O Detail of evening jacket, fawn French silk velvet ground, hand block-
‘P.S. I’ve met Irene Wellington several times recently* - quite outstanding in the calligraphy world, I think. I believe she would be a useful addition
printed with positive
to our ‘panel’. She knows about as much about Johnston and all he left
prints in red and black
behind. Let me know what you think.
Phyllis Barron & Dorothy Larcher Gifted to the Crafts Study Centre by Muriel Rose
T.74.17 © Crafts Study Centre (2006)
*Told her about our ‘project’ and she was very sympathetic and offered at least one small piece of EJ’s writing’.5 As a collector and a connoisseur, Rose had amassed her own collection of historic and contemporary crafts. Between 1970 and up to her death in 1986 she either donated or pledged as a bequest, works by the leading makers of the era. These objects also contributed to forming the core of the Centre’s collections and included works by Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Shoji Hamada, Michael Cardew, Nora Braden, William Staite Murray, Henry Hammond and Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie, Michael Casson and Richard Batterham in ceramics; Ethel Mairet, Rita Beales, Eve Simmonds and Ethel Nettleship, Gwen and Barbara Mullins in textiles; Edward Gardiner, Ernest Gimson, Edward Barnsley, and Fred Partridge in furniture and wood; Paul Cooper in metalwork and Edward Johnston and Irene Wellington in calligraphy. Some of these items, shown in this exhibition for the first time, give particular context to both Muriel Rose and the history of the Crafts Study Centre. For example, Rose wrote in a letter to Robin Tanner in 1971, with reference to their planned exhibition 20th Century Craftmanship: ‘At the autumn show I could lend at least 6 Leach pots of top exhibition quality. They were all, I think in the Arts Council exhibition and are intended ultimately for the collection. This might be easier than trying to get some from St Ives. I also have a fine - very simple big Barnsley table in golden sycamore (used to be in middle of room, or elsewhere in Little G). I also have some
MURIEL ROSE: A MODERN CRAFTS LEGACY
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