Thursday, 21 January 2010
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Thursday, 17 September 2009
People and Connections

Bawden walks in Great Bardfield with fellow artists Walter Hoyle, George Chapman, Laurence Scarfe, Stanley Clifford-Smith, Michael Rothenstein, and Chloe Cheese with her Mother Sheila Robinson, 1956.
Eric Ravilious was busy wood engraving and commuting to teach the skill part time at Eastbourne College of Art , staying with his parents over night there, and lodging with the Blisses when back in London at the weekends, or going to stay at the Brick House with Bawden. In his class was an eighteen year old student of wood engraving called Tirzah Garwood who was eager to break out for her middle class background, even if it meant offending her own Father by marrying Eric Ravilious. Her family did not conceal their indifference's from Ravilious. Tizrah then described Eric as " a smart double-breasted suit, shy and different manners, not unlike those of a curate...he was tall and thin, with a head which jutted out at the back, his eyes were large, light brown or hazel, with long girlish lashes which gave him an appealing look, so that motherly women often offered him cups of tea. This look was only superficial; he wasn't at all really effeminate nor did he need sympathy, though it was true he was inordinately fond of tea"
They were married in July 1930, with Bawden as an awkward best man and with Bliss and Rothenstein in support. In 1932 two years after Ravilious had married, Bawden became the husband of Charlotte Epton, painter, potter and former Royal College of Art student. Bawden's father bought the whole of Brick House for them as a wedding present, and since it was so large and neither couple had children yet, the Bawdens persuaded the Raviliouses to leave London and join them.

The two painters then got to work side by side each day as Tirzah remembered: "the garden and country round Bardfield inspired them both and they competed with one another in conditions of various hardship, such as ghastly weather, or working with the sun bang in their eyes. They painted several pictures very early in the morning from the roof of their house, and on one occasion had to come down, overpowered by the smell of kippers cooking for breakfast. Bawden thought you ought to finish the painting on the spot, but Eric might do half his at home. They always worked very hard and got up early in the morning."
Tirzah acquired quite a reputation as a wood engraver with the Golden Cockerel and Kynoch Presses, and unlike her husband she drew inspiration from modern urban life- a crocodile of school girls, a bored woman in her bedroom, a dog show, or card players for example.
'The Crocodile, 1929, wood engraving.

The two wives colloborated on making marble papers, a craft Charlotte Epton was keen to revive: the papers were then printed by the Curwen Press and sold in London shops.

When Ravilious found out Bawden and Freedman were appointed he wrote to Bawden on the 9th February 1940 "very good luck to you and Barnett on the Western Front, and may you have a smooth channel crossing. Oh how sick i shall be." with a possible added envious comment to end.
Freedman was one of the most skillful draftsmen of his generation and had the rare skill of being able to draw direct onto the litho stone. His 'Circus' poster, printed on two sheets, is a technically complex piece of lithography which made use of the most up to date inks available in 1937.
Below, photograph of Eric Ravilious, Barnett Freedman and John Nash, taken by Christine Nash in 1940.


Chloe Cheese, who has already been an inspiration and interest within my own work, is too connected to the Bardfield Artists. Bernard Cheese who was married to Sheila Robinson were her parents, Chloe Cheese is also a printmaker and illustrator but lived in Great Bardfield in the 1950s. Her father studied at the Royal College of Art, where he was influenced by Edwin La Dell, and his work often contains the same quirky humour that is also recognisable in Edward Bawden's work. The photographs below were of her work seen in the Fry Art Gallery where her work was too exhibited alongside Bawden, Ravilious and other artists i saw.
John Aldridge became a close friend of Edward Bawdens' after he moved to Great Bardfield in the Essex countryside into 'placehouse'. The two of them both loved their cats, and rather shy men happiest painting or gardening so were well suited with one another living next door to each other. Soon Aldridge and Bawden collaborated on making wallpaper designs together 'Bardfield Wallpapers' during the later 30s, Bawden previously attempting this in 1927 and onwards but they failed to sell. These newly designed papers were then distributed by 'Cole and Sons' a British Wallpaper company. The wallpaper designs were initially sold throughout 1938 and 1939. However, the Second World War put an end to all wallpaper production, as paper mills were diverted into the war effort and both Aldridge and Bawden were recruited, with Aldridge joining the Intelligence Corps and Bawden becoming a war artist.
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Manchester Met University Archives
For now i have added some photographs that i managed to get in a small time scale, further time is needed in order to sort through and select the right information and most relevant, however it was a great trip and fully worthwhile. The workers there were particularly helpful and eager to show me as much as they could.
Ravilious and Bawden concentrate on the typical aspects of country life. Both favouring muted colours such as sepias, browns, blues, greys and ochres. Norbert Lynton; "What joins them is the sense of craft as well as their strong roots in the English scene. But where Bawden is muscular and summary, Ravilious is delicate and precise, bulldog versus greyhound."
The Christmas Bookshop, and advertising insert for the December 1924 edition of the 'studio' was one of the earliest published designs drawn and signed by both Ravilious and Bawden whilst students at the Royal College of Art.
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