Evelyn Dunbar (1906-1960), Invitation to the Garden, c. 1938, image courtesy of Liss Llewellyn
What is more – and against the backdrop of great Flâneuse novels such as Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (first published in 1925) – the vogue for ‘street haunting’, as Woolf referred to it, could also be said to have found its pictorial form during this period, as works in this exhibition seem to reveal a number of artists’ delight in painting secret courtyards, unexpected green spaces and sprawling, public gardens.
Finally, this exhibition will also examine the blurring of boundaries between private and public spaces, as a number of artists represented here frequented houses and gardens such as Garsington and Sissinghurst; spaces transformed by Ottoline Morrell and Vita Sackville-West between the wars. This can also be seen in the emergence of artist communities, such as the Great Bardfield group.
This exhibition is presented in partnership with Liss Llewellyn, and the works are available for purchase in aid of the Museum’s educational and community programmes. To receive a copy of the price list, or to purchase a work, please email Deputy Director Christina McMahon, christina@gardenmuseum.org.uk
