Jeanette Hayhurst and Nigel Benson will hold Cut Glass – A Legacy of British Art Deco at the Richard Dennis Gallery, 144 Kensington Church Street, London W8 from September 10 to 20.
The exhibition comprises some 150 pieces priced from around £50 to £1500 and it will be accompanied by an illustrated monograph. The show has had a long gestation. During a chat eight years ago Jeanette and Nigel realised that while Keith Murray, Clyne Farquarson and W.J. Wilson (who were featured in the Glass Between The Wars exhibition at Broadfield House Glass Museum in 1987) had taken much deserved credit for good cut glass design, many other designers had fallen into relative obscurity.
So the duo decided to redress the balance and mount a show exploring the work of the unsung designers of the 1920s and 1930s, together with artists of the post-War era.
The cut glass of this time was not a legacy of the Victorians, as many assume, it owes its design roots to Art Deco.
The Deco period in the exhibition includes designs by Ludwig Kny, A.E. Pearce and Geoffrey Stuart among others. The 1940s to 1970s will be comprehensively covered and features such names as Irene Stevens, David Queensbury, Geoffrey Baxter and Helen Munroe-Turner.
Breaking new ground
Two leading Kensington Church Street glass dealers are to hold their own selling show, describing it as “a ground-breaking exhibition shining a light on a hitherto unrecognised area of British cut glass”.
