Peggy Angus
Encyclopedia
Peggy Angus was the popular name of Margaret MacGregor Angus. a 20th century artist and educator.
, where her father was a railway engineer. At 17 she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art
in London. Her contemporaries included the sculptors Henry Moore
and Barbara Hepworth
, painters Eric Ravilious
and Edward Bawden
, and illustrator Barnett Freedman
.
. She had a formidable character, described by her biographer as naive, loud and unsubtle, rising at worst to bullying, bossy and exhibitionistic. She believed in living an independent lifestyle. Early in her life she began to learn Romany
, which she used on her later travels in Pakistan.
and the family of Ramsay MacDonald
hang in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
) at the foot of the South Downs
, and made that a home to which a circle of artists of gathered. These included Eric Ravilious
and John Piper
. Eric Ravilious
considered that his time at Furlongs "...altered my whole outlook and way of painting, I think because the colour of the landscape was so lovely and the design so beautifully obvious ... that I simply had to abandon my tinted drawings".
saw the potential of the repeat patterns as tiles to bring life to the interiors of modern buildings. Carter & Co began to produce her designs commercially. She tested her designs on demonstration lengths of lining paper, which became the inspiration for rolls of wallpaper of repeating designs, in which no two prints were ever exactly the same. Peggy Angus etched marble decoration for glass cladding. She invented Anguside, used in the building of Gatwick Airport
.
Early life
Peggy Angus spent her childhood in ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, where her father was a railway engineer. At 17 she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
in London. Her contemporaries included the sculptors Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry 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....
and Barbara Hepworth
Barbara Hepworth
Dame 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,...
, painters Eric Ravilious
Eric Ravilious
Eric William Ravilious was an English painter, designer, book illustrator and wood engraver.-Career:Ravilious studied at Eastbourne School of Art, and at the Royal College of Art, where he studied under Paul Nash and became close friends with Edward Bawden.He began his working life as a muralist,...
and Edward Bawden
Edward Bawden
Edward Bawden, CBE, RA was a British painter, illustrator and graphic artist. He was also famous for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture...
, and illustrator Barnett Freedman
Barnett Freedman
Barnett Freedman CBE was a British artist, commercial designer, book illustrator, typographer, and lithographer.Freedman, the son of East-End Russian-Jewish immigrants, was self-educated during four years in hospitals, between the ages of nine and thirteen, because of asthma that was to trouble...
.
Personal life
She had a short, unhappy marriage to Jim Richards, a young architect and writer. Later Richards became editor of the Architectural ReviewArchitectural Review
The Architectural Review is a monthly international architectural magazine published in London since 1896. Articles cover the built environment which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism as well as theory of these subjects....
. She had a formidable character, described by her biographer as naive, loud and unsubtle, rising at worst to bullying, bossy and exhibitionistic. She believed in living an independent lifestyle. Early in her life she began to learn Romany
Romani language
Romani or Romany, Gypsy or Gipsy is any of several languages of the Romani people. They are Indic, sometimes classified in the "Central" or "Northwestern" zone, and sometimes treated as a branch of their own....
, which she used on her later travels in Pakistan.
Art
Peggy Angus was a painter, first and foremost, but she became best known for her crafts, designing tiles and creating hand-printed wallpaper from carved linoleum blocks. Her paintings of John PiperJohn Piper (artist)
John Egerton Christmas Piper, CH was a 20th-century English painter and printmaker. For much of his life he lived at Fawley Bottom in Buckinghamshire, near Henley-on-Thames.-Life:...
and the family of Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
hang in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Sussex hostess
She rented an unimproved shepherd's cottage (Furlongs, near BeddinghamBeddingham
Glynde and Beddingham is a civil parish in the Lewes district of East Sussex.-Governance:On a local level, Glynde and Beddingham is governed by Glynde and Beddingham Parish Council. Council meetings are held every two months in the Beddingham Reading Room. Their responsibilities include footpaths,...
) at the foot of the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen Valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
, and made that a home to which a circle of artists of gathered. These included Eric Ravilious
Eric Ravilious
Eric William Ravilious was an English painter, designer, book illustrator and wood engraver.-Career:Ravilious studied at Eastbourne School of Art, and at the Royal College of Art, where he studied under Paul Nash and became close friends with Edward Bawden.He began his working life as a muralist,...
and John Piper
John Piper (artist)
John Egerton Christmas Piper, CH was a 20th-century English painter and printmaker. For much of his life he lived at Fawley Bottom in Buckinghamshire, near Henley-on-Thames.-Life:...
. Eric Ravilious
Eric Ravilious
Eric William Ravilious was an English painter, designer, book illustrator and wood engraver.-Career:Ravilious studied at Eastbourne School of Art, and at the Royal College of Art, where he studied under Paul Nash and became close friends with Edward Bawden.He began his working life as a muralist,...
considered that his time at Furlongs "...altered my whole outlook and way of painting, I think because the colour of the landscape was so lovely and the design so beautifully obvious ... that I simply had to abandon my tinted drawings".
Teacher
Peggy Angus taught art for many years at the North London Collegiate School for Girls. She galvanised the girls to improve their environment, daubing the walls of the school buildings with repeat patterns of bright colours.Commercial
The architect F.R.S. YorkeF. R. S. Yorke
Francis Reginald Stevens Yorke , known professionally as F. R. S. Yorke and informally as Kay or K, was an English architect and author....
saw the potential of the repeat patterns as tiles to bring life to the interiors of modern buildings. Carter & Co began to produce her designs commercially. She tested her designs on demonstration lengths of lining paper, which became the inspiration for rolls of wallpaper of repeating designs, in which no two prints were ever exactly the same. Peggy Angus etched marble decoration for glass cladding. She invented Anguside, used in the building of Gatwick Airport
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
.