ives, c.1950

BOTTLE Stoneware, thrown, box ash glaze with manganese oxide splashes.

VASE

P.84.4

Stoneware, hexagonal, tenmoku glaze overall.

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

P.74.88

Coleshill, Berkshire, 1938

Bernard Leach Leach Pottery, St Ives, 1971

FLARED BOWL Stoneware, thrown, scotch pine glaze, brush

FOUR COFFEE CUPS AND SAUCERS

decoration in iron.

Earthenware, thrown, light brown glaze, sgrafitto

P.74.188

decoration.

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

P.74.101.a-d

Coleshill, Berkshire, 1938

Leach Pottery, St. Ives, 1936

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

33

BOWL

BOTTLE

Stoneware, thrown, hawthorn ash glaze, crazed

Stoneware, thrown, box ash glaze.

decoration.

P.84.4

P.74.160

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Coleshill, Berkshire, c.1938

Coleshill, Berkshire, c.1930

BREAKFAST SERVICE

CUTSIDED BOWL

Thrown, stoneware, thick white opaque glaze,

Stoneware, thrown, scotch pine ash glaze with an iron

manganese decoration.

splash.

P.91.2

P.75.31

Lucie Rie

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Albion Mews, London, late 1950s

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, Wiltshire, 1950s

VASE

BOTTLE

Stoneware, thrown, flecked grey glaze overall, deep

Stoneware, thrown, thorn ash glaze, incised

fluted decoration.

decoration.

P.74.113

P.77.8

Lucie Rie

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Albion Mews, London, 1960

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, Wiltshire, c.1955

VASE

VASE

Stoneware, thrown, pale limestone glaze, sgrafitto

Stoneware, thrown, transparent glaze, cobalt and iron

decoration inlaid with manganese.

brushed decoration.

P.74.111

P.84.5

Lucie Rie

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Albion Mews, London, c.1960

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, Wiltshire, 1960

BOWL

CUTSIDED BOTTLE

Porcelain, thrown, white semi-transparent glaze

Stoneware, thrown, cream-grey wood ash glaze

overall.

overall.

P.74.108

P.74.158

Lucie Rie

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Albion Mews, London, c.1963

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, Wiltshire, c.1970

VASE

VASE

Porcelain, grey iron slip, sgraffito decoration.

Stoneware, thrown, mixed wood ash glaze.

P.74.116

P.74.59

Lucie Rie

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Albion Mews, London, early 1960s

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, Wiltshire, c.1935

VASE

LIGHTLY CUTSIDED BOWL

Porcelain, thrown, white glaze overall, incised

Stoneware, thrown, walnut ash glaze overall.

decoration.

P.74.138

P.74.118

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Lucie Rie

Coleshill, Berkshire, 1938

Albion Mews, London, c.1960

BOWL

POT

Stoneware, thrown, grey ash glaze with fleck, incised

Porcelain, thrown, uranium glaze interior and iron slip,

diagonal lines.

sgraffito decoration.

P.74.92

P.74.117

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Lucie Rie

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, Wiltshire, c.1971

Albion Mews, London, c.1960

CUTSIDED BOWL

VASE

Stoneware, thrown, grey ash glaze.

Stoneware, pale and dark glaze overall.

P.74.91

P.74.110

Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie

Lucie Rie

Kilmington Manor, Warminster, Wiltshire, c.1971

Albion Mews, London, c.1960

34

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

VASE

VASE

Stoneware, thrown using two different balls of clay.

Stoneware, using two different balls of clay.

P.74.109

P.74.112

Lucie Rie

Lucie Rie

Albion Mews, London, 1971

Albion Mews, London, c.1972

TWO CUPS AND SAUCERS AND HANDLELESS JUG

Given by Lucie Rie to the Crafts Study Centre for its opening exhibition in 1972.

Porcelain, thrown, white and manganese glaze,

BOWL

vertical sgrafitto.

Stoneware, thrown, white slip hakemé glaze overall,

P.74.114.a-e

brushed iron decoration.

Lucie Rie

P.74.190

Albion Mews, London, 1950s

William Staite Murray

BOX

Bray, Berkshire, 1934

Porcelain, thrown, manganese glaze, sgraffito

BOWL

decoration.

Stoneware, tenmoku glaze overall.

P.74.115

P.75.27

Lucie Rie

William Staite Murray, 1934

Albion Mews, London, 1960

BOWL

SAUCER

Stoneware, thrown, ash glaze overall, brush

Porcelain, thrown, manganese glaze overall, sgraffifto

decoration.

decoration.

P.74.42

P.74.120

William Staite Murray, mid 1930s

Lucie Rie Albion Mews, London, c.1958

BOWL Stoneware, thrown, ash glaze, brushed iron pigment

BOWL

depicting ‘Noah’s Flood’.

Porcelain, thrown, light grey glaze overall, manganese

P.75.1

inlaid cross hatching.

Henry Hammond, c.1970

P.74.119

Hammond was Head of Ceramics at West Surrey

Lucie Rie

College of Art & Design (later The Surrey Institute of

Albion Mews, London, late 1950s

Art & Design, University College.

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

35

BOWL

VASE

Earthenware, thrown, black slip interior, white slip-

Stoneware, thrown, tenmoku glaze overall, wax-resist

trailed decoration.

brushed decoration and dolomite glaze.

P.89.5

P.75.33

Henry Hammond, 1946-51

David Leach

BOWL

Lowerdown Pottery, Bovey Tracey, Devon, 1965

Stoneware, thrown, rutile glaze, brushed decoration in

LIDDED JAR

cobalt and chromate.

Thrown, stoneware, brushed white slip (hakeme) and

P.74.196

black and brown brushed decoration.

Henry Hammond

P.74.34

West Surrey College of Art & Design, c.1959

William Marshall, 1956

BOWL Stoneware, thrown, speckled glaze overall, woodfired.

P.74.180 Gwyn Hanssen La Borne, France, c.1971 VASE Stoneware, thrown, matt yellow-brown glaze, incised decoration.

P.85.8 David Leach Leach Pottery, St Ives, c.1955

36

l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

Printed and Woven Textiles and Needlework

HAND-BLOCK PRINTED TEXTILES HAND-BLOCK PRINTED LENGTHS BY PHYLLIS BARRON AND DOROTHY LARCHER, 1923-40 ‘SCALLOP’ Black and natural, positive print in iron on galled linen.

The textiles in this display are a

T.74.242.c

representative sample of the large

‘SMALL FEATHER’

collection of textiles gifted to the Crafts

Blue and white, organdie dyed in indigo. Design

Study Centre in the early 1970s.

They include work by leading textile hand-block printers of the 20th century

printed with nitric acid to discharge the design. Lino block cut by Dorothy Larcher.

T.74.245.c ‘GIRTON’ Black and natural, positive print in iron on galled linen.

Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, Susan

T.74.209.d

Bosence and Enid Marx, hand-weavers

Designed for curtains for the Senior Common Room,

Elizabeth Peacock, Peter Collingwood, Ethel Mairet, Ursula Brock and Rita Beales and needlework by Eve Simmonds.

During the 1980s and ’90s work by other makers entering the Centre’s textile

Girton College, Cambridge. Block cut by Phyllis Barron.

‘ELIZABETHAN’ Blue and white, indigo discharge on balloon cotton.

T.74.201.a ‘ELIZABETHAN’ Black and natural, positive print in iron on galled linen.

collection included Beryl Ash, Stella

T.74.201.b

Benjamin, Linda Brassington, Joyce

‘FISHBONE AND SPOT’

Clissold, Monique Goetzee, Sue Hartree,

Cotton dhoti cloth dyed red. Fishbone: positive print in

Alice Hindson, Diana Harrison, Anne

black, Spot: stencilled in black.

Lander, Sally Greaves-Lord, Theo Moorman, May Morris, Alastair and Alison

T.74.203.b ‘MOTOR’ Black and off-white, positive print in black on natural

Morton, Ethel Nettleship, Mary Restieaux,

linen.

Ann Richards, Barbara Sawyer, Geraldine

T.74.233.a

St. Aubyn-Hubbard, Amelia Uden and

‘

Carole Waller.

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

37

OLD FLOWER’

HAND-BLOCK PRINTED AND PASTE-RESIST

Rust and white, positive print in rust on balloon cotton

LENGTHS BY SUSAN BOSENCE, 1950S-60S

in rust.

T.74.257.a The first block that Dorothy Larcher cut.

LENGTH Green and white, small star-flower amongst vertical dashes. Positive prints in two different green on linen

BLOCK PRINTED SCARF

lawn.

Old gold and dark grey, unnamed design, stars and

T.75.21

lines. Positive prints on undyed Rodier wool.

Inspired by seeing crocuses under oak trees at

T.77.19

Dartington Hall, Devon.

Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher Hambutts House, Painswick, Gloucestershire, 1923-40

LENGTH Brown and white, vertical stripes of touching circles.

BLOCK PRINTED SCARF

Positive prints in brown, paste-resist circles overdyed

Red and white, ‘Jasmine’ with border of close diagonal

in brown on cotton (Soledon dyes).

lines. Positive prints in red on white cotton.

T.75.17

T.77.28 Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher Hambutts House, Painswick, Gloucestershire, 1923-40

LENGTH Brown, blue and white circles with paste-resist spot.

Positive print in blue on cotton, with paste-resist spot

BLOCK PRINTED SCARF

overdyed in brown (Soledon dyes).

Black, blue, red and yellow, unnamed design. Block

T.75.15

printed and stencilled with flowers and wide stripes on crêpe de chine.

T.77.20 Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher Hambutts House, Painswick, Gloucestershire, 1923-40 BLOCK PRINTED SCARF Turquoise and brown, ‘Felt Bars’. Positive prints in turquoise on undyed silk and overprinted in brown.

T.77.67 Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher Hambutts House, Painswick, Gloucestershire, 1923-40

LENGTH Blue, brown and white with stripes of varying widths.

Double paste-resist on cotton, dyed in blue and brown (Soldeon dyes).

T.75.5 LENGTH Green and white, vertical stripes. Paste-resist on cambric, dyed in green (Soledon dyes).

T.75.20 TWO PATTERN BOOKS Samples of dyed and printed stuffs from 1947.

Susan Bosence 2004.3.1-2

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l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

HAND-BLOCK PRINTED BY ENID MARX, 1930S ‘SPOOK’

‘FRENCH SPOT’ 2003.49

Black, fawn and natural. Positive print in black and

‘LIZARD’

ungalled iron on natural linen.

2003.175

T.75.2 ‘OGEE’

PRINTING BLOCKS DESIGNED AND CUT BY

Yellow-brown and dark brown. Galled linen dyed in iron

PHYLLIS BARRON 1923-40

printed with muriate of tin to discharge the design.

T.75.3

‘BUTTERFLY’ Cut in wood.

2003.57

OLD TEXTILE PRINTING BLOCKS USED BY

‘LARGE CHEVRON’

PHYLLIS BARRON AND DOROTHY LARCHER

Cut in linoleum.

Old French blocks, 19th century or earlier, bought by

2003.176

Phyllis Barron and re-cut by Fred Gardiner.

‘SMELT’

‘HILLES’

Cut in wood.

2003.48

2003.112

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

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‘CARNAC’

‘SPOOK’

Cut in linoleum.

Cut in wood.

2003.177

2003.172

‘ELIZABETHAN’

‘CAT’S EYE’

Cut in wood.

Cut in linoleum.

2003.143

2003.170

‘KITE’

LENGTH

Cut in linoleum.

Black and yellow-green, vertical and diagonal strokes.

2003.110

Positive prints in black and yellow-green on Irish linen

‘FISHBONE’ Cut in linoleum, made from a rubber mat.

2003.166 PRINTING BLOCK CUT BY PHYLLIS BARRON, ‘JASMINE’, 1923-40 2003.132

(Soledon dyes).

T.75.19 Printed as curtains for Leonard Elmhirst’s study at Dartington Hall, Devon.

LENGTH Brown and white, vertical bands of thin horizontal lines. Positive prints in brown on undyed cotton (Soledon dyes).

PRINTING BLOCKS DESIGNED AND CUT BY DOROTHY LARCHER 1923-40

T.75.13 LENGTH

‘BOUQUET’

Thin horizontal paste-resist stripes of brown and white

Cut in linoleum.

between bands of brown, with paste-resist spots.

2003.167

T.77.13

‘BASKET’ Cut in wood, dated 1923.

2003.46

HAND-WOVEN TEXTILES HAND-WOVEN LENGTH

‘LARGE BUNCH’

Warp: undyed cotton.

Cut in linoleum.

Weft: black cotton and undyed slub yarn twisted with

2003.161

linen.

‘WINCHESTER’ Cut in wood.

Designed for choir stall at Winchester Cathedral.

2003.49 ‘SMALL FEATHER’ Cut in linoleum.

2003.157 ‘LITTLE FLOWER’ Cut in linoleum.

2003. 149

T.74.151 Ethel Mairet Workshop, c.1939 Gospels, Ditchling, Sussex HAND-WOVEN LENGTH OF DRESS MATERIAL Warp and weft: red wool with hand-spun wool weft stripe.

T.74.82.a Ethel Mairet, late 1930s Gospels, Ditchling, Sussex HAND-WOVEN LENGTH Warp: Indian hand-spun Éri silk.

‘OLD FLOWER’

Weft: hand-spun Southdown wool plyed with black

Variants in wood and linoleum.

cotton.

2003.148.1

T.74.149

2003.153.3

Ethel Mairet Workshop (possibly Marianne Straub) Gospels, Ditchling, Sussex, c.1936

PRINTING BLOCKS DESIGNED AND CUT BY ENID MARX, 1930S

HAND-WOVEN STOLE Warp: blue and black cotton.

Weft: brown cotton, red and blue Indian hand-spun Éri

‘OGEE’

silk and rayon.

Cut in wood.

T.74.94

2003.171

Ethel Mairet Workshop, Gospels, Ditchling, Sussex, mid 1940s

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l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

HAND-WOVEN STOLE

HAND-WOVEN SHAWL

Warp: black Indian hand-spun Éri silk.

Warp: Indian hand-spun cotton.

Weft: black and fawn Indian hand-spun Éri silk. Plain

Weft: Indian hand-spun Éri silk and cotton.

weave with inlay borders.

Dyes: fawn - cutch, brown - cutch chrome, black

T.74.146

- cochineal iron, grey/green - cutch iron, purple -

Ethel Mairet Workshop, (probably Elizabeth Peacock)

cochineal chrome.

Gospels, Ditchling, Sussex, c.1920

T.74.161

WALL HANGING ‘Macrogauze 86’, bleached and natural linen with stainless steel rods. Warp-transporting technique.

2002.12

Elizabeth Peacock Weavers, Ditchling, Sussex, c.1923-28 One of two shawls woven to the commission of King Faisal of Egypt.

Peter Collingwood, 1970

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

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HAND-WOVEN SCARF

HAND-WOVEN LENGTH

Warp: hand-spun Indian Éri silk.

Warp and weft: hand-spun linen (Sandringham flax)

Weft: hand-spun Éri silk with beige and fawn stripes.

dyed with madder, cutch and weld.

Plain weave with 4/4 borders.

T.81.41

T.74.73

Rita Beales, c.1971

Elizabeth Peacock Weavers, Clayton, Sussex, pre-1936

HAND-WOVEN LENGTH Warp and weft: hand-spun wool (Border Leicester

HAND-WOVEN SHAWL

chross Cheviot fleece) yellow (dyed weld).

Warp and weft: hand-spun natural black wool (Oxford

T.74.296

fleece) with extra warp and weft brocade hand-spun,

Rita Beales, c.1970

fleece-dyed Shetland wool.

T.74.157 Elizabeth Peacock Ditchling, Sussex, c.1955-57

HAND-WOVEN STOLE Warp: hand-spun linen (dark grey dyed logwood).

Weft: gold (dyed weld), dark grey (dyed logwood), lace weave stripes.

COTTAGE TAPESTRY

T.75.28

Warp: white Nigerian 2 ply cotton.

Rita Beales, c.1937

Weft: Indian hand-spun red (rat-dyed) cotton with 3/3 inlay of Éri silk.

Dyes: olive brown - weld iron, red - cochineal tin.

Made up of five narrow strips.

T.74.154 Elizabeth Peacock Ditchling, Sussex, c.1960-69 COTTAGE TAPESTRY Warp: white Nigerian 2 ply cotton.

Weft: Indian hand-spun cotton with 3/3 inlay of Éri silk.

Dyes: indigo weld, brown - cutch iron, red - cochineal,

HAND-WOVEN TABLECLOTH Warp and weft: hand-spun linen (Courtrai flax). Block threading (spot weave).

T.75.27 Rita Beales HAND-WOVEN SQUARED CLOTH Warp and weft: hand-spun linen, grey and gold (dyed logwood and weld).

T.75.26 Rita Beales, c.1937

yellow - weld.

HAND-WOVEN MAT

Made up of five narrow strips.

Warp and weft: hand-spun linen (Courtrai flax), gold

T.74.155

(dyed weld). Block threading (mock leno).

Elizabeth Peacock

T.81.7

Ditchling, Sussex, c.1960-69

Rita Beales

COTTAGE TAPESTRY

HAND-WOVEN LENGTH

Warp: white Nigerian 2 ply cotton.

Warp: Indian hand-spun Éri silk, dyed brown-black.

Weft: Indian hand-spun cotton with 3/3 inlay of Éri silk.

Weft: Indian hand-spun Éri silk, striped natural, brown-

Made up of seven strips: four narrow, three wide.

black, pink (cochineal).

T.74.156

Plain weave with weft-faced stripes (hopsack).

Elizabeth Peacock

T.74.8

Ditchling, Sussex, c.1960-69

Elizabeth Peacock, c. 1932

HAND-SPUN LINEN YARNS Using Courtrai flax, dyed with indigo, weld, madder, logwood, hermatine crystals and fustic (or cutch)

Weavers, Clayton, Sussex Bought by Dorothy Larcher and worn by her over a number of years as a pleated skirt.

using a tanic acid mordant.

HAND-WOVEN LENGTH OF DRESS MATERIAL

T.81.49.a-i

Warp and weft: red wool with hand-spun wool weft

Rita Beales, 1970

stripe.

HAND-WOVEN LENGTH Warp and weft: hand-spun linen dyed with weld.

T.74.297 Rita Beales, c.1935

T.74.82.a Ethel Mairet, late 1930s Gospels, Ditchling, Sussex SELECTION OF HAND-WOVEN JACQUARD SILK SCARVES Warp: black (synthetic dye).

Weft: various coloured brocades.

T.74.288, T.74.290, T.74.292 Ursula Brock, 1970s

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l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972

HAND-WOVEN JACQUARD SILK TIE Black and gold, cut on the cross.

Warp: black (synthetic dye).

Weft: black and gold.

T.74.291 Ursula Brock, 1970s HAND-WOVEN LENGTH Warp: cotton, repeat stripes (9 ends white, 1 yellow).

Weft: stripes of natural and white 2 ply Welsh wool.

Plain weave.

T.74.88 Ethel Mairet, 1940s Gospels, Ditchling, Sussex

NEEDLEWORK COAT Cotton, quilted. ‘Eagle’ design, printed in iron discharge and overprinted with an old French block.

T.74.164 Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, c.1930 Worn by Phyllis Barron SMOCK Natural and pink tussore, embroidered in silk.

T.74.138 Sewn by Eve Simmonds, c.1915 Made for her nephew WAISTCOAT Linen, embroidered in cotton.

T.74.141 Sewn by Eve Simmonds, c.1918

20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972 l

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Acknowledgments Barley Roscoe for her interest and valuable comments based on a deep knowledge of the history of the Crafts Study Centre, Linda Brassington and Dan Bosence for their support in furthering an understanding of the work of Susan Bosence, and Amelia Uden for her knowledge of the history of The Surrey Institute of Art & Design.

David Westwood for his fine photographs throughout the book.

A special thanks to David Hyde of Celsius for his commitment to the project from the outset.

20th century crafts has been sponsored by:

celsius

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l 20TH CENTURY CRAFTS: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST CRAFTS STUDY CENTRE EXHIBITION 1972