Bloomsbury Art and Design
Delightful exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery looking the design work of the Bloomsbury
Group and the output of the Omega Workshops.
Roger Fry founded
the Omega Workshop in 1913 with the idea of giving artists creative freedom and
injecting a sense of fun into interior design. I loved the quote from him “we
have suffered for too long from the dull and stupidly serious”! Work produced
by the workshop was not signed by individuals.
The exhibition
included lots of the Omega reference designs which would be used as models on
any objects. There was a also a great collection of rug designs and it was
wonderful to see an original carpet shown with them. The explanations also
talked about how Fry worked with manufactures to get the designs translated
into objects.
Along the centre
of the room was a display case with a selection of the ceramic designs many of
them thrown and made by Fry. I loved a blue terrine with a tiger handle and a
lovely large green vase. They had examples of the white and blue Omega plates
and also some hand painted by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell.
Larger objects in
the show included Roger Fry’s painted spinet, a Lily Pond design screen by Grant
and a needlecraft chair.
Most of the
pieces seemed to be from the Courtauld’s collection and it felt like seeing old
friends however there was one picture by Winifred Gill who had run the Workshop
which I’d not seen before and I liked. It was a still life in shades of brown
of objects on the floor, possibly on an Omega rug with chair legs in the
background.
Closes on 24
September 2017
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