This book tells the story of the impact of George Frederic Watts OM RA (1817-1904) and his wife Mary Seton Watts (nee Fraser-Tytler, 1849-1938) on Compton, a small village in Surrey. Initially, the village acted as an autumnal and winter retreat for the artist and the designer, but became the permanent base for their work and the home of the Watts Gallery, the Compton Pottery with its studios and workshops, and the extraordinary Cemetery Chapel. A nationally significant site, it includes a gallery that holds an internationally important collection, and Arts and Crafts chapel by Mary Watts, a Great Studio house named 'Linnerslease' designed by Sir Ernest George, and the Compton Pottery buildings. More than a guide book, it presents a complete history and guide that will appeal to readers who wish to know the story of a unique artists' village. The book is richly illustrated with new photography, historic photographs and contextual material which give a sense of the significance of art and artists in the late nineteenth-century, and reveal a continuous and living philosophy at the heart of a Surrey village.
By:
Mark Bills
Contributions by:
Perdita Hunt,
Hilary Underwood,
Veronica Franklin Gould,
Desna Greenhow
Imprint: Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 250mm,
Width: 215mm,
Spine: 18mm
Weight: 847g
ISBN: 9780856676963
ISBN 10: 0856676969
Pages: 168
Publication Date: 30 June 2011
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Foreword Simon Thurley Chief Executive, English Heritage 1. ‘Two artists who are of just the same mind concerning their ideals of art’: George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) and Mary Seton Watts (1849-1938) Mark Bills 2. Limnerslease: ‘Only a great artist can make a house look like this’ Mark Bills 3. Mary Watts, the Home Arts and Industries Association and Compton Hilary Underwood 4. Mary Watts and the Creation of Watts Chapel Veronica Franklin Gould 5. The Symbolism of Watts Chapel Desna Greenhow 6. Compton Pottery Hilary Underwood 7. The Watts Picture Gallery Mark Bills 8. The Future of Watts Village in Compton Perdita Hunt Appendix: Mary Watts’s Ceiling Decoration at Limnerslease Catherine Hilary Chronology
Mark Bills is curator of Watts Gallery. Formerly he was senior curator of paintings, prints and drawings at the Museum of London and visual arts officer at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum. He has published widely on eighteenth-century and particularly nineteenth-century art, including William Powell Frith and G.F. Watts, Victorian Visionary, and numerous articles for magazines including Burlington Magazine and Apollo. He has curated national and international exhibitions including A Victorian Salon, at the Dahesh Museum, New York and Satirizing London, at the Museum of London with the accompanying book The Art of Satire: London in Caricature, also published by PWP.
