Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden

This catalogue examines the ways in which Modern British artists of the interwar period engaged with private and public spaces. The publication begins by exploring the private realms of artists, as many retreated to planting and painting their own gardens in the wake of the First World War. But while some withdrew, other artists sought pleasure and escapism, and amidst the rise of new technologies and popular entertainment, public gardens became arenas for a modern experience which they strove to capture. 

Moreover, this catalogue explores the blurring of boundaries between private and public spaces, as the car and other modes of transport opened up areas of the countryside beyond the orbit of the railways. And then there were the houses and gardens of estates such as Garsington Manor – brought into the public eye by artists who attended the gatherings of the great chatelaine and salonnière, Lady Ottoline Morrell. So perhaps these worlds of private and public were not mutually exclusive, after all. 

Works Featured in this catalogue

Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
The original full size cartoon for The Garden, 1950
Clare Leighton (1898 - 1989)
Scarecrow, BPL 548 1942
£1,400
Private
Cosmo Clark (1897 - 1967)
English Country Fair, 1933
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Angel Playing Tubular Bells
£8,750
Sold
Maxwell Armfield (1881 - 1972)
Still Life, 1914
Sold
Marion Adnams (1898 - 1995)
Colloquy (Les Perruches), April, 1968
Private
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Mural Roundel, 1933-1936
Alan Sorrell (1904 - 1974)
May Morning, Putney Embankment, July 6th, 1939
£1,950
Hubert Arthur Finney (1905 - 1991)
The Window, circa 1950
£975
Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
Man Sweeping Terraced House, circa 1926
£1,750
Private
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
Cottage in Sussex, c. 1934
Sold
Gwenda Morgan (1908 - 1991)
Winter, Artist’s Garden, 1953
Private
Marion Adnams (1898 - 1995)
Bouquet of Winter Roses (Hellebores)
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
The Willow Grove, Great Bardfield, Spring 1933
£2,950
Douglas Percy Bliss (1900 - 1984)
The Merry-Go-Round, 1973
£2,850
Sold
Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study of Bluebells, circa 1937
Sold
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
The original Nonesuch Press Electro plate for Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne. 1938
Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
The farmer and his wife, at the roadside, mid 1920’s
£1,900
John Cecil Stephenson (1889 - 1965)
The Quarry at Shrewsbury, (View from School House), c. 1930
£1,200
Robert Austin (1895 - 1973)
Early Spring, Gloucestershire, 1922 (CD 30)
£1,950
Sold
Frederick Austin (1902 - 1990)
Study of Shed and Cabbage Garden, Leicestershire,1921
On Loan
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Man at a Sluice Gate on the Thames, 1932
Sold
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
The original Nonesuch Press Electro plate for Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne. 1938
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
View of St Mary’s Lane from Oak Cottage, circa 1938
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
Tirzah on a cockerel, 1931
£350
Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
Study for Laying the Commemoration Stones of the New Municipal Buildings – Bristol, 1939
£4,500
Sold
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
The Old Rolls on Bodmin Moor, circa 1950
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Greenhouse Interior, 1930’s
Sold
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Tennis – viewed from a gap in the trees, circa 1966
Sold
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
A Sudden Return Home, 1946
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
The Broad Walk, Regents Park
£2,450
Edward Halliday (1902 - 1984)
Rotten Row Hyde park, c.1930
£1,750
Phyllis Dodd (1899 - 1995)
In the Pentlands, oil on George Rowney Birchmore Board
£9,500
John Armstrong (1893 - 1973)
The Peculiar Park Mural at Shell Centre, 1961
£1,950
Frances Richards (1903 - 1985)
Hieratic Floral Figure, 1974
£975
Margaret Green (1925 - 2003)
Nurses, 1951
£9,500
On Loan
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
The Flower Show
Sold
Edward Halliday (1902 - 1984)
Stained glass window design with Swallow
Douglas Percy Bliss (1900 - 1984)
Ivy Cottage in the Spring, 1946
£8,500
John Armstrong (1893 - 1973)
The Peculiar Park Mural at Shell Centre, 1961
£2,400
Frances Richards (1903 - 1985)
Woman with Flowers
£2,975
Douglas Percy Bliss (1900 - 1984)
‘Satires in Stones, The Sportsman’. 1923.
£1,950
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
Leg of Mutton Pond, Hampstead Heath
£2,450
Sold
Muriel Pemberton (1909 - 1993)
Birch trees – Richmond Park, circa 1930
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
The Bouquet, 1965
£5,000
Sold
John Moody (1906 - 1993)
Brunswick Square
Frances Richards (1903 - 1985)
Woman with Flowers
£2,975
Sold
Herbert Victor Tempest (1913 - 2003)
View from the Artist’s Garden, Shooters Hill, 1940s
Harry Epworth Allen (1894 - 1958)
Scarecrows, 1957
£45,000
Sold
Percy Horton (1897 - 1970)
Geraniums in Barrel, 1970
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
Landscape, circa 1950
£3,950
Sold
Percy Horton (1897 - 1970)
View of Houses Through a Gap in Trees
On Loan
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
The Balcony, 6 Downshire Hill, Hampstead, 1928, c.1941
Sold
Herbert Victor Tempest (1913 - 2003)
Winter, View from the Artist’s Garden, circa 1935
Private
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Gadshill House,1937
Sold
Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study for ‘Design for Wall Decoration’ – Three Women Bearing Baskets of Apples, circa 1918
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
The Allotment, Wrotham, late 1930’s
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
Still-life with Vegetables, mid 1970’s
£3,400
Charles H.H. Burleigh (1869 - 1956)
7 Wilbury Crescent, Hove, circa 1900
£9,000
Sold
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
The Conservatory at the Cedars
Sold
Herbert Victor Tempest (1913 - 2003)
Otford
Harry Bush (1883 - 1957)
The Artist’s House at 19 Queensland Avenue, London
£22,000
Percy Shakespeare (1906 - 1943)
View from the Artist’s Bedroom, Wren’s Nest, mid 1930’s
Sold
John Armstrong (1893 - 1973)
Design for The Pleasure of Living Mural at Shell Centre, c.1961
English School ()
The Joy Wheel​, circa 1920​
£15,000
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
Mary Adshead at Work in the Artist’s Garden at Haverstock Hill, London
£2,950
Sold
Ithell Colquhoun (1906 - 1988)
Hyacinth and Cyclamen
Marjorie Lilly (1891-1980)
Woman Seated by a Window, circa 1905
£12,500
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
Street Scene, c. 1930
£1,950
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
End of the School Day, 1938
Frank Brangwyn (1867 - 1956)
The Printed Word Makes the People of the World One
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
Still-life of Poinsettia with Leopard Skin, c. 1935
£9,750
On Loan
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Trees at Garsington, c.1922
Rachel Reckitt (1908 - 1995)
The Tower
£6,750
Sold
Stanley Spencer (1891 - 1959)
Hilda in a Haystack
Reserved
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
Parliament Hill
Private
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Ambleside, View from the Library Roof, circa 1942
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Study for Hebridean Memory, 1951
£9,750
Sold
Douglas Stannus Gray (1890 - 1959)
Self-portrait Painting at an Easel Outdoors, 1920
On Loan
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Ploughed Land, Garsington, c.1922
Tirzah Garwood-Ravilious (1908 - 1951)
The Crocodile
£1,900
On Loan
Albert de Belleroche (1864 - 1944)
The Artist’s Garden with Stone Flowerpot, Hampstead
Kathleen Guthrie (1905 - 1981)
Family Outing
£900
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Study of a Sunflower, late 1940s
Sold
Francis Spear (1902 - 1979)
Woman scrubbing doorstep, 1924
Clare Leighton (1898 - 1989)
Whiteleaf Cross, BPL 255
£1,600
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
Tirzah on a cockerel, the original block, 1931
£14,000
Sold
Frank Brangwyn (1867 - 1956)
Study of Artichokes
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
A Tropical Fantasy, c. 1926
Private
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
November 5th, 1933
Colin Gill (1892 - 1940)
Flora, 1912
£8,750
Sold
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Land Workers at Strood, c. 1938
Clare Leighton (1898 - 1989)
View from Whiteleaf Cross, BPL 256
£1,600
Sold
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Marjorie Dunbar rolling a lawn.
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Invitation to the Garden, circa 1938
£14,000
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
The Fair
£2,450
Private
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
August, c. 1937
Percy Horton (1897 - 1970)
Study for Kensington Park, 1923
£2,500
Private
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Autumn, 1951
Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe R.A. (1901 - 1979)
Sitting Hare, 1949
£375
Sold
Marion Adnams (1898 - 1995)
Study of Morning Glory (Ipomoea species), 1968
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Industry and Sloth, c.1932
£5,750
Sold
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
The fair
Private
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
The Parlement of Foules, 1933-1936