Frederick Etchells (14 September 1886 – 16 August 1973) was an
English
English usually refers to:
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* English people
English may also refer to:
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* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
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artist and architect.
Biography
![Frederick Etchells - Armistice Day, Munitions Centre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Frederick_Etchells_-_Armistice_Day%2C_Munitions_Centre.jpg)
Etchells was born in
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
. His early education was at the London School of Kensington, now known as
The Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It off ...
where he studied on the Architectural course under
Arthur Beresford Pite
Arthur Beresford Pite (2 September 1861 – 27 November 1934) was a British architect known for creating Edwardian buildings in Baroque Revival, Byzantine Revival and Greek Revival styles.
The early years
Arthur Beresford Pite was born on 2 Se ...
(1861–1934) and two years under
William Lethaby
William Richard Lethaby (18 January 1857 – 17 July 1931) was an English architect and architectural historian whose ideas were highly influential on the late Arts and Crafts and early Modern movements in architecture, and in the fields of con ...
, which brought him into contact with the
Bloomsbury Group
The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...
.
He was a contributor to the
Omega Workshops
The Omega Workshops Ltd. was a design enterprise founded by members of the Bloomsbury Group and established in July 1913. Shone, Richard. (1999) ''The Art of Bloomsbury: Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant''. Princeton: Princeton University ...
, but was one of those breaking away with
Wyndham Lewis
Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists.
His novels include ''Tarr'' ( ...
; this breakaway began the Rebel Art Centre, with the
Rebel Art Movement, somewhat akin to the
Dadaists
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...
in Paris. The Rebel Art Movement transformed into the
Vorticists
Vorticism was a London-based Modernism, modernist art movement formed in 1914 by the writer and artist Wyndham Lewis. The movement was partially inspired by Cubism and was introduced to the public by means of the publication of the Vorticist mani ...
several of his illustrations appeared in the issues of the
literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...
''
BLAST
Blast or The Blast may refer to:
*Explosion, a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner
*Detonation, an exothermic front accelerating through a medium that eventually drives a shock front
Film
* ''Blast'' (1997 film), ...
'' of which there were only two issues. There was a Manifesto, which not all of the artists involved signed up to; Etchells himself excluded his name from the manifesto. However
William Roberts later painted Etchells holding the copy of ''BLAST'' in his work "
". Roberts wrote to Etchells wanting to confront Lewis about his prominence in the authorship of the magazine, to which Etchells declined since he no longer wanted anything to do with it. He, unlike many of the others from the Vorticists, remained acquainted with
Roger Fry
Roger Eliot Fry (14 December 1866 – 9 September 1934) was an English painter and critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developme ...
.
In his architectural practice, Etchells produced some modernist buildings, the most well known of which are his designs for 232–4 High Holborn, London (1929–30) for the advertising firm
WS Crawford Ltd., a commission he had obtained through his friend
Ashley Havinden
Ashley Havinden (1903–1973) was an influential British graphic designer in the mid twentieth century, specializing in posters, advertisements, logos and typography, he was also a textile and rug designer. In 1947 he was appointed a Royal De ...
(1903–73) who was the company’s art director from 1929. This was the first fully modernist office building in central London. Its clean façade was matched by a modern interior, complete with built-in furniture and stainless steel. Etchells's main responsibility was the façade.
Etchells's most significant work is his translation of
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...
's ''
Vers une architecture
''Vers une architecture'', recently translated into English as ''Toward an Architecture'' but commonly known as ''Towards a New Architecture'' after the 1927 translation by Frederick Etchells, is a collection of essays written by Le Corbusier (C ...
'' known in its English title as ''
Towards a New Architecture'': This has now been re-translated by John Goodman in his version ''
Toward an Architecture
''Vers une architecture'', recently translated into English as ''Toward an Architecture'' but commonly known as ''Towards a New Architecture'' after the 1927 translation by Frederick Etchells, is a collection of essays written by Le Corbusier (C ...
'' 2007. Etchells later translated another book of Corbusier's ''Urbanisme'', which in its English translation became ''The City of Tomorrow''. He gradually moved into architecture after a period of book publication, with the
Haslewood Press. Later he became a church and
conservation architect. He had close associations with
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...
who wrote his obituary.
Betjeman was a tenant in one of Etchells's flats in Mayfair, this was during the period when Betjeman was a journalist with ''The Architectural Review''. One of his restorations was
St Andrew's Church, Plymouth
The Minster Church of St Andrew, also known as St Andrew's Church, Plymouth is an Anglican church in Plymouth. It is the original parish church of Sutton, one of the three towns which were later combined to form the city of Plymouth. The church i ...
; he also restored
St George's Church, Donnington,
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
after a fire in 1939,
and
St James's Church, Abinger Common
St James's Church stands on Abinger Lane in Abinger Common, a small village within the civil parish of Abinger in Surrey, south-eastern England. The church was built in the early 12th century and then rebuilt around 1220, and is today a grade II* ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
in 1950 after bomb damage during World War II.
He contributed articles to the journal
''The Studio.'', though often anonymously and to ''Artwork''.
He was an active member of the
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) and a founding member of the
Georgian Group
The Georgian Group is a British charity, and the national authority on Georgian architecture built between 1700 and 1837 in England and Wales. As one of the National Amenity Societies, The Georgian Group is a statutory consultee on alterat ...
.
In the 1930s Etchells purchased a weekend cottage in West Challow then called Holme Lea, a Queen Anne property. He lived there between 1939 and 1944, having moved out of London. During that time he acquired and renovated a second smaller house in West Challow into which he, his wife and daughter moved in 1944.
[1939 Electoral Roll, Berkshire West Challow]
He was married to
Hester Margaret Sainsbury who was a book illustrator, painter and artist known for her performances to music.
References
Sources
*Aldham, Dinah ''Frederick Etchells, Artist and Architect''. London, Architectural Association (dissertation), 1977.
*Dickson, Malcolm. ''Etchells (1886–1973)''. London, Architectural Association Library (thesis), 2005.https://aaschool.academia.edu/MalcolmDickson
*Ind, Rosy & Wilson, Andrew "Frederick Etchells: Plain Homebuilder Where is your Vortex?" International Centrum voor Structuranalyse en Constructivisme. (ICSAC) Cahier 9/9: Vorticism. Brussels: 1988.
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Etchells, Frederick
1886 births
1973 deaths
20th-century English painters
English male painters
Architects from Northumberland
Vorticists
Conservation architects
Group X
20th-century English male artists