BOROUGHDavid Bomberg and his students at the Borough Polytechnic
All works may be viewed online atwww.waterhousedodd.com/exhibitions/boroughand are available for purchase on receipt of this catalogueDOROTHY MEAD Cover image (detail)Rooftops in London, 1967 Farm by the sea, Cornwall by DAVID BOMBERGCharcoal on paper15 x 22 in / 38 x 56 cm (illustrated in catalogue p.11)
BOROUGHDavid Bomberg and his students at Borough Polytechnic29th September - 24th October 2015WATERHOUSE & DODD47 Albemarle Street London W1S 4JW+44 (0)20 7734 [email protected]
David Bomberg and his students at Borough Polytechnic What follows is an abbreviated chronology of the activities of the Borough Group, the Borough Bottega and associated artists during Bomberg’s time at the Polytechnic.1944 Dorothy Mead and Edna Mann study under Bomberg at the South East Essex School of Art. Bomberg begins teaching at City Literary Institute. Mead and Mann attend the classes at the City Lit. that are also attended by Cliff Holden.1945 In October, Bomberg takes a teaching position at the Borough Polytechnic (situated in Southwark). Mead, Mann and Holden all attend.1946 In January, the Borough Group is founded by Mead, Mann, Holden and Miles Richmond. Holden assumes Presidency.1947 In January, Frank Auerbach begins attending Bomberg’s classes, but does not join the Group. Lilian Bomberg (née Holt) joins the Group. In June, 1st Borough Group show is held at the Archer Gallery, Westbourne Grove, London. In December, members of the Group exhibit at the Everyman Cinema, Hampstead, London.1948 Holden resigns from the presidency of the Group and Bomberg assumes the role. Group is expanded to include Dinora Mendelson, Len Missen, Dorothy Missen and Leslie Marr. Marr becomes secretary. In June, 2nd Borough Group show is held at the Archer Gallery. The same month, members of the Group exhibit as part of a London County Council open air exhibition at Victoria Embankment Gardens. Works by Bomberg and others are hung on the railings of the park (pictured below). In November, rolling monthly exhibitions by Group artists begin at Marr’s Bookworm Gallery, Newport Court, Soho. London County Council open air exhibition at Victoria Embankment Gardens in 1948. On display are works by Holt, Marr, Mead and others. Original photograph by Henry Grant, courtesy of Laurie & Noreen Stewart.
1949 Dennis Creffield joins the Group.1950 In March, 3rd Annual Borough Group show is held at the Arcade Gallery, Bond Street Arcade,1951 London (Marr sells his first drawing for £5).1952 A Group exhibition is held at Brasenose College, Oxford.1953 Borough Group is disbanded. During 1950 bitter arguments over the direction and membership sees the dissolution1954 of the Group (some commentators have suggested the split occurred in early 1951). Leon Kossoff begins attending Bomberg’s classes, but does not join the Group.19551957 In December, Mead, Holden, Richmond and Creffield show at the Parsons Gallery, London in the exhibition titled ‘Four Contemporary Painters.’ In April, Mead, Holden, Richmond and Creffield exhibit at the Gummesons, Stockholm, transporting all artworks by road in an old London taxi (pictured right). The catalogue text in Swedish which refers to Bomberg as ‘gamle malar’ (old painter) infuriates Bomberg and leads to a bitter split between him and Holden, whom he holds responsible. Bomberg ceases teaching at Borough Polytechnic In July, talks between Bomberg, Mendelson, Marr, Kossoff, Garth Scott, Richard Michelmore, Roy Oxlade, Cecil Baily, Gustav Metzger and Anthony Hatwell are held at Mendelson’s house to discuss the formation of a new group. Borough Bottega is founded by David Bomberg. Kossoff and Marr refuse to join Borough Bottega but Marr continues to exhibit as a guest. In November, 1st Borough Bottega show is held at the Berkley Galleries, London. In January, 2nd Borough Bottega show is held at Black Hall, Oxford, sponsored by the British Council. In February, Bomberg returns to Ronda, Spain. Attempts are made by Bomberg to set up a Bottega in Ronda, Spain with Miles Richmond joining Bomberg as an assistant but the school never opened (although Miles and Susanna Richmond remained in Spain with Bomberg). In May, 3rd Borough Bottega show is held at the Heffer Gallery, Cambridge. 4th (and final) Borough Bottega shows is held at the Walker Galleries, New Bond Street, London. David Bomberg dies.
The Borough Group in its time and nowPaul TrewhelaThis is an historic exhibition. It is the first time in 70 years - two generations - that work of one of themost important teaching and exhibiting groups of British artists immediately after the Second World Warcan be seen together in London in the Cork Street/Albemarle Street/Mayfair area.Along with the banishment of their teacher, David Bomberg, from showing his work in any major galleryfor the last three decades of his life, this is a strange but telling fact of post-war British cultural life whichpuzzles efforts to explain it.Receiving no grant and no diploma for their commitment to Bomberg’s teaching at the BoroughPolytechnic in working class Southwark, his students mounted seven exhibitions during the existence ofthe Borough Group (1946-51), all but one of them showing with their teacher.After 1964 – when Dorothy Mead, one of its founders, exhibited paintings in a touring Arts Councilexhibition alongside David Hockney, Peter Blake, Bridget Riley and Euan Uglow – the influence of theBorough Group became extinct. Despite having received top prizes at the Slade and becoming the firstwoman president of the London Group shortly before her early death, Mead never had a solo exhibition inher life and not for 30 years afterwards.The uniqueness of this grouping may be seen from a written statement by another of its founders, MilesPeter Richmond, preceding the last formal gathering of Bomberg's students, held at Richmond's studio inNorth Yorkshire in October 2005.
He wrote: 5‘I have brought together examples of my experience of the Spirit in the Mass as a contribution to the ongoingenquiry initiated by David Bomberg.In reaching out towards the immensity of a subject there are moments when that immensity seems to respond,forming a structure in which vision can emerge.Since I am lost in my finite nature and God is hidden in his infinite, these are moments when anincomprehensible and radiant density presents itself.Bomberg pioneered an approach to a new humanism free of the grave clothes of outmoded ideas of space andtime in which feeling finds its place within the mind.’This was an utterly different teaching philosophy from the dominant approaches at that time, and whichsince have proved far more powerful.Alongside the Borough Group, the two most influential currents were the more ‘conservative’ approach ofWilliam Coldstream at the Slade, stressing measurement and perspective, and the Independent Group,which pioneered a celebration of advertising, modernity and the machine, and which gave birth to Pop Art.The IG's Lawrence Alloway - principal theorist of Pop Art - ‘fought loudly with the Bomberg people’ at thestudents’ exhibiting society, Young Contemporaries, in 1961, as RB Kitaj recalled, while Bryan Robertson(director of the Whitechapel Gallery) attacked the ‘narrow orthodoxy’ of the Bomberg ethos in the LondonMagazine in 1963, describing it as ‘retrogressive and academic.’ No Borough Group artist was shown inRobertson’s ground-breaking New Generation exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1964.Ahead of solo exhibitions in London this autumn of three Bomberg students - Miles Richmond, DennisCreffield and Frank Auerbach - viewers may now judge for themselves.
Borough Our exhibition concerns the work of a small group of art students who were drawn to the radical teaching of David Bomberg at the Borough Polytechnic (1945-1953). Bomberg encouraged freedom of expression and a rejection of the academic art school tradition in favour of the evocation of the ‘Spirit in the Mass’. He asked his students to ignore superfluous detail and capture the pure essence of a subject. Many of these artists have long been neglected by the art world, both by accident and by design, yet some such as Leon Kossoff and Frank Auerbach are now regarded as amongst the finest artists of their generation. Others, such as Dorothy Mead, Miles Richmond, Leslie Marr and Dennis Creffield are only now receiving the kind of critical acclaim their work deserves. It is with regret that we are not able to represent some notable artists. Work by founding members of the Borough Group, including Edna Mann, Len Missen and Dorothy Missen are not available to us due to their rarity. Mann career was curtailed when she was encouraged to give up painting by Bomberg after becoming pregnant. He thought motherhood and artistic pursuit were incompatible. This attitude was somewhat less progressive than his teaching, yet contemporary in resonance given Tracey Emin’s recent comments in Red Magazine where she exclaimed ‘There are good artists that have children. Of course there are. They are called men’. Although the artists who studied closely under Bomberg were often quick to assert their own individuality (a case made forcibly by Cliff Holden in particular) to the casual viewer the early works by almost all of the artists included in the catalogue are stylistically similar to the work of their ‘Master’. This is perhaps unsurprising when it was not uncommon for Bomberg to correct a student’s artwork to such a degree that on occasions its true authorship could be disputed. Not all students followed his aesthetic line so rigorously. It is clear that Auerbach and Kossoff never fully submitted to Bomberg’s style, yet they still acknowledged his influence as a teacher and liberating force. Kossoff noted in 1981 that ‘although I had painted most of life, it was through my contact with Bomberg that I felt I might actually function as a painter.’ Auerbach viewed a number of the other students as being close to a ‘religious order’. He suggested that ‘it was his practical instructions rather than his maxims which registered’. Auerbach described Bomberg as ‘probably the most original, stubborn, radical intelligence that was to be found in art schools.’A life class at Borough Polytechnic showing Bomberg (centre in white coat), flanked by Richmond, Holden and others.
Writing in the catalogue of an exhibition of Arts Council 7acquisitions (1961-64), Ronald Alley highlights two trends in Britishfigurative art ‘one influenced by the Euston Road realist tradition andthe other by the thickly-painted late works by David Bomberg.’Despite acknowledging the influence, albeit in the most superficialand cursory way, the curators saw fit to include only Mead fromthe ‘thick paint’ group. The present exhibition highlights how someartists took the lessons learned at the Borough Polytechnic anddeveloped their own powerful style. Often this transition occurredwell after Bomberg's death in 1957. The radical students whosought to reject academic tradition were ironically seen asreactionary by the new generation of critics and curators drawn tothe colourful exuberance of Pop and studied minimalism ofconceptual art. The gang mentality created by being outcast from the establishment led to the powerfulbonds (both supportive and destructive) between many of the artists. Bomberg’s freedom of expressionallowed the artists who studied under him to pursue their own paths regardless of the new orthodoxy.However, in the face of the critical reception their work received at the time, their loyalty not only riskedtheir reputations, but in certain cases their health and wellbeing.We have also selected works by Bomberg’s students executed well after they left Borough Polytechnicbecause we feel these works dispel the misconception that his teaching created its own limited and derivative school. It was Holden who most actively dismissed the atelier format of Fernand Léger and André Lhote where (as he viewed it) students created works of slavish devotion. Viewing early paintings and drawings by him and his peers, it might seem that they had fallen into the same trap. Yet, with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps Holden was correct. Perhaps the critics that Paul Trewhela discusses in his text simply judged too soon. These artists are far from copyists. In fact unlike the majority of the Pop and Post-Modern generation of 1960’s artists, these painters and sculptors were the true individuals of the period. Jamie Anderson Waterhouse & Dodd Above: Dorothy Mead in 1962, a Press Association image. Left:Dinora Mendelson at the 3rd Annual Borough Group, Arcade Gallery, 1949. Original photograph by Henry Grant, courtesy of Laurie & Noreen Stewart.
David Bomberg 1890-1957Bomberg was born in Birmingham, the son of a Polish Jew who escaped the pogroms to find abetter life as a leather craftsman in Britain. From humble origins, and often through sheer force ofpersonality, Bomberg rose to become one of the dominant figures in 20th century British Art. Fewartists can claim to have exerted as much influence. That Bomberg so shaped the direction of theartists in this catalogue should be cause enough for praise, yet the Borough Polytechnic merelyrepresents one short, yet important, phase of his career. The importance of his teaching lay in hisability to develop their self belief and encourage their freedom of expression.At first reluctant to join the Borough Group set up by his students for fear that his work andreputation might overshadow those efforts of the younger members, Bomberg eventually not onlyrelented, but assumed the presidency once Cliff Holden relinquished that role in 1948. After theGroup disbanded in 1951, Bomberg formed the short lived Borough Bottega before returning (atLilian’s suggestion and despite his reservations) to Ronda, Spain. DAVID BOMBERG Self portrait, 1932 Charcoal on paper Signed.& dated 1932 13.5 x 11 in / 35 x 27.5 cm
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Bomberg in CornwallRichard Cork describes the trip Bomberg took to Cornwall in the summer of 1947 as ‘the mostsuccessful painting expedition he ever undertook in Britain.’ Spurred on by a trip to Devon in thepreceeding summer, Bomberg travelled to Trendrine Farm, near Zennor, in August where he stayedfor six weeks. Accompanying him on the trip were Leslie Marr and Dinora with her daughter Juliet,as well as Bomberg’s wife Lilian and their daughter, Diana. They all stayed in a large tent. The wildenvironment of West Penwith appealed to Bomberg in the same way the Spanish landscape had.The warm colours of his Cornish oils evoke the sunnier climates of Spain rather than the frequentrain and drizzle the group experienced in Trendrine, yet Bomberg prefered to paint in the eveningwhen they were often treated to extraordinary sunsets. Bomberg remained distant from thegrowing community in nearby St Ives. He had endured, rather than enjoyed, a painting trip toSwitzerland with Ben Nicholson some 25 years previously and the two artists shared little incommon now. Bomberg’s treatment of the Cornish landscape is a world away from the cool tonesof Nicholson’s work and the abstraction of Peter Lanyon. It is a highly personal and emotionalresponse. As Cork states, his depictions of Trendrine owe more to Turner and Constable than theydo to the artists more commonly associated with St Ives. DAVID BOMBERG Farm by the sea, Cornwall, 1947 Oil on canvas Signed & dated 1947 26 x 30 in / 66 x 76 cm Exhibited: David Bomberg, Spirit in the Mass, Abbot Hall, Kendal, 17th July – 28th October 2006, cat. 55, (illus). Provenance: The Frank Cohen Collection.
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DOROTHY MEAD DAVID BOMBERGFrom Bomberg, March 1967 Family Bereavement, 1913Charcoal on paperTitled & dated March 1967 Charcoal on paper13.5 x 17 in / 34.5 x 43 cm SignedClosely related to Chinnereth 22 x 18.5 in / 55.5 x 47 cmby David Bomberg, Nuffield College, Oxford. Exhibited: Frank & Cherryl Cohen at Chatsworth Chatsworth House, 19th March - 10th June 2012, cat.3, (illus). A Treasury of Modern Drawing: The Joan and Lester Avnet Collection New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 28th April - 4th July 1978, cat.4, (Illus p.53). Provenance: The Frank Cohen Collection.
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DAVID BOMBERG DAVID BOMBERGThe artist’s sister-in-law, Olive, 1943 The River Tajo, Toledo, 1929Charcoal on paperSigned & dated 1943 Oil on canvas24 x 18.5 in / 61 x 46.5 cm Signed & dated 1929 20 x 16 in / 51 x 40.5 cmExhibited:David Bomberg, Tate Gallery, London, 17th February - 8th May 1988, cat.156. Provenance: The Frank Cohen Collection.David Bomberg, Spirit in the Mass,Abbott Hall Gallery, London, 17th July - 28th October 2006, cat.50, (illus).Provenance: Collection of Cecily Bomberg.
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Dorothy Mead 1928-1975Mead was a founder member of the Borough Group in 1946. Her time with Bomberg predates theformation of the Group. She, together with Edna Mann, had been taught by Bomberg at the SouthEast Essex School of Art at Dagenham. Mead had railed against his style of teaching at the time,even writing a letter of complaint to the head of the school. However, Bomberg’s rejection of theacademic tradition in teaching and his devotion to freedom of expression appealed to Mead’sradical spirit and she followed him to the City Literary Institute and thence to BoroughPolytechnic. It was during her time at the City Lit. and the Polytechnic that she formed a closepersonal relationship with Cliff Holden, the Group’s first president.After time spent travelling with Holden in Spain and Sweden, Mead returned to London to study atthe Slade alongside Creffield, taking a flat at 52 Mark’s Square in West London. Her work wasincluded in an Arts Council touring exhibition ‘6 Young Painters’, the other artists comprisingHockney, Riley, Crozier, Blake and Uglow. Mead became an influential teacher at GoldsmithsCollege during the 1960’s where she provided an antidote to the prevailing trends towards Pop andconceptual art. She became the first female president of the London Group in 1971, but her life wascut tragically short in 1975. Mead is well represented in A David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah RoseCollection at the London South Bank University (previously Borough Polytechnic)and a still lifepainting is in the Tate Britain. DOROTHY MEAD Seated figure, 1959 Oil on board 39 x 30 in / 99 x 76 cm
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In a sequence of 3 works we can see howMead constructs a landscape painting.The finished oil (pictured right) bearslittle comparison with any work byBomberg. Yet the initial sketch in charcoalcertainly shows the influence of her firstteacher and highlights her continuedinterest in representing the ‘spirit in themass’. The second, transitional, sketchsees Mead employing a variety ofdifferent media to create a highlyexpressive and abstracted treatment ofthe subject. She has blocked out passageswith framing tape and repainted over thetop. This compositional device addsgreater structure to the brushwork. Thefinal painting retreats from this level ofexpressionism but retains the texturalquality of the second sketch. The scene isalmost certainly in Kent, possibly thefarmland belonging to the family ofAndrew Forge (with whom she had alasting relationship), yet it moves beyondmere topographical reference.DOROTHY MEADTop left:Study for LandscapeCharcoal on paper22 x 30 in / 56 x 76 cmBottom left:Study for Landscape IIGouache, charcoal & paper tapeon paper22 x 30 in / 56 x 76 cmRight:Landscape, 1968Oil on canvas28 x 36 in / 72 x 92 cm
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DOROTHY MEAD DOROTHY MEADReclining figures, 1966 Self portrait, 1974Pastel on paper15 x 22 in / 38 x 56 cm Oil on canvas 24 x 20 in / 61 x 51 cm
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DOROTHY MEADSelf portrait, 1967Ink and tape on paper30 x 22 in / 76 x 56 cm
Dorothy Mead: A contemporary view 23 We invited Susan Slugglett, recent artist-in-residence at the Borough Road Gallery to write a brief piece on how the work of Dorothy Mead affected her work as an artist. As a painter affected by narrative and storytelling I admit that the aggressive impulse or better still, pulsating live sensation, inherent in Dorothy Mead's Self portrait painted in 1959, from A David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection, is specifically engaging. The painting depicts a head that might materialise through some sort of reverie when the mind drifts away from the matter in hand. With the banishment of eyes, nose and mouth, it is implicit the viewer look for another sense of self that refers equally to the loss of self. This does not include the dissolution of boundaries; Mead's head sits squarely in a halo of yellow light, supported by an activated background.This self-portrait sings with vibrancy withoutattempting fidelity to the rich and sensuous natureoften associated with flesh. Mark-making synonymouswith scaffolding supports the exterior whilesimultaneously making it possible to navigate and de-construct the interior. It is conceivable in earlieradaptations that facial features appeared anddisappeared alternately, periodically looking out atMead before being extinguished. The paint is notmnemonic in conjuring Mead's head but the processmight suggest an emotional recovery or performance asan expulsion. Mead's self-portrait calls into questionexpectations of narrative, reflection, identity and what itmeans to be human.Right: Parliament, Susan Sluglett, 2015, work created aspart of the Borough Road Gallery Artist Residency2014-15. (Photography by David Allan)www.susansluglett.comAbove: DOROTHY MEAD Self portrait, 1959 © London South Bank University
Cliff Holden b.1919Holden was born in Manchester in 1919. He studied agriculture and veterinary science beforemeeting David Bomberg at the City Literary Institute in 1944. Along with Dorothy Mead and EdnaMann, Cliff Holden followed Bomberg to the Borough Polytechnic and studied with him from 1945to 1951. In 1946, Holden was a founder member the Borough Group and was president of theGroup between 1946-48. He was the author of the Group's manifestos. By this time Holden wasromantically involved with Dorothy Mead, and the two travelled to Spain and then onto Swedentogether. Although Mead returned to Britain in 1956, Holden remained in Sweden and lives thereto this day.A supposed misrepresentation of Bomberg’s work and career in a catalogue text for a show ofHolden, Richmond, Mead and Creffield in Sweden in 1952 led to a split in the relationship betweenthe two artists. Despite this Holden remained one of the most vociferous supporters of Bomberg'swork and teaching. In 1958 Holden gave a radio talk titled ‘An artist as a teacher’ for the BBC ThirdProgram which was the first time Bomberg’s relevance as a teacher had afforded nationalattention. Holden is well represented in A David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection at theLondon South Bank University. A 1947 figure painting by Holden is in the collection of the TateBritain. CLIFF HOLDEN Deposition, 1949 Oil on board Signed & dated 1949 60 x 60 in / 152 x 152 cm
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Miles Richmond 1922-2008Unlike many of the members of the Borough Group, Richmond had experience of traditional artschool tuition. He had studied at the Kingston School of Art from 1941 to 1943 before joiningBomberg at Borough Polytechnic after the war. Richmond was a founder member of the BoroughGroup.Richmond’s close connection with Bomberg was renewed after the Group disbanded in 1951 whenhe accepted an invitation from his old master to assist him in setting up a school in Ronda, Spain.The school never opened but the two artists became particularly close and worked together.Although Bomberg died in 1957, Richmond remained in Spain with his wife Susanna and family.Richmond had a significant influence as a teacher at Portsmouth College, Morley College (London)and at the Motorhouse in East Rounton, North Yorkshire, where he led summer classes for maturestudents at St Albans College of Art (now part of the University of Hertfordshire, in Hatfield). In1999, Richmond produced a large mural to celebrate the Millennium for the London South BankUniversity and the University holds a significant number of his paintings as part of A DavidBomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection. Important late solo exhibitions were held in Spain,including Miles Richmond y Ronda, at the Convento de Santo Domingo, Ronda (October-November2006), followed by an exhibition at the Gallery of La Fundacion Unicaja, Malaga (April-May 2008). MILES RICHMOND Landscape, 1951 Oil on canvas Signed & dated 1951 24.5 x 31.5 in / 62 x 80 cm
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MILES RICHMOND MILES RICHMONDCarlton Bank, looking west over the Vale of York, 1983 Ronda from the west, 1956Watercolour on paperSigned & dated 1983 Charcoal on paper23 x 30 in / 56 x 76 cm Signed & dated 1956 27 x 38 in / 69 x 97 cm
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MILES RICHMOND MILES RICHMONDPortrait of Noa Eshkol, 1947 Two figures, 1948Oil on canvas Oil on canvasSigned & dated 194720 x 24 in / 51 x 61 cm Signed & dated 1948 30 x 20 in / 76 x 51 cm
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Dennis Creffield b.1931Creffield was extremely young when first introduced to David Bomberg, but unlike his great friendDorothy Mead, he did not display the same initial negative reaction to his teaching style. CliffHolden suggested Creffield attended Bomberg’s classes and he was swiftly invited to join theBorough Group in 1949. Creffield’s incredible technical facility, particularly in charcoal, was evidentvery early in his career. He and Mead regularly worked together sketching outdoors.Of all the members of the Group (with the exception of Bomberg himself), Creffield was arguablythe artist who gained the greatest public acclaim, yet this is relative; R.B. Kitaj once describedCreffield as ‘one of England’s most closely guarded secrets’. He is perhaps principally known for hisextraordinary series of English cathedral drawings made after receiving a commission from the ArtsCouncil in 1987. An exhibition of Creffield’s English and French cathedral drawings was held at thePallant House Gallery, Chichester between February and June 2014. Creffield is well represented inA David Bomberg Legacy – The Sarah Rose Collection at the London South Bank University. Six ofCreffield’s English Cathedral drawings and two oils of Greenwich are in the collection of TateBritain. DENNIS CREFFIELD York Minster, 1988 Charcoal on paper Signed & dated 1988 24 x 34 in / 61 x 86 cm
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DENNIS CREFFIELD DENNIS CREFFIELDBeauvais Cathedral: East front, 1990 Isle of Dogs from Greenwich Observatory, 1959Charcoal on paperSigned & dated 1990 Oil on board30 x 23.5 in / 77 x 68.5 cm 28.5 x 36.5 in / 72 x 92.5 cm
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Susanna Richmond b.1923Susanna Richmond read History at Oxford University from 1941-44, occasionally taking classes atthe Ruskin School. In 1946 she began classes at the Central School of Arts. She sharedaccommodation with Mead and Holden and through that connection met other members of theGroup. However she shied away from the ‘apostolic zeal’ of the Group and did not attendBomberg’s classes herself. During this period she met Miles Richmond and the two married in 1952after the Group disbanded.Miles and Susanna moved to Aix-en-Provence before joining Holden and Mead in Spain. For a shorttime the artists worked together in a disused sugar factory near Malaga where other residentsincluded Creffield, Scott and Roy Oxlade. On the formation of the Bottega in London, the groupbroke up. Miles and Susanna remained in Spain and were reunited with Bomberg and Lilian in thespring of 1954. They stayed until 1977, when they relocated back to Britain, but both Miles andSusanna made regular and long trips back to Spain. Despite never being a formal student ofBomberg’s, Susanna is quick to acknowledge the shared history and influence. SUSANNA RICHMOND Aix-en-Provence, 1952 Oil on canvas 24.5 x 32.5 in / 62 x 82.5 cm
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MILES RICHMOND SUSANNA RICHMONDPortrait of Susanna, 1950 Ronda, c.1954Oil on canvas Oil on canvasSigned & dated 195029 x 19 in / 74 x 49 cm 32 x 37 in / 82 x 95 cm
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Leon Kossoff b.1926Leon Kossoff is now rightly revered as one of Britain’s greatest living figurative artists. Whilst onemust be careful not to overplay his part in the Borough Polytechnic story, he has acknowledgedhow important Bomberg was to him as a teacher. It was Bomberg’s commitment to freedom ofexpression that enabled the younger artist to flourish. As Kossoff has acknowledged, Bomberg gavehim license to explore and fulfil his own abilities.Kossoff attended St Martin’s College where he found the rigorously academic approach washindering rather than aiding his development. Through Frank Auerbach, a fellow student at StMartin’s, Kossoff was introduced to Bomberg and Borough Polytechnic. He described attending theclasses as ‘like coming home.’ Kossoff noted that ‘What David did for me, which was far moreimportant than any technique he could have taught me, was he made me feel I could do it. I came tohim with no belief in myself whatsoever and he treated my work with respect.’ Kossoff’s time withBomberg was relatively short, he was never a member of any of the formal groups and his stylewas at odds with many of his peers at the Polytechnic. He also avoided close connection withBomberg’s legacy at a time when such an association proved rather hazardous the reputations ofother ex-students. Yet a connection is there, and it is interesting to examine the interactionbetween two immensely gifted and influential artists. LEON KOSSOFF Pauline No.1, 1984 Oil on board 18 x 23.5 in / 45.5 x 60 cm Exhibited: Leon Kossoff, Tate Gallery, London, 6th June - 1st September 1996, cat.51, (illus p.110).
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Anthony Hatwell 1931-2013Although never a member of the Borough Group, Hatwell deserves special mention in relation toBomberg’s time at Borough Polytechnic. Firstly because he was a founder member and regularexhibitor with the Borough Bottega and secondly because he was the only sculptor to study underBomberg. After attending the Polytechnic classes, Hatwell enrolled at the Slade and in 1958 hebecame an assistant to Henry Moore. He became a member of the London Group in 1959 andserved as the group’s Vice President from 1961 to 1963. In 1969 he took up a post as Head ofSculpture at Edinburgh College of Art - a post he held until 1990.Like many of the members of the Borough Group and Bottega, Hatwell avoided commercial soloexhibitions although he showed regularly in group and public shows. However, The Talbot RiceGallery in Edinburgh held a full survey of the artist’s work in 2013, just six months before his death. ANTHONY HATWELL Reclining Figure Portland stone with black stain 18 x 24 x 11 in / 46 x 61 x 28 cm
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Lilian Bomberg (née Holt) 1898-1983Holt became Bomberg’s second wife after the dissolution of his first marriage in 1927. Although atrained and accomplished artist in her own right, her talents lay largely undiscovered as shediverted much of her time and energy into supporting her husband. She did however become avery active member of the Borough Group participating at many of the Group’s early exhibitions.Her best oils show a kinship to Bomberg’s more lyrical post-war landscapes from Devon, Cornwalland Cyprus. The same warm colours can be found in her depictions of the Atlas Mountains, paintedafter Bomberg’s death, although the structure of the landscape is less pronounced.Lilian, together with her daughter (and Bomberg’s step-daughter) Dinora Mendelson, has donemuch to preserve Bomberg’s legacy. Mendelson was also a gifted artist and participant in theBorough Group shows. She was at the time married to Leslie Marr until 1950. LILIAN HOLT Elemental Forces, 1971 Oil on canvas Signed & dated 1971 27 x 36 in / 68.5 x 91.5 cm
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LILIAN HOLT LILIAN HOLTThe Tower of Chartres Cathedral, 1953 Zahara, 1968Charcoal on paper Oil on boardSigned & dated 1953 Signed & dated 196823.5 x 18.5 in / 60 x 47 cm 12 x 16 in / 30 x 41 cm
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Garth B Scott b.1931Scott studied at the Bromley School of Art before attending classes at Borough Polytechnic,undertaking a number of menial jobs to pay for the classes. His commitment to Bomberg and histeaching is admirable, not just through his self-funding but also because the classes led to noformal qualification.In 1953 he worked for six months in Scotland to earn his fare to join Bomberg in Spain with Oxladeand Creffield. The impressive still life illustrated on the right was completed during his time at thePolytechnic and may well contain Bomberg’s own corrections. Scott took part in the last formalgroup meeting of Bomberg’s students, organised by Miles Richmond and held in his studio at theMotorhouse, East Rounton, North Yorkshire, on 31 October 2005. This meeting was also attendedby Miles, Susanna Richmond, Cliff Holden and Dennis Creffield. GARTH B SCOTT Flowers in vase, c.1950 Oil on board 29.5 x 23 in / 75 x 59 cm
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