Beyond Bloomsbury – Exhibition Catalogue Review
Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19 – Courtauld Gallery
Jun 25, 2009
Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19 has been published by The Courtauld Gallery, in association with Fontanka Press. It accompanies an exhibition of the same name showing from 18th June-20th September 2009, at the Courtauld.
Beyond Bloomsbury – A Scholarly Text Accessible to All
The publication's detailed analytical text is scholarly and fascinating, yet accessible to all readers. It provides fresh insights into designs by members of the Workshops including Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Winifred Gill and others. Omega designs are examined in the context of developments in ceramics, textiles, fashions and theatre design during the early 20th Century.
Beyond Bloomsbury provides the results of new research commissioned specially for the publication. Working practises at the Omega are examined in detail and their place in the history of early 20th-century design is also investigated. The catalogue will deepen the reader's knowledge and appreciation of the Omega Workshops
The Omega Workshops
Roger Fry (1866-1934), painter and art critic, established the Omega Workshops in 1913. The factory, located in an ordinary house at 33 Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury, was a limited company, with shareholders, employees and subcontracted craftsmen. At its zenith artists such as Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Wyndham Lewis, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Winifred Gill and Frederick Etchells were designing for the Omega brand. They became known collectively as the Bloomsbury group.
Beyond Bloomsbury – About the Publication
The catalogue tells how the Omega studio doubled as a sales room. It wasn't unusual to see Roger Fry entertaining clients such as W. B. Yeats, E. M. Forster, George Bernard Shaw, Virginia Woolf (Vanessa Bell's sister) and many other influential visitors.
The catalogue recalls Virginia Woolf's recollection of a visit to the Workshops in about 1922. She described Fry's enthusiasm with the words:
"His hair flew; his eyes glowed" (Beyond Bloomsbury, p. 12.)
In recalling the hustle and bustle of the factory Woolf said:
"There were bright chintzes designed by the young artists; there were painted tables and painted chairs; and there was Roger Fry himself escorting now lady so-and-so, now a business man from Birmingham, round the rooms and doing his best to persuade them to buy" (ibid. p12).
The catalogue also features a unique collection of design drawings presented to the Courtauld in 1958 by Pamela Diamand, Roger Fry's daughter. The collection is reproduced in this publication in its entirety.
Beyond Bloomsbury – About the Editor and Contributors
The catalogue is edited by Dr Alexandra Gerstein, Curator of Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Courtauld. Gerstein is well-qualified for the task having curated the original exhibition. Dr Gerstein, who studied at the École du Louvre, Paris (1994) and at The Courtauld Institute of Art, teaches a course on Victorian architecture and sculpture.
Beyond Bloomsbury features an Introduction from Dr Christopher Reed, a leading expert on the Bloomsbury Group and visual arts of the period. Dr Reed has published widely, and titles include A Roger Fry Reader [critical anthology] (University of Chicago Press, 1996), and Bloomsbury Rooms: Modernism, Subculture, and Domesticity (Yale University Press, 2004).
Additional essays are provided by Dr Grace Brockington, Claudette Joannis, Akiko Kato, Mary Schoeser, Elizabeth Sheehan, Dr Julian Stair, and Dr Jon Wood.
Beyond Bloomsbury: Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19, was published in 2009 by The Courtauld Gallery in association with Fontanka Press. The 176-page catalogue is available in hardback (ISBN: 978-1-906257-05-7) and paperback editions (ISBN: 978-1-906257-04-0), and priced at £29.95 and £20.00 respectively.
 |
 |
