Tile designs

Maker

Attributed to
(artist)
1879-1961

Alternatively attributed to
(artist)
1885-1978

Title

Tile designs

Date of Production

(?) 1921

Medium

graphite and watercolour on laid paper, now laid on Japanese tissue, which obscures graphite scribbles on the verso, a very large one encompassing the entirety of the lower tile showing through from the recto

Dimensions

Height: 27.3 cm
Width: 21.3 cm

Accession Number

D.1958.PD.32

Mode of Acquisition

Pamela Diamand, gift, 1958

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Following the closure of the Omega Workshops in 1919, Bell and Grant continued to collaborate on decorative schemes. This is one of two tile designs in The Courtauld's collection (along with D.1958.PD.31) commissioned by the poet and playwright Beatrice Mayor in 1921. Although both artists still strove for the Omega principle of a single, anonymous style, their distinctive hands are visible in both designs. This is particularly apparent in the crosshatched inner borders of two of the tiles; Bell had used the same pattern to decorate the walls at Charleston, the home she shared with Grant.

Provenance

Roger Fry (1866-1934); by descent to his daughter Pamela Diamand; Pamela Diamand Gift 1958

Exhibition History

Vanessa Bell: A Pioneer of Modern Art, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 25/05/2024-06/10/2024

Special Display - Bloomsbury Art & Design, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/02/2017-20/09/2017

Roger Fry and the Omega Workshops, The Courtauld Gallery (Prints and Drawings Study Room), 01/08/1990-02/12/1990

Literature

Beyond Bloomsbury - Designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19, Courtauld Gallery, London, 2009
Appendix, no. 69
ill. on p. 177

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: centre: monogram above name starting with “C” but unable to see clearly.

Inscription: Recto: upper right, graphite, opinion of Duncan Grant from 1962: “I think/ later than / ? P.D / (by Bell and Grant / for Mrs. Mayor)”; lower left, blue ink: “HHF. 263” and added after in graphite: “/32”.

Collector's mark: none.

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