Eric Newton, C.B.E. (1893-1965) and Stella Newton, O.B.E. (1901-2001) Eric Newton and Stella Pearce married in 1934, when he was an art critic of The Manchester Guardian and she a theatre designer. Eric was also a designer for his family's mosaic firm and a brilliant classical scholar, while Stella had trained with George Sheringham and designed costumes for T.S. Eliot's The Rock and Murder in the Cathedral. They both held illustrious careers throughout their lives: Eric became a household name with his radio lectures The Artist and his Public, and the publication of important art history books, including a monograph on Tintoretto in 1952. He lectured at The Slade School and The Central School of Arts and Crafts. Stella founded a unique M.A. course at the Courtauld Institute of Art on the History of Dress, thus bringing this much-neglected area of study to the attention of art historians for the first time. They befriended numerous post-war British artists, such as Sutherland, Wood, Spencer and Lowry, whose works are included in the sale. Their contribution to the public's appreciation of art and design throughout the 1950s and 1960s had been immense.