| Repository | University Archives and Special Collections Centre |
| Reference Number | EB |
| Title | Edward Bawden Collection |
| Description | The Collection contains examples of his design work for commercial companies, many commissioned through The Curwen Press for example, Transport for London. The largest section contains works for Fortnum & Mason department store, Piccadilly, London. |
| Date | c1920s-1960s |
| Creator | Edward Bawden. |
| Individual or organisational biography | Bawden (1903-1989) was a British painter, illustrator and graphic artist. He was also famous for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. He first studied at the Cambridge School of Art from 1919 to 1921. This was followed in 1922 by a scholarship to the Royal College of Art School of Design, where he took a diploma in illustration until 1925. Importantly, here he met fellow student and future collaborator Eric Ravilious, both of whom were taught by the influential artist Paul Nash, who referred to them as "an extraordinary outbreak of talent".
By 1925 Bawden was working one day a week for the Curwen Press (as was Ravilious and their former tutor, Nash), producing illustrations for leading accounts such as London Transport, Westminster Bank, Twinings, Poole Potteries and Shell-Mex. During the Second World War, Edward Bawden served as one of the official war artists for Britain. He made many evocative watercolour paintings recording the war effort in Iraq. His paintings show the unique life led by the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq, particularly their majestic dwellings made of reeds.
After the war he became a member of the Great Bardfield Artists: during the 1950s the group organised a series of large 'open house' exhibitions which attracted national press attention. Positive reviews and the novelty of viewing art works in the artists own homes, with thousands visiting the remote village during the summer exhibitions of 1954, 1955 and 1958. As well as these shows the Great Bardfield Artists held several touring exhibitions of their work in 1957, 1958 and 1959.
Having briefly taught design and book illustration at Goldsmith's College from 1928 - 1931, Bawden then went on to teach at the Royal College of Art from 1930 - 1963 (excepting War years). In 1968, Bawden became a tutor at the Royal Academy Schools and Senior Lecturer at Leicester College of Art and Design. Bawden's work can be seen in many major collections and is shown regularly at the Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden and the Cecil Higgins Gallery in Bedford. |
| Term | Illustration |
| Graphic design (Typography) |
| Related Material | Other Collections:
Fortnum and Masons Archive.
Resources:
Skipwith, Payton. 'The Curwen Press: Illustrators against commercial ugliness'.
http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/artist/artist.html?IXartist=Edward+Bawden
Books illustrated by Bawden:
Adam and Evelyn at Kew or the Revolt in the Gardens. Robert Herring. Elkin Mathews & Marrot, 1930
The Arabs, R.B. Serjeant. Puffin, 1947
Dunlopera. Paul Jennings. Privately published, 1961
English as She is Spoke. Lion and the Unicorn Press, 1960
Good Food. Ambrose Heath. Faber & Faber 1932
Greeks and Trojans. Rex Warner. MacGibbon & Kee, 1951
The Histories of Herodotus. The Limited Editions Club, 1958
The History of Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia. Samuel Johnson. Folio Society, 1975
Hound of the Baskervilles. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Folio Society, 1987
Lady Filmy Fern or the Voyage of the Window Box. Text T. Hennell. David & Charles, 1980
The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins. Robert Paltock. JM Dent & Sons, 1928
Life in an English Village. Noel Carrington (introduction). King Penguin, 1949
London A to Z. John Metcalfe. Andre Deutsch, 1953
Malory's Chronicles of King Arthur. Folio Society, 1982
More Good Food. Ambrose Heath. Faber & Faber, 1933
The Oxford Illustrated Old Testament. Oxford University Press, 1968
The Queen's Beasts. Foreword Sir George Bellew. Newman Neame, 1953
Traveller's Verse. Selected by M.G Lloyd Thomas. Frederick Muller, 1946
The Voyages of Lemuel Gulliver. Jonathan Swift. Folio Society, 1948
Books by Bawden:
The English Scene, Sheneval Press, 1952
Life in an English Village, King Penguin Books no 57, Penguin Books, 1949
Hold Fast Your Teeth, Routledge and Keegan, 1963
Books about Bawden:
Caroline Bacon and James McGregor. Catalogue of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery Edward Bawden Archive. Trustees of the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, to be published in 2009
Douglas Percy Bliss. Edward Bawden. Pendomer Press, 1978
Pat Gilmour. Artists at Curwen. Tate Gallery, 1977
Jeremy Greenwood. Edward Bawden: Editioned Prints. Wood Lea Press, 2005
Robert Harling. Edward Bawden. Art & Techniks, 1950
Justin Howes. Edward Bawden CBE RA FDI: A Retrospective Survey to 1981. Combined Arts, Bath, 1988 [This is a catalogue of Edward Bawden's gift of the contents of his studio to the Cecil Higgins Gallery.]
David McKitterick (Intro.). Edward Bawden Engravings 1927-1929. Merivale Editions, 1988
David McKitterick (Intro.).Wallpapers by Edward Bawden Printed at the Curwen Press. Whittington Press, 1989
Ruari McLean. Book of Cuts. Scolar Press, 1978
Ruari McLean. 92 Cuts. Scolar Press, 1979
Ruari McLean. War Artist and Letters Home 1940-1945. Scolar Press, 1989
J.M. Richards. Edward Bawden. (Penguin Modern Painters Series) Penguin, 1946
Malcolm Yorke. The Inward Laugh: Edward Bawden and His Circle. The Fleece Press, 2005
Skipwith, P/Mainstone, T : Entertaining à la Carte, Edward Bawden and Fortnum and Mason, Mainstone Press, Norwich 2008
Powers, A & Green, O: Away we Go! Advertising London's Transport, Eric Ravilious & Edward Bawden, Mainstone Press, Norwich 2006 |
| Extent | 1 box and 1 oversized file. |
| Level | Collection |
| Access Conditions | Open. |
| Copyright | See individual entries.
Bawden's personal copyright is managed by:
Peyton Skipwith, 37 Willow Road, Hampstead, London, NW3 1TN. Email: peytonskipwith@aol.com |
| Custodial History | Was put in with LCC Collection but divided out as not related to the Collection and is a discrete Collection. |