Ernest Gimson: Arts & Crafts Designer and Architect

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I knew you would be delighted with Auberon Herbert. As you say there is no logical halting place between his individualism and Communism. I think there can be no doubt that the most perfect state of social union is that in which everyone does the right thing willingly, and if that is granted what alternative is there but to work for that state – that is of course provided that they see some chances of approaching it. Ruskin and Morris grumble because now we manufacture everything but men and women. How can you manufacture them better than under a system of Individualism? … The debates at the office have all been on Individualism lately and it is remarkable, the progress it is making. At first I was the only one who was not a Ruskin Socialist now I have the majority with me. It is only a matter of time to make them all Atheists as well. But I don’t discuss that subject unless specially appealed to.‘ His architectural style is "solid and lasting as the pyramids… yet gracious and homelike" (H. Wilson, 1899). Lethaby described him as an idealist individualist: "Work not words, things not designs, life not rewards were his aims." Norman Jewson was his foremost student, who carried his design principles into the next generation and described his studio practices in his classic memoir By Chance I did Rove (1951). Leicester had expanded dramatically in the nineteenth century from a market town into an industrial city, a major centre for commerce and manufacturing. There was money to be made but also increasing problems of poverty and disease. Ernest Gimson, who died on the 12th of August 1919, was described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘the greatest of the English artist-craftsmen’. Gimson made significant contributions as an architect, a maker of plasterwork and turned chairs, and as a designer of embroideries and metalwork, but is probably best known today for his furniture. So how do you mark the centenary of one of Britain’s greatest Arts & Crafts designers? Like many of his Arts and Crafts associates, Charles Robert Ashbee worked across a range of different design disciplines, ranging from interior decoration to jewellery. He established the Guild and School of Handicraft in 1888 to help realise the potential of craftspeople working in the East End of London. This organisation specialised in metalworking, and in the late 1890s Ashbee and his associates began to design and produce silver tableware. Reacting deliberately against factory production, the Guild produced pieces whose hand-made status was emphasised by details such as visible hammer marks. Ashbee's designs were celebrated for their simplicity and focus, and his restrained aesthetic had a significant influence on contemporary silver design not only in Britain but also Europe and America.

when we had a long wait in Manchester, we spent the time over a tea-table in a corner (to which he had hurriedly dragged me, as if we were pursued) and surprised the waitress by shyly asking if we could be given ‘something made in the country.’ I hope you admire the hat and waistcoat in the photo I send you. The waistcoat is blue with spots; the hat (worn by Butler) is light brown lined with green. It has caused immense sensation in every town we have been to.’

The book combines biography with an analysis of Gimson’s work as an architect and designer of diverse items. In ‘Life’, the authors survey Gimson’s life and career, from his upbringing in Leicester to his London training and travels. In the following chapters they chart his early work and involvement with Kenton & Co., his move to the Cotswolds in 1893 and then the Sapperton workshops, concluding with an analysis of his approach to the process of designing. Carruthers, Annette and Greensted, Mary. Good citizen’s furniture: the Arts and crafts collections at Cheltenham. Cheltenham, England: Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museums in association with Lund Humphries, 1994

And then, of course, there was the venue to luxuriate in. Marchmont House is an impressive Palladian mansion with a wing designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, the Scottish Arts and Crafts architect and a contemporary of Gimson who admired his work. The house is in a beautiful rural location near the town of Duns with extensive grounds seen possibly at their best in the spring sunshine we were blessed with. We were able to appreciate new projects including a fresco painter at work at a mural using the newly-unearthed Marchmont red. From our extremely comfortable bedrooms to the dining area we were surrounded by contemporary art and 19th-century to Arts & Crafts furniture from Pugin through to Gordon Russell. The official part to the day ended with an informal but hands-on look at some of these pieces. You better bring some of your tools with you, as Mr. P. had delay with his. Please let me know when I can expect you.’ The text is based on extensive new research, with 320 illustrations, many previously unpublished, including photographs from the Gimson family archive, designs, and a number of photographs by James Brittain of buildings, interiors, objects and details. The book keeps alive the spirit of a designer and craftsman who, as his contemporary William Lethaby observed, was motivated by ‘work not words, things not designs, life not rewards’.

Gallery

Are you going to be surprised or has some little gossip reached you before this. I am told that it has been expected of me for some time and I hardly wonder at it. No doubt Maggie and Sarah have more or less prepared you, as I imagine my behaviour to have prepared them. Well, I’ve been falling in love and getting engaged - to Emmie Thompson. I had a nice letter from her mother this morning and soon I hope to have another nice one from my mother.’ In reading Ruskin the other day I came across this motto: ‘Every man a law to himself’ that would be a good one don’t you think? It shows the distinction between liberty and licence that should be made clear.’ Thanks for your letter. I wish too that it were possible to scramble along without selling so many of G & Co. shares. But how else can capital be found? In 1893 Gimson and his friends Sidney and Ernest Barnsley moved to Ewen in Gloucestershire, convinced that to make good work they had to live in natural and unspoiled surroundings. He and Ernest Barnsley formed a furniture making business. Gimson married Emily Ann Thompson in 1900 and the families moved to Sapperton, Gloucestershire, in 1902. Gimson built himself a large cottage and established a workshop and show rooms for the furniture business. However, in 1905 Gimson's partnership with Ernest Barnsley broke down and he continued the workshops alone.

Read an excerpt of the lecture 'Art & Socialism' given by William Morris at Leicester Secular Hall. (PDF) Ernest's brother Sidney provides a vivid account of this meeting, in a 1932 account of the Leicester Secular Society, now in the Leicestershire Records Office and quoted at length in Comino (1980), p,13-15 Sidney's recollections can be read at http://leicestersecularsociety.org.uk/PHP_redirected/gimson.php#ernest When his elder brother somewhat reluctantly arranged for the sale of the shares Gimson sent an account of his business. The letter is dated May 1904:

Setting up the Daneway Workshops

He was a tall, well-built man with a slight stoop, a large rather heavy face, except when he smiled, a brown moustache and wide-open contemplative eyes. His expression was that of a man entirely at peace with himself and all the world. His tweed suit hung loosely over a soft shirt and collar, with a silk tie threaded through a ring. Being summer he wore a panama hat instead of his usual cloth cap, but in all seasons he wore heavy hobnailed boots made for him by a cobbler in Chalford.’ What sort of person was he?