Haslemere Museum's European Peasant Art Collection

Haslemere Educational Museum have recently created a European Peasant Art Collection section on their website which includes some lovely images from their collection.

from Haslemere Educational Museum website

Covering the material from the For Love Not Money 2011 exhibition, there are pages on:

• Gerald Stanley Davies
• Joseph King
• Godfrey Blount
• Ethel Blount and Maude King
• Foundation of the Peasant Art Museum and 
• Haslemere Peasant Arts Industries

Weaving a Clearer Picture of Luther Hooper in St Christophers' Church

A few days ago, after re-posting the pictures of Luther Hooper's work in St Christopher's Church, Haslemere, I came across some much clearer pictures from the same journal.  I did not realize that the darkness of the photographs was due to the online scanning of the Art Journal.  I happened to be looking at the Art Journal online at the Victoria & Albert Museum and their scanned copy shows much more detail, and makes the work look a lot more attractive.

I did not suspect that the 'raindrops' in the silk damask had little birds, and flowers(?) inside them. And now I see why they published the picture of the back of the curtains!

Portion of Silk Damask, Side Curtain to Altar,
St. Christopher's, Haslemere
designed by Luther Hooper
from Art Journal, February 1911

Portion of Silk Damask, Side Curtain to Altar,
St. Christopher's, Haslemere
designed by Luther Hooper
from Art Journal, February 1911

Curtain of Woollen Tissue, St Christopher's Church,
designed by Luther Hooper, woven by Percy C. Hooper,
from Art Journal, February 1911

Curtain of Woollen Tissue, St Christopher's Church,
designed by Luther Hooper, woven by Percy C. Hooper,
from Art Journal, February 1911

Reverse Side of Curtain (from above), Woven in pure cream mercerised cotton,
ornamented with green, blue and scarlet wool
Art Journal, February 1911

Reverse Side of Curtain (from above), Woven in pure cream mercerised cotton,
ornamented with green, blue and scarlet wool
Art Journal, February 1911

The V&A have our Luther Hooper curtains!

The Victoria and Albert Museum have recently been updating their catalogue.  I am not sure if they have added some new wording, or if I had not noticed it before but it would appear that what I jokingly said on our Peasant Arts walks at the St Christopher's Church last year is true.  The Victoria & Albert Museum have St Christopher's Church's Luther Hooper curtains, or perhaps just some 'furnishing fabric' as it is described in their records.

There is no picture but the fabric is described as "silk damask. With a design of clover leaves alternating with the monogram 'I.H.S', set in gothic ogives which are combined with palmette and beaded band  ornament in white on a red ground".  We have a few pictures of the missing Luther Hooper works from  St Christopher's Church (below) and this description does not appear to describe any of those.  Who was I.H.S.?   I wondered who this person might be, perhaps a well known local figure who was associated with St Christopher's?  Then I discovered that IHS is a monogram of the name Jesus Christ(!).  I do not totally understand where it comes from but an online explanation says, "Catholic Christian symbolism in art provides a clear graphic illustration which represents people or items of religious significance. What is the definition and the meaning of the IHS? The IHS Christian Emblem is a Monogram which represents the Holy Name of Jesus consisting of the three letters: IHS. During the Middle Ages, the Name of Jesus was written: IHESUS. The monogram, or emblem, IHS contains the first and last letter of the Holy Name. The letters IHS referring to this monogram do not contain periods, or full stops, after each letter as it is an abbreviation of the name IHESUS"


There are many Luther Hooper works in the V&A, sadly none of them are illustrated online.  This piece is 17.25 inches by 28.5 inches.  It was given to the V&A by Miss G. Bunting in 1953.  The most interesting information however is "Object history note: Designed for St Christopher's Church".  The V&A catalogue entry can be found here.

St. Christopher's Church altar curtains by Luther Hooper,
from Nicholson, C., and Spooner, C., Recent Eccelesiastical Architecture, Technical Journals Ltd., London

Portion of Silk Damask, Side Curtain to Altar,
St. Christopher's, Haslemere
designed by Luther Hooper
from Art Journal, February 1911

Curtain of Woollen Tissue, St Christopher's Church,
designed by Luther Hooper, woven by Percy C. Hooper,
from Art Journal, February 1911

Luther Hooper wool hanging from
Hand-loom weaving, plain & ornamental,
Pitman & Sons, London, 1920

  

Arthur Romney Green Table & Chair

There is a very special table and chair currently for sale by Arthur Romney Green.  The geometric patterns are typical Arthur Romney Green trademarks.  I like the way the hexagonal table top, decorated by diamonds is supported by a tripod shape and three legs.  Lots of geometry.  The angled table legs are echoed in the slope of the chair back.  It's difficult to see from the photograph, but the table top must be covered in the diamond design which is on the table legs and the chair seat and support.

Arthur Romney Green chair and table
for sale at Haslam & Whiteway Ltd

Interestingly, the write up on the Haslam & Whiteway Ltd website says that these items are "From a group of furniture currently in the ownership of Arthur Grogan, for many years the curator of Standen, the National Trust House by Philip Webb...This piece was one of the pieces commissioned from him (Arthur Romney Green) by the Mathers, who in the first case purchased a boat from him but who ultimately became his life long Friends.  Richard Mather and his wife Marie ordered a set of dinning room furniture from Green whilst living in Blackeath c 1915.  Later they bought a house in Dulwich and Green was commissioned to furnish it throughout.  It was in fact the only house that he completely furnished in his career."  Susan Elkin (Life to the Lees, 1998, The Cromwell Press, Wiltshire) writes that when Arthur Romney Green buried his partner Bertha (in 1942) she was wearing "Marie Mather's shawl"

The write-up acknowledges that the chair is illustrated in Elkin's book, which is where I recognized the image from.  

Arthur Romney Green chair
from Elkin, S, Life to the Lees, 1998, The Cromwell Press

Searching for Little St Cross, Weydown Road

A few weeks ago I thought that I might have stumbled across the building of Little St Cross which was in the garden of St Cross, Godfrey Blount's old house on Weydown Road, Haslemere.  I wrote about this unique church in my Haslemere Cranks - Part 2 post.

Little St Cross,
reproduced courtesy of The Dartford Warbler

From looking at a plan of that part of Weydown Road, you can see that the houses of Greville MacDonald, Wildwood, and Godfrey Blount, St Cross, would have been next door to each other in the early 1900s.  Now there are three houses 'infilled' between them.  These are all quite recently built.  It would appear that two were built in the garden of Wildwood and the other in St Cross' garden.

One of those three houses is currently for sale, and can found here on Zoopla.   The owners told me that they built the house about 10 years ago.  In stark contrast to the rest of the estate agent's photographs of the house is the 'studio' right next to it.   This is a very unusual outbuilding that is clearly a relic from an older time.  I thought it might be Little St Cross, it is certainly an intriguing building which looks like a chapel, but it clearly is not Little St Cross.  The land that the house is on, was part of Wildwood's garden, and is represented on the map below in the garden of the most furthest bottom house.  The entrance faces the road, and is situated before the main house of Wildwood, suggesting that the building was for visitors.

map of part of Weydown Road, Haslemere

The studio on Weydown Road,
from Zoopla

The studio on Weydown Road

The inside of Little St Cross differs from the inside of this studio also.  The owner kindly invited me to look at the studio, and you can see from the photograph taken through the glass that there is wooden panelling halfway up the walls, the ceiling is boxed in towards the top and intriguingly the far end is raised like it would in a church or theatre.  There is no record of Greville MacDonald being a craftsman, so if the building dates from his time at Wildwood (c.1919-1944), I do not think it would have been used as a workshop by him.  Any ideas?

Inside Little St Cross,
reproduced courtesy of The Dartford Warbler

The view inside the studio, Weydown Road
taken from the door

From the map it would appear that the only other outbuildings on the original site of St Cross are probably just the garages.  The map came from a Surrey County Council objection in 2010 to St Cross building a house in their front garden.  It says "Wildwood Cottage was an exception and was a new build replacing an earlier demolished bungalow".  I think that this new building could have built on the site of Little St Cross.

Francis William Troup by Francis Ernest Jackson

This painting of F.W. Troup (the architect of the Peasant Arts houses on Kings Road, Haslemere and Longdene Road, and also Sandhouse at Witley) is on the BBC Your Paintings website, and brings a bit of colour to the previous portraits of the architect.

Francis William Troup
by Francis Ernest Jackson c.1930
RIBA Library Drawings and Archives Collection

Wikipedia says that the artist Francis Ernest Jackson was in charge of propaganda lithography at the Ministry of Information during WW1 and designed London Underground posters.  From the information on the BBC Your Painting website, it is clear that Jackson also taught at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in the 1920s (now part of Central St Martins) and the Byham Shaw School (now part of Central St Martins) in the late 1930s.

Further plans to demolish Kings Road's heritage

This is slightly off-piste, but just to highlight the continual threat to the heritage of Kings Road, Haslemere.  It is the deadline tomorrow, 4th January 2013, for comments on a planning application that has been submitted countless times: to demolish a Victorian house, no.34 Kings Road, and to replace it and it's large garden bordering the stream by the railway line with a block of 9 flats and car park.  Planning proposal WA/2012/1917

This is an application by a development company.  The Victorian house is currently lived in by a family.  Next door to the house is the large Doyle Court flats (built c. 7 years ago), and next to Doyle Court is the Weaving House, and then the Old Studio.  Both of these lovely old buildings are somewhat dwarfed by the large modern flats.  To have another set of flats dominating the road would be shame for all the residents I think.

34 Kings Road,
Haslemere
proposed for demolition

34 Kings Road, Haslemere
existing building map

Proposed flats at 34 Kings Road, Haslemere

34 Kings Road, Haslemere
proposed flat & car park plan