On the pleasures of collecting the Omega Workshops
‘So the Omega Workshops closed down. The shades of the Post-Impressionists have gone to join the other shades; no trace of them is now to be seen in Fitzroy Square. The giant ladies have been dismounted from the doorway and the rooms have other occupants.
7Little known artists... Dolores Courtney
Information on Dolores Courtney is a little ‘thin on the ground’. In fact there are only four known extant paintings by her. The two oils in my collection came from Roger Fry’s estate.
10little known artists... Peggy Angus
Peggy Angus's belief that art could be found in everyday items pervaded her life and work. Floor tiles, wallpaper, party invitations, scary masks, mosaic stepping stones, children's toys, a birthday cake or a political cartoon, all were enhanced by her love of colour, design and craft.
7Omega Workshops fan
Even though the best known products of the Omega Workshops are its furniture, textiles and pottery (see previous posts), it sold a remarkable range of objects from its premises at 33 Fitzroy Square.
7little known painters... Doris Hatt
Doris Hatt
One has to be careful what one wishes for! I have a friend who also collects obscure British painters and potters and who always enquires about my latest obsession or acquisition.
life, one pot at a time... Susie Cooper 1933
Today I found this stunning Susie Cooper studio ware vase at a local market and had to have it....
5life, one pot at a time... 1934 Art in Industry exhibition
In 1934 Harrods store in London held a selling exhibition entitled 'Modern Art for the Table'. It was part of a Government campaign of the early 1930s to encourage leading artists to produce designs for industry, with the hope of improving ceramic and glass design.
9a little more.... Dorothy Wellesley's dining room
My original post about the dining room designed by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell for Dorothy Wellesley in 1930 appeared in an earlier blog post (April 2011 - link below).
4Little known painters....Cissie Kean
Born in London in 1871 to a wealthy family of German coffee merchants, Cissie Kean - one of six children - was certainly not destined to become a painter.
3Dorothy Wellesley's Dining Room 1930...
Decorated by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell in 1930
Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell carried on their decorative work through the twenties, developing and in many ways drawing on their earlier Omega experience.
life, one pot at a time... Quentin Bell
I possess a number of pieces by Quentin bell... platters of various shapes and sizes, plates, mugs, bowls and dishes both large and small, cups and saucers, vases, lampshades, a teapot and various drawings of levitating ladies.
6Little known painters.... Alfred Wolmark
information to follow shortly
life, one pot at a time... Omega Workshops Pottery
‘So the Omega Workshops closed down. The shades of the Post-Impressionists have gone to join the other shades; no trace of them is now to be seen in Fitzroy Square. The giant ladies have been dismounted from the doorway and the rooms have other occupants.
12Little known painters.... Mildred Bendall
As is so often the case, I happen to be in the right place at the right time. I bought this painting in 2009 from a French Auction house that I found quite by chance.
5Omega Workshops chairs 1913...
The Omega Workshops were founded in London in 1913 by art critic and former Curator of Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Roger Fry. Vanessa Bell, sister of Virginia Woolf, and painter Duncan Grant were his co-directors.
4Little known painters.... Lucy Harwood
I bought my first Lucy Harwood painting at a Christies South Kensington Modern British Sale in 2005.
17life... one pot at a time... Duncan Grant
Earthenware bowl made by Quentin Bell
Decorated by Duncan Grant
Diameter 15.5cm Height 7cm
One of Duncan Grant’s long-lived interests was in the decoration of ceramics.
Bloomsbury dinners.... eating at Charleston
It was Vanessa Bell’s portrait of Grace Higgens hanging in the upstairs corridor that first stirred my interest in the food at Charleston.
3life... one pot at a time... Anne Dangar
One pot at a time...Anne Dangar, expat Australian cubist potter (pieces from my collection)
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press here for a short video piece about Anne Dangar
Anne Dangar teapot earthenware with coloured slip decoration 1930's from my collection
link to page with a short video about Anne Dangar
