I have spent some time over the last few weeks rummaging about in the archives at Winterbourne House. This lovely Arts and Crafts house, which now belongs to Birmingham University, was built by the Nettlefolds as a family home. John Nettlefold was from a family of industrialists (the 'N' in GKN) and his wife Margaret was part of the Chamberlaine family. The archives contain diaries, letters and photographs that give wonderful insights into their relationships, work and family life.
Of great interest to me is the small print facility that is housed in one of the out buildings. In recent weeks this has been reorganised and now consists of a print room with several presses and a composing room that houses a collection of Letterpress.
My idea is to create a series of prints that are based on the story of the Nettlefolds at Winterbourne. They will echo my Moseley Stories project, but this time would use lino cut and wood engraving techniques instead of copper plate etching to enable me to print them at Winterbourne. One of the influences for the visual style of the prints will be the Kelmscott Chaucer designed and printed by William Morris and illustrated by Edward Burne-Jones. There is a copy of the book on display at Winterbourne.
There is also a strong link to John Byam Liston Shaw, a follower of the Pre-Raphaelites, whose work 'Boer War' (1901) has always been one of my favourite paintings in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Byam Shaw painted several portraits of the Nettlefold family including a lovely full length study of Margaret standing at the dining room window.
There were several books in the archives that had been illustrated by Byam Shaw, including a Tales from Shakespeare. I intend to use his style of illustration as an influence for my prints.
I have already produced an initial wood engraved illuminated letter as a starting point. The letter M is surrounded by bleeding heart which grows in the gardens at Winterbourne. I combined this with some letterpress. The combination didn't really work as the text is too large. But it does give an indication of the overall idea.
