Archiving the Arts - in

Dorset History Centre is taking part in Archiving the Arts, a strategy to support collecting and sustainability for archives and artistic collections wherever these are held.

Archiving the Arts was initiated in 2012, one part of a new collections strategy that identified significant gaps across Britain’s archives network.

Dorset has been the home and workplace for many artists over the centuries. Dorset History Centre is interested to meet anyone who has material that relates to significant artistic activity in the county and to discuss the deposit of papers and records.

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By collecting the key records of the activities of artists and arts organisations we will ensure that they become part of the county’s 1 permanent historical record.

Dorset History Centre’s role is to: • Preserve archival material in optimum conditions; • Provide access to heritage both locally and online; • Promote the use of the records via learning and outreach.

In Dorset this new initiative to provide a ‘second life’ for our artistic 1 Mary Spencer Watson, c. 1935 heritage builds upon existing internationally significant archive 2 Elisabeth Frink c. 1975 holdings those of Poole Pottery and the sculptors Elisabeth Frink and Poole Pottery - shop floor,1930s 3 Mary Spencer Watson.

Courtesy of The Frink Estate and the Mary Spencer Watson Archive Archiving the Arts DHC Dame Elisabeth Frink RA (1930-1993)

Internationally acclaimed as one of Britain’s leading 20th century figurative sculptors. Her work was distinguished by the major humanist themes that preoccupied her: conflict, fear, vulnerability, compassion and our relationship with the animal world. She spent the latter part of her life, and created some of her most memorable works here in Dorset.

Frink expressed her ideas and concerns through images of men, birds, 4 dogs, horses and religious motifs, she chose to model in plaster onto an armature that was then cast into bronze. Her drawings were as powerfully expressive as her sculptures, she explored various original printmaking techniques: lithography, etching, screen-printing. She provided book illustrations for publishers such as the Folio Society as well as textile designs for companies such as Edinburgh Weavers. Frink gained major sculptural commissions for Cathedrals and urban sites in Britain and abroad.

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Elisabeth Frink building plaster onto War Horse 4 (FCR393), Woolland studio, Dorset, 1991. photocredit John Morley

Elisabeth Frink chemically patinating 5 Easter Head II (FCR373), Woolland studio, 1989 photocredit Alex Czaky (Elisabeth Frink’s 3rd husband)

Courtesy of The Frink Estate Archiving the Arts DHC Dame Elisabeth Frink RA (1930-1993)

Elisabeth Frink had a rigorous approach to her work, going to her studio most days and her output of over 400 sculptures is impressive considering that she worked without any assistants until her last commission - Risen Christ (1992) for the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool - when she was dying of cancer. Frink enjoyed a warm and friendly social life in all the places she lived and worked: , France and finally Woolland in Dorset.

6 The legacy of her life and work is contained not just in her sculptures, drawings, original prints textile designs and maquettes, sketches, studio materials and equipment. The Frink archive is equally crucial in terms of her work and in understanding the cultural world she inhabited.

The extensive collection of material deposited by the Frink Estate at DHC includes photographs, film, interviews, studio, exhibition and business ephemera. This provides a rich source of information for researchers on Elisabeth Frink and her life as well as inspiration for students and contemporary artists. It also helps to demonstrate the 7 importance of place, specifically Dorset in her work.

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Elisabeth Frink carving dry plaster of Dorset Martyr (FCR342), 6 Woolland studio, 1985 photocredit John Morley

Drawing for Dorset Martyr Group - one of the sculpture studies 7 for Dorset Martyrs Memorial, Dorchester, Dorset, c. 1984, commissioned by Anthony Jaggard for Dorset County Council with additional funding from the Arts Council

Seated Man II (FCR35), 1986 – photographed at Woolland it 8 shows Frink’s early experiments using metal paints to introduce coloured surfaces and marks to the finished bronze. photocredit Alex Czaky

9 Woolland studio, 1993, following the death of Elisabeth Frink Frink with Birdman (FCR75), Fleming Close studio, c.1960. 10 10 This photograph became significant in provenancing the original work following the rediscovery of the plaster that had been given to director Peter Newington after he made a film of Frink for the BBC series ‘Monitor’. Archiving the Arts DHC Courtesy of The Frink Estate Mary Spencer Watson (1913-2006)

Mary Spencer Watson the daughter of painter George Spencer Watson RA and Hilda, a dancer and mime artist, grew up, lived and worked as a sculptor at Dunshay Manor in Purbeck. She studied clay modeling at the Royal Academy Schools, wood and stone carving at Central Schools with John Skeaping and then in France with Ossip Zadkine where he introduced her to cubist ideas and forms. Her work was resolutely modern but also influenced by the strength of the medieval Romanesque 11 stone carvers.

As a child she had been trained by Hilda to accompany her in the dance/mime performances that were held at in the theatre at Dunshay. This gave Spencer Watson an understanding of the dynamic strength between stillness and movement that she brought to her sculptures of figures, animals and plants.

She worked within her imagination, which had been richly fed by 12 13 Hilda with poetry, myth and a sense of the Jungian subconscious. She responded intuitively to the natural qualities of her chosen stone, generally Purbeck.

In 2007 her archive was deposited with DHC. The photographs, ephemera and studio materials tells the story of Spencer Watson’s career as a sculptor working in Purbeck, and also provides information on the lives and work of Hilda and George Spencer Watson and their circle of friends. 14

Mary Spencer Watson carving Horse in Purbeck stone, for the 11 Horse and Child commission, 2000, Dunshay banker studio, Dorset photocredit Andrew Whittuck

Ossip Zadkine in his studio, Paris, 1938. This was taken by 12 Mary Spencer Watson when she studied carving with him.

The ‘Book of Folk Songs’ (Joan Brocklebank who established a 13 Rural Music School in Dorchester) was part of the extensive collection of music books and scores that belonged to Hilda and Mary Spencer Watson. 15 16 Drawing for Purbeck Quarryman, 1999, and photograph of the 14 sculpture at Dunshay studio. A millennium commission for Langton Matravers churchyard by the Parish Council. photocredit Andrew Whittuck

15 Mary and Hilda Spencer Watson, Dunshay Manor, Dorset, c. 1926

Mary and Hilda, c. 1928, in one of Hilda’s mime dance performances 16 that were held at the theatre built at Dunshay. photocredit Helen Muspratt Archiving the Arts DHC Courtesy of the Mary Spencer Watson Archive Archiving the Arts - Poole Pottery

Poole Pottery origins go back to Jesse Carter’s architectural and tileworks of 1895. During the early part of the twentieth century various artists and designers became involved with the Pottery as new and alternative wares were brought into production. It was through these artistic and professional collaborations that the Carter family came to establish a reputation for Poole Pottery with its painted decorative ceramics and tiles, as well as its range 17 of tableware. Artists and designers included: Roger Fry; Harold and Phoebe Stabler; John and Truda Adams. The hand painted wares provided creative opportunities for artists and artisan painters, both male and female.

In 2003 Poole Pottery went into administration. The company’s archives later appeared at auction in London (2004) and Dorchester (2008). The greater part of this important material, including the early records of the company were purchased through the joint efforts of Poole Museum and Dorset History Centre and the generous assistance of a group of supporters.

The collection is held at DHC and has been fully catalogued thanks to a 2009 grant from the National Cataloguing Grants Scheme. The catalogue can be viewed at: www.dorsetforyou. com/dorsethistorycentre and the archive itself can be accessed via Dorset History Centre. The archive not only provides unrivalled insight into the workings of a key Dorset business, but also contains the artistic creations of generations of designers.

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17 Decorative edges, early 20th century 18 Images from Poole Pottery design book, 1930s 19 Images from Poole Pottery design book, 1930s

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Archiving the Arts DHC Archiving the Arts at Dorset History Centre

Archiving the Arts has been established for two principal reasons:

• To encourage individuals and bodies engaged in artistic or creative activity to consider the long-term future of their records – the archives of tomorrow.

• To raise the profile of artistic archives generally and to encourage greater use of the superb resource.

In creating a rich resource of Dorset-related material of regional and national importance will support and inspire the needs of: • Formal and informal learners • Academic and other researchers • The Arts & Business Communities

Archiving the Arts will give a ‘second life’ to culturally significant artistic material. This may include: • Photographic, moving image and sound recordings • Ephemera – e.g. posters, catalogues • Studio and working papers • Personal papers – e.g. diaries, correspondence.

As an archives and local studies service, DHC does not seek to collect sculpture or works of art and its work is complementary to that of museums and galleries.

DHC wants to encourage current users and future generations to respond to and re-purpose the evidence of Dorset’s rich

John Baverstock Knight, sketches of a Dorset man artistic legacy. 20 and a Dorset woman, early 19th century How you can help: As part of the Archiving the Arts initiative, staff at DHC would welcome enquiries from artists, arts organisations and anyone who may have information or material that relates to Dorset’s culturally significant artistic heritage. www.dorsetforyou.com/dorsethistorycentre/contact Keith Rand carving ‘Into the Light’ 2011, 21 Clarendon studio Help to preserve Dorset’s archival heritage: www.dorsetarchivestrust.org

Archiving the Arts DHC