William Simmonds Talk from Author
William Simmonds Talk from Author
Thursday 01 November 2018
William Simmonds Talk from Author
William Simmonds Talk from Author
Thursday 01 November 2018
This event relates to a book launch on the artist, William Simmonds and his wife Eve.
The book has been written by Jessica Douglas-Home who proposes to come and give a lecture about the life and work of William Simmonds. She is an excellent and insightful speaker.
About the book
This book uncovers the work of sculptor William Simmonds, one of the forgotten originals of the Arts and Crafts movement. Inspired by his pastoral surroundings in the Cotswolds, he played a particularly vital role in the movement between the two world wars. After the First World War Simmonds emerged as a master of woodcarving, known for his exquisite oak, pine, ebony and ivory carvings of wild and domestic creatures. He earned his living by making puppets and became Europe’s most renowned puppet master. His wife Eve, a well-known embroiderer in her own right, made the puppets’ costumes and accompanied the puppet shows on the spinet, playing early music discovered by Dolmetsch and pieces by Cecil Sharp and Vaughan Williams.
Simmonds’s circle included the artists William Rothenstein, Edwin Abbey, John Singer Sargent and E.H. Shepard; architects Ernest Gimson, Detmar Blow, and the Barnsley brothers; potters and stained-glass artists Alfred and Louise Powell and Edward Payne; and textile printers Barron and Larcher. Poets Tagore, W.H. Davies, John Masefield and John Drinkwater; writers Max Beerbohm and D.H. Lawrence; and the musicians Lionel Tertis and Violet Gordon Woodhouse with her ‘four husbands’ all played their part. This book documents that lost world and adds another dimension to the story of the extraordinary Violet Gordon-Wodehouse, who lived at Nether Lypiatt Manor a mile from Simmonds’s cottage.
William’s wife, was Eve Simmonds (an embroideress )who was a friend of Margaret Pilkington, the Honorary Director of the Gallery for over 20 years and who was also very involved with the Red Rose Guild which exhibited most years at the Whitworth. It was on the strength of this friendship that the Whitworth was given the group of assorted, mainly whitework embroideries by Eve Simmonds in 1957. In fact, all the textiles came from her at the same time with some of her own embroideries being purchased through the Friends of the Whitworth. In addition there are textiles in our collection which are connected to Eve’s circle, namely Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher. For example, you may recall the two kurtas (the boy’s shirts) in the Beyond Borders exhibition? These were donated by them.
Further Details:
This is a free event
Booking has now closed for this event.
The event is part of our Thursday Lates would be of interest to those who are interested in the Arts and Crafts and of course, there is no charge.
The plan is to hold this event in the Collection Centre and to take out some textiles from Barron and Larcher which we will have out for people to look at after the talk.
Start time 6.00pm
This event relates to a book launch on the artist, William Simmonds and his wife Eve.
The book has been written by Jessica Douglas-Home who proposes to come and give a lecture about the life and work of William Simmonds. She is an excellent and insightful speaker.
About the book
This book uncovers the work of sculptor William Simmonds, one of the forgotten originals of the Arts and Crafts movement. Inspired by his pastoral surroundings in the Cotswolds, he played a particularly vital role in the movement between the two world wars. After the First World War Simmonds emerged as a master of woodcarving, known for his exquisite oak, pine, ebony and ivory carvings of wild and domestic creatures. He earned his living by making puppets and became Europe’s most renowned puppet master. His wife Eve, a well-known embroiderer in her own right, made the puppets’ costumes and accompanied the puppet shows on the spinet, playing early music discovered by Dolmetsch and pieces by Cecil Sharp and Vaughan Williams.
Simmonds’s circle included the artists William Rothenstein, Edwin Abbey, John Singer Sargent and E.H. Shepard; architects Ernest Gimson, Detmar Blow, and the Barnsley brothers; potters and stained-glass artists Alfred and Louise Powell and Edward Payne; and textile printers Barron and Larcher. Poets Tagore, W.H. Davies, John Masefield and John Drinkwater; writers Max Beerbohm and D.H. Lawrence; and the musicians Lionel Tertis and Violet Gordon Woodhouse with her ‘four husbands’ all played their part. This book documents that lost world and adds another dimension to the story of the extraordinary Violet Gordon-Wodehouse, who lived at Nether Lypiatt Manor a mile from Simmonds’s cottage.
William’s wife, was Eve Simmonds (an embroideress )who was a friend of Margaret Pilkington, the Honorary Director of the Gallery for over 20 years and who was also very involved with the Red Rose Guild which exhibited most years at the Whitworth. It was on the strength of this friendship that the Whitworth was given the group of assorted, mainly whitework embroideries by Eve Simmonds in 1957. In fact, all the textiles came from her at the same time with some of her own embroideries being purchased through the Friends of the Whitworth. In addition there are textiles in our collection which are connected to Eve’s circle, namely Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher. For example, you may recall the two kurtas (the boy’s shirts) in the Beyond Borders exhibition? These were donated by them.
Further Details:
This is a free event
Booking has now closed for this event.
The event is part of our Thursday Lates would be of interest to those who are interested in the Arts and Crafts and of course, there is no charge.
The plan is to hold this event in the Collection Centre and to take out some textiles from Barron and Larcher which we will have out for people to look at after the talk.
Start time 6.00pm
EVENT DATE
NOVEMBER 01, 2018
COST
FREE
POSTAL BOOKINGS
Booking Closed
NUMBER OF PLACES
Max. places: 30
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