Cathy's Art Diary

Charming exhibition at Charleston Farmhouse looking at the story and work of the Omega Workshop. Founded in 1913 the Omega workshop was the brain child of Roger Fry, inspired by the spirit of Post-Impressionism, who set up a co-operative of artists to bring colour into Edwardian homes and to provide paid work for those designers. Although the workshop only lasted until 1919 it work has had a lasting effect. The show brought together a wonderful array of objects as well as pictures painted at the time or showing Omega items. There was also good use made of archive material. I liked the way it was arranged by type of object so you got a section on rugs as well as a display case of lamps. I think my favourite section looked at furniture as it gave you a real sense of what these rooms would have looked like, although of course you can also go round the house itself to see the effect. A star of the show was a newly acquired portrait of a woman with white Omega plates on the...

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 exampl...