Museum Exhibitions

Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden

This exhibition examines the ways in which Modern British artists of the interwar period engaged with private and public spaces. The show begins by exploring the private realms of artists, as many retreated to planting and painting their own gardens in the wake of World War I. 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. More- over, this exhibition explores the blurring of boundaries between private and public spaces, as the car and other modes of transport opened up areas of the country-side 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 châtelaine and salonnière, Lady Ottoline Morrell. So perhaps these worlds of private and public were not mutually exclusive, after all.

Works FEATUREd in this Exhibition

Harry Bush (1883 - 1957)
The Artist’s House at 19 Queensland Avenue, London
£22,000
Reserved
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
Parliament Hill
Kathleen Guthrie (1905 - 1981)
Family Outing
£900
Private
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
November 5th, 1933
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
Street Scene, c. 1930
£1,950
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
August, c. 1937
£25,000
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Mural Roundel, 1933-1936
£12,500
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
The Parlement of Foules, 1933-1936
£14,000
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Gadshill House,1937
£16,500
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
The Broad Walk, Regents Park
£2,450
Private
Marion Adnams (1898 - 1995)
Bouquet of Winter Roses (Hellebores)
Sold
Marion Adnams (1898 - 1995)
Colloquy (Les Perruches), April, 1968
Private
Ithell Colquhoun (1906 - 1988)
Crane Flowers (Bird of Paradise or Strelitzia reginae)
Harry Epworth Allen (1894 - 1958)
Scarecrows, 1957
Private
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
The Flower Show
Sold
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
Leg of Mutton Pond, Hampstead Heath
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
Tirzah on a cockerel, 1931
£300
John Cecil Stephenson (1889 - 1965)
The Quarry at Shrewsbury, (View from School House), c. 1930
£1,200
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
The Fair
£2,450
Sold
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
The fair
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
A Tropical Fantasy, c. 1926
Albert de Belleroche (1864 - 1944)
The Artist’s Garden with Stone Flowerpot, Hampstead
£5,950
Stanley Spencer (1891 - 1959)
Hilda in a Haystack
£3,975
Marjorie Lilly (1891-1980)
Woman Seated by a Window, circa 1905
£12,500
Sold
Herbert Victor Tempest (1913 - 2003)
View from the Artist’s Garden, Shooters Hill, 1940s
Sold
Herbert Victor Tempest (1913 - 2003)
Winter, View from the Artist’s Garden, circa 1935
Herbert Victor Tempest (1913 - 2003)
Otford
£3,500
Douglas Percy Bliss (1900 - 1984)
‘Satires in Stones, The Sportsman’. Watercolour. 1923.
£1,950
Margaret Green (1925 - 2003)
Nurses, 1951
£9,500
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
A Sudden Return Home, 1946
£6,000
Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
The farmer and his wife, at the roadside, mid 1920’s
£1,900
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
View of St Mary’s Lane from Oak Cottage, circa 1938
£5,750
Gwenda Morgan (1908 - 1991)
Winter, Artist’s Garden, 1953
£600
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Industry and Sloth, c.1932
Maxwell Armfield (1881 - 1972)
Still Life, 1914
£3,400
Reserved
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Invitation to the Garden, circa 1938
Frank Brangwyn (1867 - 1956)
Study of Artichokes
£6,750
Tirzah Garwood-Ravilious (1908 - 1951)
The Crocodile
£1,950
Ithell Colquhoun (1906 - 1988)
Hyacinth and Cyclamen
£7,350
Rachel Reckitt (1908 - 1995)
The Tower
£6,750
Sold
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
The Conservatory at the Cedars
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
The Balcony, 6 Downshire Hill, Hampstead, 1928, c.1941
Frances Richards (1903 - 1985)
Woman with Flowers
£2,975
Frances Richards (1903 - 1985)
Woman with Flowers
£2,975
Frances Richards (1903 - 1985)
Hieratic Floral Figure, 1974
£975
Sold
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Tennis – viewed from a gap in the trees, circa 1966
Sold
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
The original Nonesuch Press Electro plate for Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne. 1938
Sold
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
The original Nonesuch Press Electro plate for Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne. 1938
Private
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
Cottage in Sussex, c. 1934
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Study for Autumn, c.1951
£1,900
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Angel Playing Tubular Bells
£8,750
Sold
Marion Adnams (1898 - 1995)
Study of Morning Glory (Ipomoea species), 1968
Sold
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Marjorie Dunbar rolling a lawn.
Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942)
Tirzah on a cockerel, the original block, 1931
£15,000
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Ploughed Land, Garsington, c.1922
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Trees at Garsington, c.1922
£28,500
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
Mary Adshead at Work in the Artist’s Garden at Haverstock Hill, London
£2,950
Charles H.H. Burleigh (1869 - 1956)
7 Wilbury Crescent, Hove, circa 1900
£9,000
Percy Horton (1897 - 1970)
View of Houses Through a Gap in Trees
£9,500
John Moody (1906 - 1993)
Brunswick Square
£16,000
John Armstrong (1893 - 1973)
The Peculiar Park Mural at Shell Centre, 1961
£1,950
John Armstrong (1893 - 1973)
The Peculiar Park Mural at Shell Centre, 1961
£2,400
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Greenhouse Interior, 1930’s
Sold
Robert Austin (1895 - 1973)
Sea Bouquet, 1940
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Man at a Sluice Gate on the Thames, 1932
£55,000
Sold
Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study of Bluebells, circa 1937
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
Evening Primroses in a London Garden
£775
Barnett Freedman (1901 - 1958)
Man Sweeping Terraced House, circa 1926
£1,750
Private
Cosmo Clark (1897 - 1967)
English Country Fair, 1933
Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe R.A. (1901 - 1979)
Sitting Hare, 1949
£375
Clare Leighton (1898 - 1989)
Whiteleaf Cross, BPL 255
£1,600
Clare Leighton (1898 - 1989)
View from Whiteleaf Cross, BPL 256
£1,600
Sold
Douglas Stannus Gray (1890 - 1959)
Self-portrait Painting at an Easel Outdoors, 1920
English School ()
The Joy Wheel​, circa 1920​
£15,000
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
Still-life of Poinsettia with Leopard Skin, c. 1935
£9,750
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
Still-life with Vegetables, mid 1970’s
£3,400
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
Landscape, circa 1950
£3,950
David Evans (1929 - 1988)
The Bouquet, 1965
£5,000
Douglas Percy Bliss (1900 - 1984)
Ivy Cottage in the Spring, 1946
Phyllis Dodd (1899 - 1995)
In the Pentlands, oil on George Rowney Birchmore Board
Mary Adshead (1904 - 1995)
The Old Rolls on Bodmin Moor, circa 1950
£19,500
Sold
Frederick Austin (1902 - 1990)
Study of Shed and Cabbage Garden, Leicestershire,1921
Douglas Percy Bliss (1900 - 1984)
The Merry-Go-Round, 1973
£2,850
Hubert Arthur Finney (1905 - 1991)
The Window, circa 1950
£975
Clare Leighton (1898 - 1989)
Scarecrow, BPL 548 1942
£1,400
Sold
Stephen Bone (1904 - 1958)
Fête champêtre
Private
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Autumn, 1951
Sold
Evelyn Dunbar (1906 - 1960)
Land Workers at Strood, c. 1938
Francis Spear (1902 - 1979)
Woman scrubbing doorstep, 1924
£2,500
Gilbert Spencer (1892 - 1979)
Study for Hebridean Memory, 1951
£9,500
Frank Brangwyn (1867 - 1956)
The Printed Word Makes the People of the World One
John Armstrong (1893 - 1973)
Design for The Pleasure of Living Mural at Shell Centre, c.1961
£2,350
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
The Allotment, Wrotham, late 1930’s
£3,500
Sold
Percy Horton (1897 - 1970)
Geraniums in Barrel, 1970
Muriel Pemberton (1909 - 1993)
Birch trees – Richmond Park, circa 1930
£1,500
Edward Halliday (1902 - 1984)
Stained glass window design with Swallow
£3,400
Edward Halliday (1902 - 1984)
Rotten Row Hyde park, c.1930
£1,750
Charles Cundall (1890 - 1971)
Study for Laying the Commemoration Stones of the New Municipal Buildings – Bristol, 1939
£4,500
Robert Austin (1895 - 1973)
Early Spring, Gloucestershire, 1922 (CD 30)
£1,950
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
The Willow Grove, Great Bardfield, Spring 1933
£2,950
Alan Sorrell (1904 - 1974)
May Morning, Putney Embankment, July 6th, 1939
£1,950
Sold
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
The original full size cartoon for The Garden, 1950
Percy Horton (1897 - 1970)
Study for Kensington Park, 1923
£2,500
Colin Gill (1892 - 1940)
Flora, 1912
£8,750
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Study of a Sunflower, late 1940s
£9,750
Private
Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Design for Wall Decoration, c.1918
Private
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
Ambleside, View from the Library Roof, circa 1942
Charles Mahoney (1903 - 1968)
End of the School Day, 1938
£9,500
Private
Percy Shakespeare (1906 - 1943)
View from the Artist’s Bedroom, Wren’s Nest, mid 1930’s
Sold
Winifred Knights (1899 - 1947)
Study for ‘Design for Wall Decoration’ – Three Women Bearing Baskets of Apples, circa 1918