Events at Winterbourne

On Thursday I did an evening talk at Winterbourne about my current project. I also have a workshop coming up on October 16th. We will be looking at the plasterwork decorations in the house, linking them to the border details in the Kelmscott books and producing some lino cuts inspired by the gardens.

The plaster details are the work of George Bankart (1866-1929) who was born in Leicester and worked with Ernest Gimson, who introduced him to William Morris. In 1899 he moved to Bromsgrove and for the next seven years worked with the Bromsgrove Guild.

Port Of Spain Botanical Gardens, Trinidad

In January 1907 Margaret sailed for the West Indies. One of the most detailed entries in her diary during the two months she was there, was of her visit to the Port Of Spain Botanical Gardens in Trinidad. She listed specimens that she saw, including rubber trees, spices, oranges, exotic fruits, bamboos and palms.

Contemporary photos of the gardens show formal borders and beds, but this wont necessarily make the most interesting detail for the finished print.

I would like to use aspects of the current Winterbourne Botanic gardens to portray the background imagery for this next print. The Continental beds could be a possibility, but I think the Gilbert Orchid House will give me the most material for visual references.

Edward Linley Sambourne

A real find for me has been the photographs of Edward Linley Sambourne (1844-1910). He was a cartoonist and illustrator who is best known for his work for Punch. Judging by the photos he took of himself he was a bit of a character.

In the latter part of his career, he took up photography as a hobby, but also as a way of gathering references for his illustration work. As well as studio photography, he also photographed people in the street (mostly women and without their knowledge). Living and working in Kensington, a collection of his work is held by Kensington and Chelsea Library .

The image I used for 'Margaret Goes To Art School' was one of Linley Sambourne's.

I particularly love these photos as they are a record of what ordinary women wore everyday. These are not stiff studio poses, but show natural movement. These women stride purposefully, read as they walk, hang on to their oversized hats in the wind and chat to their friends.

I will use one or more of these images to help me with other illustrations of Margaret. The next one to consider is her visit to the Botanical Gardens in Trinidad.

More on the second Winterbourne Lino - 'Return from the West Indies'

 I am now making progress on the second lino. This one depicts Margaret's return from her trip to the West Indies in 1907. This is the entry in her diary-
'A very fine voyage home with bright sun and a following wind. Arrived at Southampton Monday March 4th. This was a homecoming whose pain was unspeakable. My little Robert Francis died peacefully on March 2nd. And I will not forget my husband came to meet me and to share the agony of those first moments. And when I reached home, I found my children'.

Although she doesn't mention the name of the ship, previous diary entries talk about sailing out on the SS Thames, a Royal Mail Steam Packet, two months earlier. I therefore assume she must have come back on a similar vessel.

This is an image of the Thames that I have found. It is a twin funneled masted vessel. In order to get an image of the ship from the perspective that I need, I then looked at similar vessels and found this image of the Amsterdam, which was from the angle that I needed.

My idea is to show John standing on the dock at Southampton waiting for Margaret's ship to arrive. The images that I have of John show head and shoulders views from the front as you would expect. He is faired haired and clean shaven.

I needed to find an image that I could use to show John facing out to sea. The one I decided to use was from 'Parades End'.

The clothes proved very difficult to research as men's fashions are not as well recorded as women's. However I did find this image of men's outerwear from the right period. I also needed John to stand out against the dark clouds around him, so I went for the check coat from 1906.

William Morris Research

I have spent the last couple of days undertaking some background research into William Morris and the Kelmscott Press. I have never visited either Kelmscott Manor or the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow - despite my mother's family coming from the area.

Kelmscott Manor sits on the banks of the Thames near Lechlade Oxfordshire and was Morris's utopia.

Taking photos inside the house was not easy as there were many visitors milling about in all the small 16th century rooms. Things of note however where the original fabric wall hangings and the simplicity of the attic rooms in particular.

I also loved the little place mats which May Morris made to help raise funds to build the Memorial Hall in the Village. Apparently she sold them for a pound each.

Kelmscott village itself is tiny, but also has many references to Morris and his family. They are all buried in the churchyard and the vilage hall was built by May Morris as a memorial to her father.

I was very impressed with the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. One whole room was dedicated to the Kelmscott Press. I also thought this simple display very neatly demonstrated the difference between standard Victorian design and that of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Lastly I went to Kelmscott House in Hammersmith. This was Morris's London home which he named after the Oxford Manor. The William Morris Society are now based there. Although there are renovations in progress and I couldn't see the original Albion press which was used to print the Kelmscott Chaucer, there were still many interesting exhibits, including the original drawing for the Honeysuckle wallpaper designed by May Morris that I saw at Walthamstow.

I am particularly interested in the honeysuckle motif as I think it features in the plaster borders in the hallway at Winterbourne.