Edward Bawden and his Circle

Edward Bawden’s (1903-1989) artistic career spanned more than sixty years. During this time he was extraordinarily prolific and produced a considerable body of work, including book illustrations, advertising posters, murals (for ships, boardrooms, colleges and churches), fine paintings, tapestries, and wallpapers. Bawden was also responsible for the diverse artistic community which thrived in Great Bardfield in the 1950s. Malcolm Yorke’s incisive biography of Bawden, written with the complete cooperation and support of Bawden’s children and his artistic executor, follows Bawden’s career in the context of the social and artistic friendships he cultivated, such as those with Douglas Percy Bliss and, in particular, Eric Ravilious. The book is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of material from Bawden’s personal scrapbooks, allowing the reader an insight into Bawden’s working methods and his final pieces. Copiously illustrated with material from every period of Bawden’s working life, Edward Bawden and His Circle illustrates all aspects of his creative output, and that of his Great Bardfield contemporaries, in its great variety.