Linda Kasmaty is a member of the selection committee for Seriously…, an art exhibition selected by the Friends of Museum & Art Swindon. In this post, Linda reflects on one of her favourite artworks from the exhibition: Essex Housing Estate, 1954, by Edward Bawden.
Edward Bawden (1903-1989) trained at the Royal College of Art where he became skilled in linocut printing, watercolour painting and mural production. During his successful commercial career, Bawden worked with the influential Curwin Press and Stuart Advertising Agency. He delivered work for Shell, Imperial Airways and Fortnum & Mason, amongst other significant brands. During World War II, he was employed as an Official War Artist, travelling extensively to record the conflict.
Both before and after the war, Bawden spent most of his time in Essex. In 1925, he and his friend, the artist Eric Ravilious (1903-1942), took lodgings at Brick House in Great Bardfield. They were among the first of a creative community known as the Great Bardfield Artists, who lived in the area between 1930-1970.
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Image credit: ‘Essex Housing Estate’, 1954, Edward Bawden, Watercolour on paper, © Estate of Edward Bawden, Purchased with the aid of a grant from the Arts Council England / V&A Purchase Grant Fund, 2005.
It’s wonderful to have this work from one of the Great Bardfield artists at Museum & Art Swindon. Essex Housing Estate came into the collection via the Art Fund in 2005. The Art Fund commentary on the work says it’s ‘an observation on everyday life in an Essex Housing Estate’. Though this is indeed true, I don’t think it’s quite that straightforward.
The work could be a commentary on the post-war transformation of the area he lived in. The house depicted in the midground of the painting is different from those in the distance. I think the latter are part of a post-war development, which saw many identical houses being built at once. It is possible that Bawden has included himself in this work, as the male figure in the foreground with the bike. We know that he regularly cycled out to paint country scenes. He positions himself as the observer but also turns to look at the viewer. Perhaps he is unhappy with the new houses in the distance, signalling a change in the old way of life experienced by the women seen chatting on the front path.
