In this new series on Arts&Crafts hosted by Daniel Stilwell, we will unite voices from architectural and social history with architectural practitioners who engage with the Arts & Crafts in a contemporary light. Each speaker will showcase lesser-known characters and the wider artistic community within the Arts & Crafts, as well as offer freshly made views of canonically prominent architects of the time.
This talk looks at some of the many designers and artists who moved to the new Garden City of Letchworth in the years from its beginning in 1903 to the First World War, in search of the ‘Simple Life’. These included architect W H Cowlishaw of the Iceni Pottery, Alec Hunter of the St Edmundsbury Weaving Works, woodworker Stanley Parker, and Camden Town artists William Ratcliffe, Spencer Gore and Harold Gilman.
This lecture looks at the first ten years of the new Garden City of Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, and shows that it attracted an unusually large number of architects, artists and designers, in search of the ‘Simple Life’.
After a brief introduction tracing the history of the world’s first Garden City, It looks in more detail at the artistic life of the town, and its importance to the founding residents. It will show examples of work by a range of architects, artists and craft workers, including woodworker Stanley Parker (brother of architect Barry Parker); lustre pottery by architect W H Cowlishaw; textiles by Edmund Hunter of the St Edmundsbury Weavers; sculpture by Onslow Whiting; paintings by the Camden Town artists William Ratcliffe, Spencer Gore and Harold Gilman; and advertising by Percy Gossop (first British art director of Vogue).
Ros Allwood began her career at Temple Newsam, Leeds whilst a Fine Art undergraduate, then spent two years as a postgrad at the V & A before moving to Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Following that, Ros became the Deputy Director of the Geffrye Museum. After a spell as a freelance exhibition organiser, Ros became Curator of Letchworth Museum & Art Gallery. Now, Ros is Cultural Services Manager for North Hertfordshire Council, running the new North Hertfordshire Museum based in Hitchin.
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