All Things Considered

About Britain No. 4
Posted by Simon Lewin

This is the fourth in the "About Britain" series of books published for the Festival of Britain office in 1951.

'East Anglia' features a title page illustrated by St. Jude's favourite Barbara Jones.

Posted by Simon Lewin on April 20th, 2011

Otto Rohse wood engravings
Posted by Angie Lewin

Looking through a copy of 'Motif' (September 1959) I found these images of the prints of Otto Rohse (born 1925). His wood engravings of landscapes, birds, flowers and buildings are vividly textured and with his use of colour, either to print the whole block or dropped in as minimal shapes within otherwise black and white illustrations, are a breath of fresh air.

Posted by Angie Lewin on April 12th, 2011

About Britain No. 3
Posted by Simon Lewin

This is the next in the "About Britain" series of books published for the Festival of Britain office in 1951, 'Homes Counties', featuring a title page illustrated by E. W. Fenton.

Posted by Simon Lewin on March 30th, 2011

About Britain No. 2
Posted by Simon Lewin

Here's the second in the "About Britain" series of books published for the Festival of Britain office in 1951.

'Wessex' features a title page illustrated by Kenneth Rowntree. I've also included a rather striking image of a swanherd.

Posted by Simon Lewin on March 22nd, 2011

About Britain No. 1
Posted by Simon Lewin

It seems an appropriate year to give an airing the various pieces of Festival of Britain ephemera which are dotted around the house.

I thought I'd start with the covers of the thirteen "About Britain" books published in 1951 with their coloured title pages, illustrated by artists including Barbara Jones and Kenneth Rowntree.

We love the spirit of this little guides:

"Not everyone has ten shillings or fifteen shillings to spend on a fat topographical volume. Here are 94 pages of lively matter including upwards of 50 illustrations for a reasonable price."

I'll post the remaining twelve in the series over the next few weeks.

Posted by Simon Lewin on March 18th, 2011

The Book Hive – Norwich
Posted by Kate Sullivan

The Book Hive, an independent book shop in Norwich, has won The Telegraph ‘Best Small Shops in Britain’ award. And rightly deserved too. It was a brave move deciding to set up a book shop in 2009 in the middle of a recession and closely situated to a number of well known high street book shops. However, owner Henry Layte has worked hard to gather a collection of desirable, interesting and unusual titles for both adults and children.

The Book Hive hosts many book signing events throughout the year and will be the only place where you can get a copy of Street Hunt - ‘A visual crosswod puzzle’. Street Hunt is a poem about Norfolk streets that holds the clues to missing street signs that have been removed from the accompanying photographs. Wander the streets and find the answers for a chance of winning £10,000. One thousand copies will be available from May 6th - pre-orders are available online. This event is part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival which has just announced this years line up.

 

Posted by Kate Sullivan on March 11th, 2011

The Rialto
Posted by Simon Lewin

Very pleased that another St. Jude's artist is gracing the cover of The Rialto.

Jonathan Gibbs joins Angie Lewin, Mark Hearld and Penny Bhadresa as cover artists for the UK’s leading independent poetry magazine.

The Rialto magazine was set up in 1984 by Michael Mackmin and John Wakeman. The first issue that autumn had poems in it by Margaret Atwood, George Barker, Gavin Ewart and Miroslav Holub, and four poems by a then not so well known Carol Ann Duffy. The editors set out to be deliberately eclectic and to promote what John called a ‘republic of poetry’.

Jonathan Gibbs is Head of Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art and we'll be launching his first fabric for St. Jude's, Herring Moon, in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, you can view a selection of his limited edition wood engravings over at our print store.

Posted by Simon Lewin on March 5th, 2011

Fenwomen
Posted by Simon Lewin

Caught By The River have just published Ken Worpole's review of  'Fenwomen - A Portrait Of Women In An English Village' by Mary Chamberlain with photographs by Justin Partyka, published by Full Circle Editions.

"This handsome new edition from East Anglian publisher, Full Circle Editions, contains a vibrant and colourful photo-essay of contemporary life in the village by acclaimed photographer Justin Partyka. This gives the new edition a particular resonance to today’s Fenland inhabitants, who will recognise modern village life in these images, though they stand in some contrast to the life described in the original interviews. The photographs – some peopled, some wholly concerned with the arable landscape, the drains and ditches and the large skies – are finely composed and atmospheric, yet they also raise unresolved questions about how to represent the human presence in the landscape without seeming too super-realist, too Martin Parr."

Read the review in full or view more of Justin Partyka's work.

Posted by Simon Lewin on March 1st, 2011

John Craxton
Posted by Simon Lewin

Written by Ian Collins with an introduction by David Attenborough, this is the first full-scale monograph on British artist John Craxton (1922-2009), a key figure in post-war painting who authorised this publication shortly before his death.

Craxton was a brilliant and well-connected artist with a passion for Greek life, light and landscape. Rejected for military service in 1941, he shared premises in London with Lucian Freud, provided by their benefactor and friend Peter Watson. Through Watson he met other artists linked to Neo-romanticism and, like many of his generation, came under the influence of William Blake, Samuel Palmer and Graham Sutherland. But by 1945 his work was more closely connected with that of European artists such as Picasso and Miró. Always longing to escape, Craxton travelled around the Mediterranean after World War II, finally settling in Crete from 1960, where he continued to develop his Romantic pastoral themes in sunburst images influenced by Byzantine mosaics.

Ian Collins' text is informed by his many conversations with the artist, who was also a celebrated wit and story-teller, and is supported by more than 200 reproductions of paintings and drawings.

Published in May 2011, copies can be pre-ordered through Amazon.

Posted by Simon Lewin on February 21st, 2011

Angie Lewin – Plants and Places
Posted by Simon Lewin

Published by Merrell, Plants and Places presents over 70 of Angie's beautifully crafted linocuts and wood engravings. The works are grouped according to habitat – such as coast, woodland and hedgerow, and garden – together with drawings, paintings and collages from her sketchbooks of grasses, seed pods, seaweed, shells and other objects collected on her walks.

In an engaging introduction, Leslie Geddes-Brown meets Angie in her studio, discusses her artistic inspiration and her fascination with plants, and describes how she creates her prints. Order online from Amazon

Posted by Simon Lewin on January 18th, 2011