Artistic Interiors by Avante-Garde Artists

This lecture looks at how avante-garde artists in Britain took art out of the gallery and into domestic and commercial interiors in the early 20th century.  

In 1912 Wyndham Lewis along with Spencer Gore and sculptors Jacob Epstain and Eric Gill were invited by Madame Strindberg to design the interior for a London Cabaret club called the Cave of the Golden Calf. Their designs were bold and bright and reflected the modernist ideas of their day.  

A year later, in 1913 artists from the Bloomsbury group including Roger Fry, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell formed the Omega Workshops. Their work dominated by their Post-Impressionist painting style included hand decorated furniture and ceramics as well as designs for textiles including printed fabrics, rugs and curtains. 

When Omega ended in 1919, the Bloomsbury artists went on to decorate their home at Charleston as well as Berwick Church in Sussex. Meanwhile, the artists Wyndham Lewis, Spencer Gore, William Roberts, Edward Wadsworth and Kate Lechmere known as the Vorticists broke away from Omega Workshops and formed the Rebel Arts Centre where they displayed examples of their decorations and paintings.  

Wyndham Lewis decorated domestic interiors using his Vorticist abstract designs including Lady Drogheda’s dinning room and along with William Roberts produced panels for the Vorticist room of the Restaurant de la tour Eiffel. 

These interiors are discussed by art historian Catherine Wallace in this fascinating lecture.

Talk by Catherine Wallace

Image: Study for a Mural Decoration for ‘The Cave of the Golden Calf’ 1912 by  Spencer Gore ©Tate

Age Guidance: 18+

Artistic Interiors: British Avante-Garde Interiors 1912 -1942

Thursday 28th January 2.30pm

Tickets: £13.00

A £1 Poly Fund payment is added to each ticket sold. A 50p booking fee is also applied per ticket for online and telephone transactions.