Kettle's Yard
Encyclopedia
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
and house in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
History and overview
Kettle's Yard was originally the Cambridge home of Jim EdeJim Ede
Harold Stanley Ede also known as Jim' Ede, was an English collector of art and friend to artists.Ede studied painting at Newlyn Art School between 1912 and 1914 when he was called up in World War I...
and his wife Helen. Moving to Cambridge in 1956, they converted four small cottages into one idiosyncratic house and a place to display Ede's collection of early 20th century art. Ede maintained an 'open house' each afternoon, giving any visitors a personal tour of his collection.
In 1966, Ede gave the house and collection to the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, but continued living there before moving to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
in 1973. In 1970, the house was extended, adding an exhibition gallery in a contrasting modernist style by Leslie Martin
Leslie Martin
Sir John Leslie Martin KBE was an English Architect. A leading advocate of the International Style....
.
Today, the house is preserved as the Edes left it, making a very informal space to enjoy the permanent collection and live music. The gallery has longer opening times and displays a programme of visiting exhibitions, principally by 20th century and 21st century artists. A £5,000,000 appeal to help extend and enhance the gallery is under way. As part of raising these funds, it was announced on 29 March 2011 that the Heritage Lottery Fund has granted £2.32 million for these building projects.
Permanent collection
The permanent collection is composed of paintings, sculptures and objects collected by Ede. It is largely based on associations and friendships formed when Ede was curator at Tate GalleryTate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, as such it is biased towards works from the British avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
of the first half of the 20th century.
Notable artists represented in the collection are:
- William CongdonWilliam CongdonWilliam Grosvenor Congdon gained notoriety as an artist in New York City in the 1940s, but lived most of his life in Europe....
- Ben NicholsonBen NicholsonBenjamin Lauder "Ben" Nicholson, OM was a British painter of abstract compositions , landscape and still-life.-Background and Training:...
- Henri Gaudier-BrzeskaHenri Gaudier-BrzeskaHenri Gaudier-Brzeska was a French sculptor who developed a rough hewn, primitive style of direct carving....
- Barbara HepworthBarbara HepworthDame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...
- Henry MooreHenry MooreHenry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
- Winifred NicholsonWinifred NicholsonWinifred Nicholson was an English painter, a colourist who developed a personalized impressionistic style that concentrated on domestic subjects and landscapes. In her work, the two motifs are often combined in a view out of a window, featuring flowers in a vase or a jug.Nicholson was born in...
- Christopher WoodChristopher Wood (English painter)John Christopher Wood , often called Kit Wood, was an English painter born in Knowsley, near Liverpool.-Biography:-Early life:Christopher Wood was born in Knowsley to Doctor Lucius and Clare Wood...
- Alfred WallisAlfred WallisAlfred Wallis was a Cornish fisherman and artist.Wallis's parents, Charles and Jane Wallis were from Penzance in Cornwall and moved to Devonport, Devon to find work in 1850 where Alfred and his brother Charles were born. Shortly after this the children's mother died and this prompted the family to...
- Constantin BrâncuşiConstantin BrancusiConstantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
- Joan MiróJoan MiróJoan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
See also
- Primavera GalleryPrimavera GalleryPrimavera is a fine arts and crafts gallery of historical significance at 10 King's Parade in Cambridge, England. Henry Rothschild of the Rothschild family founded Primavera in 1945 in Sloane Street, London, in order to promote and retail contemporary British art and craft...
on King's Parade, has put on several exhibitions at Kettle's Yard
External links
- Kettle's Yard Gallery website
- Kettle's Yard House
- Kettle's Yard Collection
- Video conversation between Roger Wilson and Paul ColdwellPaul ColdwellPaul Coldwell is a British artist. Born in London, he studied fine art at the West of England College of Art from 1972-75 and then studied printmaking at postgraduate level at the Slade School of Art 1975-77 where his teachers included Barto. Dos Santos and Stanley Jones. He was employed as...
to accompany the exhibition 'Paul Coldwell: I called while you were out' 2008/9