The Little Gallery was in a world of itself...most of the customers became old friends who would sometimes come in for a few minutes for a chat and leave a cake for tea.
Muriel Rose (1897-1986) was co-owner of the Little Gallery, Ellis Street, off Sloane Street, Chelsea (1928-1939), The Gallery was curated and managed by Muriel Rose. It laid down impeccable standards for the display and sale of craft work. An inspirational gallery which offered craft workers a dedicated space to exhibit and sell their work and who were on hand during exhibitions to explain their work. Phyllis Barron and Dortohy Larcher (hand block printed textiles); Ethel Mairet (weaver); Enid Marx (hand block printed textiles); as well as potters Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie and Edward Bawden (watercolours, drawings and prints) all sold their crafts through the Gallery.
These two pieces of marbled paper were unsold stock from the Gallery when it closed in 1939. They belonged to Margaret Turnbull who co-owned the Gallery with Muriel Rose, and was responsible for the bookeeping. Margaret, known as Peggy, a spinster, became a nurse during WW2 at the Endell St hospital. Her family lived in an Arts & Crafts style house Harman's Orchard, Crockham Hill, Nr Edenbridge, Kent where she lived most of her life and commuted to London to The Little Gallery. Margaret was the great aunt of the vendor, Tristam Reynolds.
Muriel Rose and Peggy Turnbull first met through The Three Shields Gallery which opened at 8 Holland Street, just off Kensington High Street in 1922. This gallery had been set up by Dorothy Hutton, a former student at the Central School of Art and already an established calligrapher. In addition to stocking prints, drawings, watercolours and some tempera paintings, she mounted short temporary displays of ceramics, textiles and silverware, lasting about three weeks.
Since Dorothy Hutton wanted to continue with her calligraphy and did not want to be constantly working in the shop, she employed two young women to help her. Muriel Rose was appointed as a full-time general assistant, whilst Peggy Turnbull worked a couple of days a week doing the accounts. Subsequently the two women decided to go into partnership and set up The Little Gallery. with some £1,000 between them (£400 from Muriel and £600 from Peggy). Happily, the parting with Dorothy Hutton was not acrimonious and she presented Muriel Rose with a fondly inscribed box made by John Paul Cooper as a leaving gift.
Muriel Rose was later Director of Craft and Industrial Design at the British Council and curated major international exhibitions.
A founding trustee of the Crafts Study Centre, she joined the Board (1970-6), building up the CSCs crafts collection.
A small leaflet describing the shop's wares, designed by Edward Bawden, will accmpany the two papers. There is mention in this four fold leaflet of marbled papers.
Tirzah worked with Charlotte Bawden in producing marbled papers, some of which are now in the V&A as well as in the Fry Collection. Some of these were used to decorate Brick House. She also produced pattern designs for book covers and endpapers for the Kynoch, Curwen and Golden Cockerel Presses.*
in shades of quite a bright mid and darker blue on a taupe mottled ground, with some white
25 1/ x 19 1/2in; 65 x 50 cm
Very very good apart from some edges are a little damaged in places.
* Fry Art Gallery.
Price: on request
All images and text © meg-andrews.com 2021
