ÂŁ1 ISSUE NO 17 Spring 2013
Mark Bills looks ahead to this year’s exhibitions Pamela Gerrish Nunn on Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale Jennifer Roberts on photographs of women artists The Big Issues participants talk about their work Mary McMahon on new Artist in Residence, Clare Kuznik Introducing Kara Wescombe Blackman, Head of Learning
1
Edwardian Opulence BRITISH ART AT THE DAWN OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Angus Trumble and Andrea Wolk Rager A lavishly illustrated investigation of the distinctive architecture, interior decor, fashion and fine arts created during the relatively brief but complex period between the death of Queen Victoria and the First World War. With contributions by A. Cassandra Albinson, Tim Barringer, Pamela Fletcher, Imogen Hart, Elizabeth C. Mansfield and Alexander Nemerov Published in association with the Yale Center for British Art 350 colour + 30 b/w illustrations Hardback ÂŁ50.00
YaleBooks tel: 020 7079 4900
www.yalebooks.co.uk 2
DIRECTOR’S INTRODUCTION Perdita Hunt, Director of Watts Gallery
We are delighted to welcome Kara Wescombe Blackman as the new Head of Learning. Kara brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from her position as Head of Schools, Families and Young People at the V&A and prior to that at The Courtauld. In these roles, Kara has increased access to the arts and heritage. She increased participation from secondary schools and schools in areas of deprivation, young people and families from disadvantaged backgrounds, children and adults with disabilities, homeless adults and adults affected by mental health.
The interiror of Limnerslease. Photograph by Anne Purkiss
We are sorry to say goodbye to Mark Bills, who has fulfilled the role of Curator of Watts Gallery, only fifth in line, for the last seven years with considerable success. Mark’s contribution to the restoration of Watts Gallery and the development of fresh scholarship on Watts and his legacy has repositioned Watts as a serious painter of the 19th Century. His exhibitions’ programme has earned Watts Gallery its reputation as a national gallery in the heart of a village. Mark’s appointment as Director of Gainsborough’s House is testament to the Trustees belief in developing staff and their commitment to learning. We wish him and his family well. His successor is currently being sought and will hopefully be in post this Autumn. Watts Gallery is immensely grateful to the four lenders who have made it possible to raise funds to save Limnerslease. It was wonderful news to receive a Round 1 pass from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Saving the Studios project, enabling us to move forward and unlocking pledges which were contingent upon HLF support. We now need to raise £1.5m by the end of 2013 to unlock the HLF grant. In the meantime it is gratifying to see the level of interest in tours of Limnerslease. We are so grateful to the donors who have supported our campaign and to the women benefactors who
have supported the Mary Watts Guild, established to support the restoration of the Mary Watts Gallery at Limnerslease and to support bursaries for women participants in the Art for All Learning programme. There is much to look forward to in 2013 in particular the groundbreaking exhibition on Frank Holl, which is only the second exhibition of his work since his death. The Curator has left us a wonderful legacy of innovative, national exhibitions of real interest which bring new insights into the understanding and appreciation of 19th Century art. 3
4
CELEBRATING OUR EXTRAORDINARY HERITAGE: THE YEAR AHEAD AT WATTS Mark Bills, Curator of Watts Gallery, 2006-2013 left Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale The Guardian Angel (The Genius of Flight) 1918 The Nelson Museum & Local History Centre, Monmouth
later wave of influence of that seminal Victorian movement: PreRaphaelitism.
right Frank Holl Self-portrait, 1863 National Portrait Gallery, London
Within the Victorian art world Watts Gallery and the Artists’ Village in Compton is a very special place. It is one of the few places that has a purpose built Gallery devoted to one of the greatest artists of the period and within a stone’s throw is the artist’s house and studio. In itself this is rich, but add to it the extraordinary legacy of Mary Watts and her Watts Cemetery Chapel, the Hostel, Pottery and the Limnerslease ceilings and it is really of international significance. There is a wonderful complementary dualism in this village represented by the two individuals whose presence imbues the place. On the one hand we have in G.F. Watts one of the most forward-looking artists of his generation, pushing the boundaries of his art for over seventy years and capturing the zeitgeist of the changing times.
On the other, Mary Watts, a leading proponent of the Arts & Crafts Movement, who motivated a village and left one of the most interesting and inspiring buildings in the country in her cemetery chapel. The next few years will see Watts Gallery celebrating this extraordinary heritage through its exhibitions, events and the development of Limnerslease. Within the Watts Gallery, the exhibition programme for 2013 will celebrate aspects of Victorian art in three shows that explore themes of women artists, social realism and studio practice, themes that reflect the art of G.F. and Mary Watts. The new year opens with Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, curated by the leading art historian Pamela Gerrish Nunn and will give visitors the opportunity of seeing the
Watts Gallery is an important centre for the study of Victorian art and craft and exhibitions are an important element that reveal new research and show to our visitors some of the great treasures of Victorian art. The summer slot is taken by Frank Holl: Emerging from the Shadows which has been developed with the National Portrait Gallery and the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate. It will bring this important artist into the spotlight once more. Holl’s premature death has to a certain extent robbed him of his significance. Had he lived longer, his work would be better known and he would have received a baronetcy which was to have been conferred in the 1888 birthday lists, but he died just two months before it was ratified. Holl has a relevance today, beyond the politics of changing artistic tastes and the exhibition will reveal a consummate artist, a great painter with a singular vision driven by his belief in truth and observation. His fidelity to observation and emotional truth steers him away from the unctuous sentiment of which many Victorian painters were guilty. He is emerging from the shadows as one of Victorian art’s most significant painters. The project to save the studios is being explored in exhibitions in winter 2013. At Watts Gallery an exhibition will consider Mary 5
Watts’s artistic practice alongside an exhibition of Victorian artists’ studios. At the same time an exhibition at the Lewis Elton Gallery, University of Surrey, will draw together artists’ studio images from The Rob Dickins Collection. A symposium on the theme of artist studios will be held at the same time to bring together leading scholars and curators from artists studios around Europe. This will help the development of the content of Limnerslease. How artists work, how they use a studio and how they develop their work will be explored further by an eminent living artist, Glenn Sujo, who will become Associate Artist, beginning in Spring at the Watts’s Compton Studio. He will work in the studio and contribute to the symposium as well as giving people the opportunity of master classes in life and anatomical drawing.
6
LOOKING BACK I have always believed it is important to understand history before looking forward. It will give us a much clearer picture of our future direction. At Watts Gallery this has been essential, because the Gallery as we see it today was drawn from the original vision of the founders. I feel very privileged to have been part of the history of this special place. To be here in one of its most important eras, when the Gallery closed for only the second time in its history, when we once again took works out of the building to celebrate the achievement and vision of G.F. Watts has been a joy. I also feel a great pride in being one of the small band of Watts Gallery’s Curators who, like myself, studied at the Slade and curated this significant collection in a building just designed for these works. It is with great sadness that I will be leaving Watts Gallery next month, for seven years it has been my home and my life. I remember first arriving and moving into the charming but ice-cold Curator’s
House. My colleagues at the Museum of London thought I was mad, but I knew that this was a special place and my job of Curator here was not to curate a new vision, but to help bring out what was already here, what was special about it. Visitors’ reaction to the restoration and re-hang was a real highlight for me and it was a huge pleasure to see public and critics alike looking with awe at the achievement of Watts. It is not all sadness, however, and I am looking forward with some excitement to my new role as Director of Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury, Suffolk. Like Watts Gallery the Gallery is about a single artist, this time an artist from an earlier century, the eighteenth, and I hang up my top hat in favour of a powdered wig. I have always been passionate about art and I will always have great admiration for the achievement of Watts, but now I am immersing myself in that brilliant Mr. Gainsborough. I hope I might see some of you in Suffolk!
7
8
THE LAST PRE-RAPHAELITE: ELEANOR FORTESCUE-BRICKDALE Laura Davis talks to Pamela Gerrish Nunn, Art Historian
left Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, The Little Foot-page, 1905 © National Museums Liverpool
Nobody does eccentric attention grabbing quite like the PreRaphaelites – Rossetti exhuming his wife’s coffin to reclaim the book of poetry he buried alongside her; Holman Hunt famous for dragging a fidgety goat to the Dead Sea where it refused to stand still for painting. But while most of the Brotherhood continue to be household names well more than a century after their deaths, not all those who followed in their footsteps are as well recognised today as they were at the height of their fame. By the time Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale was born the original seven Pre-Raphaelites were slowly dying off – James Collinson in 1881 and Rossetti, of kidney disease after a lifetime of drug use, the following year.
It was 34 years after the group originally formed to reject classicism and return to the vibrant colours and complex details of earlier Italian and Flemish art. But while the Brothers were heading for extinction, their ideas were not. “There were commemorative exhibitions and books published so they were very much in the public eye as she was growing up and forming her own idea of what sort of artist she might want to be,” says art historian Pamela Gerrish Nunn, who is guest curating an exhibition of Fortescue-Brickdale’s work for Watts Gallery.
of artists who continued the tradition. In Fortescue-Brickdale’s work we can see all the vibrancy and attention to detail that has made Pre-Raphaelitism enduringly attractive to viewers. She treats many of the same subjects, in her own way. She has a very imaginative and vivid way of telling a story.” Born into a middle class Sussex family, Fortescue-Brickdale was encouraged to draw by her father and brother, an amateur painter, who were both acquaintances of John Ruskin – the influential Victorian artist, critic and patron who championed the Brotherhood at the start of their career and financially supported them.
“People tend to associate the PreRaphaelites with the 1850s but in fact there were three generations 9
A hard worker, she studied at the Crystal Palace School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, which decades earlier had come under huge criticism from the Pre-Raphaelites for promoting only classical style. It was there that she met the Indian-born British painter Byam Shaw, a protegé of John Everett Millais, in whose school she would later teach. At the art school, FortescueBrickdale won a £40 prize in 1896 for her design for the decoration of a public building and, the following year, made her debut with a black and white work in the RA’s exclusive Summer Exhibition. “Although she was from an upper class, professional, comfortable family she took her art very, very seriously,” says Nunn. 10
“There were, over the centuries, a lot of women who we could designate amateur. They were very keen on art but because they didn’t have to earn their living and they never ventured beyond the personal or the domestic sphere then their work doesn’t necessarily engage with the aesthetic or cultural issues of their time. “But, when we look at FortescueBrickdale’s work, we can see it as one woman’s attempt to engage with the issues of the time, to make her own decisions about contributing to the making of contemporary culture.” With thanks to the Liverpool Post
A Pre-Raphaelite Journey: Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale 5 February - 9 June 2013 Exhibition Galleries www.wattsgallery.org.uk The catalogue written by Pamela Gerrish Nunn is available priced £12. Pamela Gerrish Nunn will be talking about the exhibition on Monday 18 March. See the events leaflet, visit www.wattsgallery.org.uk or call 01483 813593 Tuesday - Saturday, 11-5pm.
above Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, The Forerunner,1920 © National Museums Liverpool right Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, Portrait of Winifred Roberts,1913 Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Trust
11
12
VICTORIAN WOMEN ARTISTS IN THE ROB DICKINS COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS Jennifer Roberts, Curatorial Assistant at Watts Gallery
left Lady Butler, The Rob Dickins Collection at Watts Gallery right Laura Alma-Tadema The Rob Dickins Collection at Watts Gallery
The Rob Dickins Collection includes over 3,500 photographs. These images give a wonderful insight into Victorian society with photographs of the Royal Family, foreign royals, artists, houses, studios, models and families. Selections from the collection have already appeared in some of the more recent exhibitions at Watts Gallery, including Dickens and the Artists and William and Evelyn De Morgan. With the up-coming exhibition on Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, the spotlight is cast on Women Artists of the Victorian era. The subject of women artists is particularly relevant to Watts Gallery and the Wattses themselves. Mary Watts attended the Slade School in 1873, just a few years after it opened as one
of the first unisex art schools. By the middle of the 19th Century, women were not actually barred from entering art as a profession and they could receive a formal education in artistic principles, but it was made very difficult for them. The Royal Academy Schools had no active admissions policy against female students but they had never accepted any women applicants until they (accidentally) admitted a woman (Laura Herford) in 1862. However, women were unable to draw from male nudes at the Academy until 1891, which prevented them sitting their final exams and formally completing their studies. It was considered that women’s delicate natures may be ‘corrupted’ by the painting and studying of nudes. In addition, although there was an increasing
access to education for middleclass women, there was still disapproval from some families to their daughters selling their art at a time when paid work was considered unfeminine. Evelyn De Morgan’s mother complained that she wanted a ‘daughter, not an artist.’ (Evelyn’s picture is featured in the collection). However, there certainly were active women artists at this time who were painting, exhibiting and even selling. As some formal channels were closed to these women, many received a more informal education in art, particularly if they were already part of artistic families and expected to contribute to the family business. Women could also find a way into the existing world of art through connections 13
left E.M. Ward, The Rob Dickins Collection at Watts Gallery
with already established male artists, such as Laura AlmaTadema (wife of Lawrence Alma-Tadema) and Henrietta Ward (wife of E.M. Ward) whose photographs can be seen inThe Rob Dickins Collection. These two women stand apart from many other female artists at the time whose domestic pressures and marriages brought an end to their careers before they could fully develop. As the century progressed, however, more establishments were opening that accommodated women students of art. The first of these was Heatherley’s School of Fine Art in Chelsea, founded in 1845. The collection features 14
a wonderful photograph of women students sat amongst the classical sculpture that they have been studying, including nudes! If some women had to use their talent for economic reasons, some were not under the same pressures. Lady Elizabeth Butler is included in these photographs and she certainly was not known for painting pretty watercolours of flowers but for taking on whole military battle scenes with amazing accuracy and detail. In fact, as money was no issue, she would recreate these harrowing scenes in fields to allow her to draw from life and casts to capture the reality of her subjects. She even changed the opinion of a number of famous critics
of women’s art, including John Ruskin. The images of Victorian women that can be seen in The Rob Dickins Collection at Watts Gallery, are an important source for the study of women artists and demonstrate that women were both active in this field but could be recognised as important and notable artists in their own right. If you would like to view these or any other photographs in The Rob Dickins Collection, please contact on 01483 813592 or email curatorial.assistant@wattsgallery. org.uk
CULTURAL TOURS & MUSIC HOLIDAYS f o r
d i s c e r n i n g
t r a v e l l e r s
Our escorted holidays consist of small exclusive groups of like-minded travellers in the company of an expert tour leader and are designed to appeal to those with an interest in history, art, gardens, architecture and music.
TA
OR
-M ADE
H
O DA
YS
e xp E
R
RS
e rt ad s in c e 1 v ic e 986
LE
SC
Our comprehensive tour delves into this fascinating island’s kaleidoscopic and colourful history.
FOR DI
A N En i g m at i c I sl a n d 9 Night Escorted Holiday | 20 April & 21 September 2013
IL
LI
Si c i ly
N
ING
TRA
VE
L
We will visit Palermo with its powerful Norman architecture, Monreale cathedral, the glorious Doric Temples at Segesta,TheValley of theTemples at Agrigento,the dazzling mosaics at Piazza Armerina, Syracuse and the elegant resort of Taormina on the slopes of Mount Etna. Sicily offers an uplifting cultural discovery. Price from ÂŁ2,398 per person for nine nights including flights, accommodation with breakfast, all dinners, a full programme of sightseeing and the services of the Kirker Tour Lecturer.
Speak to an expert or request a brochure:
020 7593 2284
quote code GWT
www.kirkerholidays.com
The Tea Shop at Watts Gallery Open Tuesday to Sunday (and Bank Holiday Mondays) 10.30am until 5pm 01483 813590 ~ teashop@wattsgallery.org.uk www.wattsgallery.org.uk/tea-shop The Tea Shop has free wi-fi internet access. All the profits from the Tea Shop directly support the charitable aims of Watts Gallery.
15
16
LOVE, LIFE AND FREEDOM: THE BIG ISSUES Participants and exhibitors at The Big Issues exhibition 2013
The Big Issues project, led by the Watts Gallery Trust, offers artistled workshops inspired by the Watts collection and culminates in an annual exhibition of work which is for sale. The Big Issues project reaches out to prisoners at HMP Send, HMP Bronzefield and HMP Coldingley, young people from Surrey Youth Support Service and two Surrey-based art groups; The Cellar Art Group and Street Level Arts which include adults living in temporary accommodation, rough sleepers, reformed drug and alcohol users and those with mental health problems. The Big Issues project began in 2008 and this year, reached nearly 100 participants. The Big Issues exhibitions have been shown at The Belgravia Gallery, the Royal Society of Arts, KPMG Foundation and Watts Gallery. Artwork from these exhibitions has been purchased for public collections including the University of Surrey and the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham.
“I’ve really enjoyed this project, it’s helped me realise the points in my life where I’ve gone wrong and how I want my life to be… My box represents all the wrong choices I’ve made… To me LOVE, LIFE and FREEDOM are the main goals.” Charlotte, HMP Bronzefield
The ‘box’ project was an interesting concept from the start. Each student was able to transform a simple cardboard box into a unique, personalised and stylised piece of work. Acting as a blank canvas, students were able to decorate their box as they saw fit, incorporating a range of media, materials and processes. This activity gave the women free reign to be both creative and
individual, both being reflected in the successful outcomes of the project. Each piece encompasses the essence of what the artist is about, often depicting visual representations of personal interests, effects, places and loved ones. Through this, viewers are able to gauge a little something about the woman’s life or personality which may not otherwise be conveyed. Sophie Nickeas, Art Tutor
The Big Issues project is supported by
left Charlotte, HMP Send Love, Life and Freedom
17
18
“This is a self portrait, pointing a paint brush towards the viewer indicating ‘This is my tool, my weapon of choice’. In order for complete submergance and escape[ism] I feel the need to escape somehow either by music, film, books, thought and ultimately art, the world outside my window is fragmented, almost that the sky or sun can be touched but yet far out of my reach. Still, my trusty paintbrush in hand, faint smirk on my face indicates to all I am not locked up, I am free. I create my own world around me to escape the mundane life of prison life and I have also painted a portrait of William Burroughs; he hangs on my cell wall, my idol representing the weird and obscene. I relate!” Charlie, HMP Send Charlie has won the David Classer Award at the Koestler for her mixed media work called Escape[ism] (left). On the back of the talents she has developed with the support of Sandy Curry, the Michael Varah Memorial Fund Artist in Residence, she has been offered the opportunity to be mentored by a member of staff at Central St Martin’s School of Art and Design and she is taking up an Open University Fine Arts course. The Big Issues: Celebrating Art for All Old Pottery Building, Watts Gallery Estate 5 February - 17 March 2013 Many works are for sale. With thanks to K.D. Fine Art Ltd. left Charlie, HMP Send Escape[ism]
19
Watts Gallery is deeply grateful to all its donors. These benefactors have provided particularly generous support:
WATTS MAGAZINE - ISSUE NO. 17 Edited by Andrew Churchill, Marketing Manager, Watts Gallery Position supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Printed by Selsey Press Advertising - 0207 300 5675 COVER Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale If one could have that Little Head of hers, 1908 The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum
VISITOR INFORMATION Down Lane, Compton, Surrey GU3 1DQ Tel +44 (0)1483 810 235 info@wattsgallery.org.uk www.wattsgallery.org.uk
OPENING TIMES Monday Tuesday - Saturday Sunday Bank Holidays
EVENT BOOKING www.wattsgallery.org.uk 01483 813593 Tuesday - Saturday, 11-5pm shop@wattsgallery.org.uk
20
Closed 11am - 5pm 1pm - 5pm 11am - 5pm
Heritage Lottery Fund The Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation The Isabel Goldsmith Patiño Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The George John & Sheilah Livanos Charitable Trust Richard Ormond CBE Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Sir Siegmund Warburg’s Voluntary Settlement English Heritage Christopher Forbes J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust The Ingram Trust The Foyle Foundation Professor Rob Dickins CBE The Linbury Trust Art Fund David Pike Guildford Borough Council The Robert Gavron Charitable Trust Hamish Dewar Ltd Peter Harrison Foundation The John Ellerman Foundation The Finnis Scott Foundation James and Clare Kirkman The Restoration Fund The Wolfson Foundation The Mercers’ Company KPMG Foundation The Pilgrim Trust Miklos and Sally Salamon Surrey Hills LEADER The Anson Charitable Trust The Billmeir Charitable Trust The Hazelhurst Trust The Monument Trust Surrey County Council Man Charitable Trust The Henry Moore Foundation John Lewis OBE Wates Foundation The Michael Marks Charitable Trust The Rothschild Foundation The de Laszlo Foundation Oxford Exhibition Services The Michael Varah Memorial Fund Spencer Wills Trust The Fenton Arts Trust John Beale And all those who wish to remain anonymous
WATTS GALLERY FRIENDS, PATRONS AND VOLUNTEER NEWS FRIENDS’ & PATRONS’ DISCOUNT IN THE SHOP
WATTS TRIP TO RUSSIA
We are delighted that Friends and Patrons of Watts Gallery now receive 10% discount in the shop (excluding admissions, events, memberships and gift tokens). For the moment discount is only available in the shop and not online. Please show your membership card at the till. All shop purchases support the charitable aims of Watts Gallery.
FRIEND’S TRIP TO RED HOUSE AND WILLIAM MORRIS GALLERY The first Friends’ visit for 2013 will be to Red House and the recently re-opened William Morris Gallery. The trip will take place on Wednesday 17 April. Full details can be found in the Gallery leaflet or online at www.wattsgallery.org.uk.
EIGHTH ANNUAL WATTS LECTURE The eighth annual Watts Lecture will be given by the highly respected Charles Saumarez Smith on Wednesday 27 February. He is Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts and was previously Director of the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. His lecture will explore Watts’s relationship to the Royal Academy, what (if anything) he learned from
the Royal Academy Schools and the ambiguities of his attitude to it in later life. To book tickets visit www.wattsgallery.org.uk or call 01483 813 593.
THE BIG GIVE RESULT Thank you to all those who helped Watts Gallery raise £40,000 towards its learning programmes in the Big Give match-funding campaign. Some 80 people gathered in the studio of G.F. Watts to launch the three-day Christmas appeal, preview artworks from our learning workshops, try their hand at sketching at Watts’s Clytie, tour Limnerslease and hear the moving testimony of a woman at HMP Send describing the way Watts Gallery workshops have helped her build a better future.
The Watts trip to Florence in April 2013 is now sold out, but there is another planned for June 2014, this time exploring the riches of Russian 19th-century culture. The trip will be divided between an expert-guided tour of Moscow’s finest art treasures and a journey into the heart of the countryside to visit Polenovo, the home and studio of the Russian painter and philanthropist, Vasily Polenov, and with whom Watts Gallery has a special relationship, and visits to the homes of Tolstoy and Chekhov. To find out more please contact Stephanie Dennison on development@wattsgallery.org.uk. or call 01483 813581.
PATRONS’ EVENTS Snow didn’t deter Patrons from exploring the De Morgan kiln (pictured) in Compton as part of a curator-led tour of the recent De Morgan exhibition. Descendants of the ceramicist William De Morgan joined the group, adding special family insights to the tour. Forthcoming Patrons’ events include a seated dinner after the Watts Lecture on 27 February and a private tour and tea at the Foundling Museum in London on 11 March. Patrons offer significant support to Watts Gallery and enjoy a range of exclusive invitations. To find out more please contact Stephanie Dennison on development@ wattsgallery.org.uk or call 01483 813581. 21
22
FORGE A PERSONAL BOND: ADOPT A WATTS Caroline Walsh, Development Assistant at Watts Gallery A beautiful Italian landscape, two masterful portraits and a richly symbolic painting are amongst those priority artworks for which we are seeking adopters. The Adopt A Watts scheme raises support towards the care and presentation of the collection and offers a chance for individuals to forge a personal bond with an artwork. We offer the opportunity for individuals or groups to adopt paintings, drawings and sculpture for a minimum of five years. Two of Watts’s most prominent sculptures, Physical Energy and Tennyson have recently been adopted.
the style of an Italian master. The portrait is a near mirror image of Titian’s own self portrait of 1566. Mary Watts, 1887, (below) is an informal study of Mary painted by Watts on their honeymoon in Constantinople. Watts sketched in paint rather than pencil and used only four colours in this painting, which is astonishing given the warmth and breadth of colour in the picture.
Can these bones live?,18971898, (below) is one of Watts’s most significant symbolical works, depicting the bones of King Alfred, a symbol of a strong, spiritual England smothered by a golden pall of greed, violence, gambling and the cruelty to birds for fashion. However Watts retains an optimism that a healthy and spiritual England may rise again.
The works pictured, and many more, are each available for Adoption for a donation of £1500. The Adopters name will be displayed near the artwork. More priority pictures for Adoption can be viewed in the Adopt A Watts leaflet enclosed. If you are interested in discussing these or other opportunities to support Watts Gallery, please call 01483 813581 or email development@wattsgallery.org.uk
Fiesole, 1844-5, (above) was painted while Watts was the guest of Lord and Lady Holland in Florence. Watts had intended to stay for three months to study frescoes and Italian techniques, but he was so enamoured by the Italian countryside he stayed for four years. Portrait of the Artist, 1904, (left) is a self-portrait painted only a few weeks before Watts contracted the illness that led to his death in 1904. It shows the truest likeness of him and portrays himself in 23
An event to remember
All proceeds support the ongoing care of the collection and the development of education and exhibitions
24
Contact Alex Prince: 01483 813580 visitorservices@ wattsgallery.org.uk
HELP SAVE COUNTESS CORK FROM BEING LOST FROM PUBLIC VIEW Stephanie Dennison, Development Manager at Watts Gallery Watts was at the height of his powers in the 1860s and some of his most significant images are the elegant and luxurious society portraits from this period. Unfortunately Watts Gallery does not have an example of such a painting. There is a rare opportunity to acquire one of the best of these in his stunning portrait of Countess Cork. The painting was commissioned from G.F. Watts and painted around 1860. Curator Mark Bills says at this time Watts was looking to the Old Masters and their use of panels and adopting the medium himself in a number of paintings. ‘It is unusual for an artist in 1860 to work on such a large panel and this is a triumph, the panel allowing him to build up delicate and translucent layers of paint, which is particularly effective in depicting transparent tiers of costume. This elegant and sophisticated full-length society portrait depicts Lady Emily Charlotte de Burgh (1828-1912) at her Somerset estate. She is shown holding a peacock feather, an early use of what became one of the great symbols of the Aesthetic movement.’ We are applying to The Art Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund and other sources, but we need your support too. Importantly, your donations would help fill a substantial gap in the Watts collection and enable this beautiful painting to be exhibited publicly, rather than
be sold privately. Countess Cork is currently on show at Watts Gallery for a limited time. For further details or to donate towards Watts Gallery’s Acquisition Fund, please email development@wattsgallery.org.uk
How you can help: - Send a cheque payable to ‘Watts Gallery’ to Down Lane, Compton, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1DQ. - Phone 01483 813593 to donate by card. - Donate online at www.wattsgallery.org.uk 25
26
ENGAGING WITH THE WATTSES’ UNIQUE TALENTS Kara Wescombe Blackman, Head of Learning at Watts Gallery What a week to start at Watts Gallery – covered in snow, it has been like stepping into a tranquil wonderland, a far cry from the hustle and bustle of London where I worked for thirteen years, firstly at the Courtauld Gallery and then from 2004, at the V&A. It is no surprise to me that George and Mary Watts settled in Compton. The rural surroundings, space and light clearly offered a creative retreat from their South Kensington lives. I feel very lucky that I too have been given the opportunity to work here and to engage people with the Wattses’ unique talents, home and philosophy of ‘art for all’. It is an exciting time to be joining Watts Gallery with the development of Limnerslease and with it, the potential to grow learning programmes for schools, families, young people, creative industries and adult learners both locally, nationally and globally. In addition, the Gallery’s flagship community project The Big Issues goes from strength to strength and this month, the work of individuals who have engaged in this project will once again be exhibited and for the first time in the Old Pottery. I urge you to come and see their work. Learning at Watts Gallery provides unique opportunities for people to engage with art, craft and design, through its buildings, collections and combined resources of staff and visitors. It is a place for emerging professional artists,
makers and designers, children, students or adults curious to find out more about the Arts & Crafts movement and Victorian social history – it really is a place for everyone and this is what makes Watts Gallery original. Scholars, tourists, families, artists, young people and community groups can learn side-by-side. I have been fortunate to see this in practice in my first week at Watts Gallery when a party of fifty GCSE students travelled from London to Watts Gallery. Seeing them study works closely and sketching their favourite paintings by G.F. Watts for their GCSE coursework was a delight to see, aided by our wonderful team of Volunteers, Learning Assistant and Assistant Curator who helped them to unravel the messages and stories in the paintings. “Can we book in for next year now?” the teacher asked me. “It’s nice here” said a student, “I’m going to get my Mum here”. Later that day, Joyce Hyslop, Apprentice Potter, was setting up for a pottery workshop in the cosy Foyle Art for All Learning Studio, continuing the legacy of Mary Watts’s pottery classes for local residents. As a Royal Society of Arts Fellow, I am inspired by the way Watts Gallery is underpinned by George and Mary’s belief that art can act as catalyst for improving lives, increasing aspirations and enhancing social cohesion. Watts Gallery continues to do this in a number of ways with the kind support of a number of donors.
Activities include apprenticeship schemes for emerging arts professionals, artist residencies, PhD research opportunities and satellite artist in residency projects in challenging environments, such as at HMP Send. The development of Limnerslease in particular presents an opportunity to grow new collaborations with universities and other organisations that share in the vision of Art for All, positioning the Watts Gallery as a centre for Arts and Crafts education. This will be enhanced by new learning and studio spaces at Limnerslease in future, facilitating further crossfertilisation of expertise, ideas, knowledge and skills. I feel very privileged to be able to work with a clearly committed and energetic team of people to build on the foundations of such an inspiring couple and look forward to welcoming readers of this magazine to this unique Artist’s village to participate in the Art for All learning programme.
left Kara Wescombe Blackman, 2013 Photograph by Anne Purkiss
27
28
CLARE KUZNIK: ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 2012/13 Mary McMahon, Curatorial Fellow at Watts Gallery
left Clare Kuznik, untitled, 2012/13 right Clare Kuznik, Artist in Residence studio, Watts Gallery, 2013 Photographs by Anne Purkiss
Last November we welcomed a new Artist in Residence, Clare Kuznik to Watts Gallery. Clare has recently graduated from the Fine Art course at the University of the Creative Arts in Farnham. She produces work in a variety of media, most often using embroidery and collage to create indepth and intricate final pieces. Clare describes her work as ‘concept led, drawing from the visions presented in the Bible within the book of Revelations.’ She explains that ‘the book … contains hope for the future… that which has been lost can be regained.’ The idea of revival and resurrection runs throughout Clare’s work: from the materials and discarded items found in charity shops to which she brings a new life on her canvases, to the conceptual themes of loss, time
and renewal which are so central to her work. Since beginning her residency at Watts Gallery she has found inspiration in items such as the broken pieces of pottery that were pulled to the surface on the Watts Gallery Estate during the recent building works.
expressive and maleable context. The process of development, of tacking the image upon the linen canvas, adding, layering, sometimes removing fabric and thread makes the canvas an animated surface. This flexibilty during the work’s production is an exciting process to watch.
The final pieces develop from observational drawings that are morphed into scenes from a dreamlike place. Clare is interested in the role of memories within these scenes, that arrive as ‘distorted images’. Many of her sources are taken from the natural world: skulls of leopards from the Grant Museum and dinosaurs from the Natural History Museum that become biblical beasts and monsters in their final form. The use of embroidery as a medium is particularly advantageous in this
Clare relates her work to a statement by George Frederic Watts, that when a canvas is finished and complete it is as if it has died. Leaving the canvas incomplete and open to reworking keeps it alive and keeps it going, progressing through the imagination. You can visit Clare in her studio on the first Wednesday of every month, 11am-1pm and 2-4pm.
29
COMING SOON: A HIGHLIGHT FROM ‘FRANK HOLL: EMERGING FROM THE SHADOWS’ Mark Bills, Curator of Watts Gallery, 2006-2013
In his social paintings, G F Watts was inspired by the poems of Thomas Hood. His Found Drowned, drawn from Hood’s ‘Bridge of Sighs’ and The Song of the Shirt after the poem of the same name, gave visual representations of the social issues that Hood highlighted. Yet Watts was not the only artist to be inspired by these poems and the exploitation of seamstresses which came to prominence as a social issue in the 1840s with Hood’s’ The Song of the Shirt,’, and became a subject for a number of artists. First published in the pages of the Christmas edition of Punch in 1843 it inspired Richard Redgrave’s The Semptress (1846) and Frank Holl’s Seamstresses, (c.1875) In his painting Holl, taking the spirit of Hood’s tragic outrage, gives the scene a refreshing naturalism, not present in earlier paintings of the subject. Instead of the lone figure, three are at work, not simply on shirts, but a variety of dress. They are working in a room which has a bed, a small table and two chairs and is decorated with a framed print and a small vase of flowers on the mantelpiece. One girl, seated on the bed, is threading a needle, one is sewing, whilst the one on the left, exhausted, appears to be grieving and reflecting Hood’s lines: 30
Frank Holl, Seamstresses, c.1875, oil on canvas Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
Oh! but for one short hour! A respite however brief! No blessd leisure for Love or Hope, But only time for Grief! A little weeping would ease my heart, But in their briny bed My tears must stop, for every drop Hinders needle and thread! The sombre dress of the seamstresses and the darkness of the print above the mantelpiece are contrasted with the vibrant colour of the blue dress being stitched. Holl had seen the drudgery of printmakers
work through his father and grandfather, who, were both engravers, and the dark image of the print in the centre of the painting is linked to the darkness of the seamstresses’ dresses. It is a masterpiece of observation and social commentary and will feature in the forthcoming exhibition Frank Holl: Emerging from the Shadows. Frank Holl: Emerging from the Shadows 18 June - 3 November 2013 Exhibition Galleries, Watts Gallery
Art Insurance Brokers
Blackwall Green 133 Houndsditch London EC3A 7AH Tel: 020 7234 4345 Email: camilla_stephens@ajg.com Web: www.gallagherheath.com/pages/Blackwall-Green.aspx Blackwall Green is a trading name of Arthur J. Gallagher (UK) Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered address: 9 Alie Street, London, E1 8DE. Registered No. 1193013 England and Wales. www.ajginternational.com
31
Victorian & British Impressionist Art London, King Street
32
•
22 May 2013
Viewing
Contact
17–21 May 8 King Street London SW1Y 6QT
Peter Brown pbrown@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2435
GEORGE FREDERICK WATTS, O.M., R.A. (1817–1904) Portrait of Laura Gurney oil on canvas 56 1/2 x 29 in. (143.5 x 74 cm.) £60,000 – 80,000