Great Bardfield Artists (1957)

This booklet published to accompany the famous “open house” exhibitions in Great Bardfield, where local artists displayed their work in their own homes. Includes biographical sections on each artist featured and an insightful introduction by Colin MacInnes, highlighting the village’s artistic community and their creative efforts. “Two years ago, in the midst of that Mediterranean summer that miraculously settled upon England, the editor of the Arts page of The Times telephoned to ask me if I would go out to Great Bardfield, and write about the exhibition there. I accepted, but after a slight initial hesitation. I knew that Great Bardfield was a north Essex village where a number of artists lived and worked; I’d vaguely heard of — but not visited — their earlier display during the Coronation year; and the impression I’d gained — happily quite erroneous, as we shall see — was that Great Bardfield was either some centre where a particular aesthetic was rigorously pursued by artists with an almost theological zeal . . . or else, some sort of ‘artists’ colony’, where persons more remarkable for their vestimentary allure than for their talent, would be found picturesquely clustering in rural inns. Great Bardfield, of course, is neither of these things at all.” Artists include Edward Bawden, John Aldridge, Michael Rothenstein, George Chapman, Walter Hoyle, Audrey Cruddas, Marianne Straub , Sheila Robinson and more.

Condition: some faint spotting, light shelf-wear and dust-marks to covers. Some faint spotting to front endpaper, otherwise very good.