The Birmingham Group, sometimes called the Birmingham School, was an informal collective of

painters Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

craftsmen Craftsman may refer to: A profession *Artisan, a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative * Master craftsman, an artisan who has achieved such a standard that he may establish his own workshop and take ...

associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, that worked in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. All of its members studied or taught at the

Birmingham School of Art The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...

after the reorganisation of its teaching methods by

Edward R. Taylor __NOTOC__ Edward Richard Taylor RBSA (14 June 1838 – 11 January 1911) was an English artist and educator. He painted in both oils and watercolours. He became a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 1879. Biography Taylor ta ...

in the 1880s, and it was the School that formed the group's primary focus. Members of the group also overlapped with other more formal organisations, including the

Birmingham Guild of Handicraft Birmingham Guild of Handicraft was an Arts and Crafts organisation operating in Birmingham, England, established at the end of the 19th century. History The Guild began as a loose part of the Birmingham Kyrle Society, then became a more fully f ...

, the

Ruskin Pottery The Ruskin Pottery was an English art pottery studio founded in 1898 by Edward R. Taylor, the first principal of both the Lincoln School of Art and the Birmingham School of Art, to be run by his son, William Howson Taylor, formerly a student t ...

and the

Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts (1898–1966) was a company of modern artists and designers associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement, founded by Walter Gilbert. The guild worked in metal, wood, plaster, bronze, tapestry, glass and ...

. The Group formed one of the last outposts of late

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

in the visual arts, and an important link between the last of the

Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

and the new Slade

Symbolists Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

History

They began to form in an informal manner in the 1890s. Many were later to become teachers in Birmingham (especially the great

Birmingham Municipal School of Art The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...

under

), and this meant that the

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...

style influenced all those who studied at the Birmingham art schools. Many were also heavily influenced by the ideas and practices of

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and politi ...

and

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

, and had indeed personally known those men. Several had undertaken work for the

Kelmscott Press The Kelmscott Press, founded by William Morris and Emery Walker, published fifty-three books in sixty-six volumes between 1891 and 1898. Each book was designed and ornamented by Morris and printed by hand in limited editions of around 300. Many ...

, with

Charles March Gere Charles March Gere Royal Academician, RA Royal Watercolour Society, RWS (5 June 1869 – 3 August 1957) was an England, English Painting, painter, Illustration, illustrator of books, and stained glass and embroidery designer associated with the ...

producing the famous frontispiece to ''

News from Nowhere ''News from Nowhere'' (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. It was first published in serial form in the ''Commonweal'' journal beginn ...

''. Many, unable to support themselves only through their art, also became fine crafts makers as well as teachers. There was initially no formal membership, but during the 1930s they were known to have had a membership secretary. Some of their members later became part of the

Birmingham Surrealists The Birmingham Surrealists were an informal grouping of artists and intellectuals associated with the Surrealist movement in art, based in Birmingham, England from the 1930s to the 1950s. The key figures were the artists Conroy Maddox and John Me ...

group of artists, thus carrying to English Surrealism the rich vein of Romantic concern with emotional states in pictures, with myth and fantasy, with visions, and with a "natural supernaturalist" experience conveyed through art. The Birmingham Surrealists had made contact with the London Surrealist Group around 1940 and ex Birmingham Group members such as Emmy Bridgwater exhibited at the International Surrealist show in Paris in 1947. (See: Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, ''Surrealism in Birmingham: 1935–1954'' (2001). The Fine Art Society held an extensive exhibition of Birmingham Group works in 1969. The galleries of the Birmingham Group's works formed a keystone of the major ''The Last Romantics'' exhibition at the Barbican in 1989.

Key works

File:Joseph Southall - Hortus Inclusus.jpg, ''Hortus Inclusus'' (1898) by

Joseph Southall Joseph Edward Southall RWS NEAC RBSA (23 August 1861 – 6 November 1944) was an English painter associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. A leading figure in the nineteenth and early twentieth-century revival of painting in tempera, Sout ...

File:Kate Elizabeth Bunce - The Keepsake - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Keepsake'' (1898) by Kate Bunce File:Culhwch (1900).jpg, ''Kilhwych, The King's Son'' (1901) by

Arthur Gaskin Arthur Joseph Gaskin RBSA The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St ...

File:Maxwell Armfield - Tempera - Self-Portrait.jpg, ''Self-Portrait'' (1901) by

Maxwell Armfield Maxwell Ashby Armfield (5 October 1881 – 23 January 1972) was an English artist, illustrator and writer. Life Born to a Quaker family in Ringwood, Hampshire, Armfield was educated at Sidcot School and at Leighton Park School. In 1887 he was ...

File:Choosing the Red and White Roses.jpg, ''Choosing the Red and White Roses in the Temple Garden'' (1908) by Henry Payne

Members

(1881–1972)

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

article by Peyton Skipwith, ‘Armfield, Maxwell Ashby (1881–1972)’, 200

accessed 9 June 2007 *

Emmy Bridgwater Emma Frith Bridgwater (10 November 1906 – 13 March 1999),. known as Emmy Bridgwater, was an English artist and poet associated with the Surrealist movement. Based at times in both Birmingham and London, she was a significant member of the Bir ...

(1906–1999) *

Benjamin Creswick Benjamin Creswick, RBSA (1853–1946) was an English sculptor. Life Benjamin Creswick was born in Sheffield, the son of a spectacle-maker. He started his working life as a knife-grinder, but took up sculpture with the encouragement of John Ru ...

(1853–1946) *

(1862–1928) * Celia Levetus (1874-1936) *

Conroy Maddox Conroy Maddox (27 December 1912 – 14 January 2005) was an English surrealist painter, collagist, writer and lecturer; and a key figure in the Birmingham Surrealist movement.Morris, Desmond (2018), ''The Lives of the Surrealists''. He wa ...

(1912–2005) *

(1869–1957) *

John Melville John William Melville (25 August 1902 – 8 December 1986) was a self-taught British Surrealist painter. He is described by Michel Remy in his book ''Surrealism in Britain'' as one of the "harbingers of surrealism" in Great Britain. He was, a ...

(1902–1986) *

Sidney Meteyard Sidney Harold Meteyard Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, RBSA (1868 – 4 April 1947) was an England, English Art education, art teacher, painting, painter and stained-glass designer. A member of the Birmingham Group (artists), Birmingham Group, ...

(1868–1947) *

Edmund Hort New Edmund Hort NewDavid Cox. "Edmund New's Diary of a Visit to Kelmscott Manor''" (Journal of the William Morris Society 3.1, Spring 1974: 3-7). (December 1871 – 1931) was an English artist, member of the Birmingham Group, and leading illust ...

(1871-1931) * Mary J. Newill (1860-1947) * Henry Payne (1868–1940) *

Frederick Cayley Robinson Frederick Cayley Robinson (18 August 1862 – 4 January 1927) was an English artist who created paintings and applied art, including book illustrations and theatre set designs. Cayley Robinson continued to paint striking Pre-Raphaelite and ...

Bernard Sleigh Bernard Sleigh (1872 – 7 December 1954) was an English mural painter, stained-glass artist, illustrator and wood engraver, best known for ''An Ancient Mappe of Fairyland, Newly Discovered and Set Forth'', which depicts numerous characters fro ...

(1872–1954) *

William Smedley-Aston William Smedley-Aston (1868–1941) was with his wife Irene a Victorian Pre-Raphaelite Arts & Crafts photographer and member of the Birmingham Group of artists and the Linked Ring Brotherhood. He was also known as W. S. Aston or W. Smedley. H ...

(1868–1941) *

(1861–1944)

References

Bibliography

* {{Citation, last=Crawford, first=Alan, year=1984, contribution=The Birmingham Setting: A Curious Mixture of Bourgeoisie and Romance, editor-last=Crawford, editor-first=Alan, title=By Hammer and Hand: the Arts and Crafts Movement in Birmingham, publication-place=Birmingham, publisher=Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, pages=27–40, isbn=0709301197 Culture in Birmingham, West Midlands Art movements

History

Key works

Members

See also

References

Bibliography