Arts & Crafts Appeal

The interest in the Arts and Crafts Movement never seems to wane as witnessed by the current International Arts & Crafts Exhibition at the V & A.  The founding members of the Movement were great exponents of, and worked very closely with, the Royal School of Art Needlework, as it was then called, producing many designs that were worked at our Exhibition Road premises.  Individuals such as William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Selwyn Image, Arthur Mackmurdo, Alexander Fisher and Walter Crane were all involved in one way or another.

Here at Hampton Court, the RSN’s archives are bursting with hidden treasures and we have started to catalogue them now that we have Dr Lynn Hulse on board as our Archivist.  She has discovered many items that have an Arts and Crafts connection and is very keen for us to exhibit these as many have never been seen by the public whilst others remain unknown even to Arts and Crafts experts.

The Huntington Library & Art Collection in California has recently announced its excitement at having purchased the ‘ebonized Demi-Lune Cabinet’ designed by Walter Crane in about 1875.  This too was exhibited at Philadelphia and has two embroidered panels worked at the RSN.  According to the Huntington this is ‘one of the pieces known to have influenced the development of the art needlework movement in the US.’ In fact, Candace Wheeler was so inspired by all of the RSN embroidery at Philadelphia that she went on to found the New York Society of Decorative Art, which was managed for a time by a member of staff from the RSN.  Thanks again to Dr Hulse, we have been able to find the original paintings for the cabinet embroideries.  This was a most exciting find and the Huntington Library & Art Collection is extremely keen to see them. Unfortunately - and this is where you come in - most of these items require conservation work before they can even be prepared and framed for exhibition purposes.