PRESS INFORMATION Press Release 1 | Press Release 2 | Press Release 3 NEW ARTISTIC CENTRE FOR LONDON THE DE MORGAN FOUNDATION - PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE The De Morgan Centre for the Study of 19th Century Art and Society will open at the West Hill Library, Wandsworth, London, to the public in late March 2002. The extensive collection of works by William and Evelyn de Morgan and archive material relating to them and their circle will be brought under one roof for the first time in early 2002. Located at the West Hill Library in Wandswoth, the new centre will be a major educational amenity and a highly valuable addition to the London arts community. The centre will also provide a key research centre for all students and aficionados of the late 19th Century, its arts, social politics and history. William Frend de Morgan (1839-1917) was the most important ceramic artist of the Arts and Crafts movement. He was also a stained glass artist, inventor, chemist and novelist who rediscovered the lost art of lustre decoration and adapted the brilliant colours of Islamic and Iznik pottery for use in contemporary 19th century design. His long collaboration with William Morris produced many renowned works of art. The daughter of Percival Pickering Q.C. and Anna-Maria Spencer Stanhope, Evelyn de Morgan (1855-1919) was a painter fêted by Watts as 'the first woman artist of the day', whose style and technique owed much to the masters of the Italian Renaissance and in particular, Botticelli. Her ambitions were supported by her uncle, John Roddam Spencer-Stanhope and in 1873, Evelyn entered the recently opened Slade School of Art as one of the first women students to attend. They married in 1887 and jointly became interested in many of the social issues of the day including education, prison reform, the suffragette movement, pacifism and spiritualism. Evelyn de Morgan died in 1919 but her sister, Mrs. Wilhemina Stirling, preserved and developed the collection of paintings, ceramics and the de Morgan's joint archive in Old Battersea House, a fine 17th century building on the banks of the Thames. The works of art are also complemented by important archive material associated with the de Morgan's and their circle. After Mrs. Stirling's death in 1968, the William and Evelyn de Morgan Foundation was established to preserve the collection and to further the knowledge and appreciation of art. The late Malcolm Forbes, the American publisher, and his family assumed the lease of Old Battersea House and the majority of the collection resided there from 1983. The De Morgan Foundation's extensive collection of the works of William and Evelyn De Morgan, who were active in the last quarter of the 19th and the first few years of the 20th century, will form the backbone of the new Centre. Much of the collection has been dispersed through the UK for lack of suitable premises where they could easily be seen and appreciated by the public and accessible to students. To enable the De Morgan Foundation to establish a study centre and permanent exhibition space, Wandsworth Borough Council recently offered the vacated West Hill Reference Library premises to the Foundation. The availability of the West Hill Library premises will finally make it possible to realise all the Foundation's long cherished plans and establish a lively institution. The building will provide excellent exhibition space and will also allow the important archive material owned by the Foundation to be viewed for the very first time. Christie's auction comprises a small selection of pictures from the collection which are not by De Morgan, and thus not strictly relevant to the collection. The proceeds will help fund this ambitious project and will enable the project to go ahead and be completed without delay. The De Morgan Foundation for the Study of 19th Century Art & Society will be located at the West Hill Library, West Hill, London, SW18. The centre is scheduled to open in late March or early April 2002. [Timing will be confirmed by the end of the year.] A campaign to promote the new Corporate and Institution Sponsorship Scheme as well as the Friends of the De Morgan Centre program is being run concurrently to lead up to the opening of the new premises at West Hill Library. To become a friend costs £15 per annum. Subscribers will gain free entry to both the permanent and temporary exhibitions, 10% discount on all purchases in the shop, occasional lectures and seminars, organized visits to the sites of related interest in the UK and abroad and a quarterly news letter. For further information please contact: Kate Catleugh 020 8785 6450 Catherine Fenston 0207 389 2982 Back to top