Ernest Gimson:
Arts & Crafts Designs and Objects

13 September – 2 November 2003

The Arts & Crafts designer and architect, Ernest Gimson was described as 'the greatest of the English artist craftsmen' by the architectural historian, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. He worked in the Cotswolds from 1893 until his death in 1919 and produced designs for furniture, plasterwork, metalwork, and embroidery as well as architectural work. Almost all his surviving designs, over 1000 drawings, are in the collections of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum.

This exhibition will show a selection of Gimson’s designs alongside the original objects many of which have been lent from private collections. Among the highlights are a decorative veneered cabinet which predates the Art Deco style of the 1920s and '30s, an embroidered tablecloth, and a lamp stand in polished steel. The exhibition will also include a number of recent pieces including an inlaid box by Chris Vickers, hanging shelves by the Barnsley workshop and plasterwork by Rory Young showing his influence on contemporary design.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of Originality and Initiative: the Arts and Crafts archives at Cheltenham. This book is the third to be published jointly with Lund Humphries on the stunning collection of Arts and Crafts Movement objects that are held at the Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum. It focuses on the importance of design and workmanship using the important archive collection of designs and drawings by Ernest Gimson and Sidney Barnsley as one of its sources.

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