Friday, 15 August 2014

Book Review: Peggy Angus - Designer, Teacher, Painter

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing a wonderful coffee-table book by James Russell on the hugely gifted artist Peggy Angus.  A skilled painter, having studied at the Royal College of Art in the 1920s, Angus also created designs for wallpapers and ceramics.  I know her best for her tiles, as I am a secret tile-obsessive, and spent hours wandering the Victorian streets when I lived in Cardiff, marvelling at the individuality of each tiled porch and crossly muttering whenever I saw that the tiles had been ripped out and replaced with plain Farrow and Ball paint.

Peggy Angus


This book is therefore of particular interest to me, as although I was aware of Angus's designs, I didn't know much about the woman behind the art, that her contemporaries included Eric Ravilious and that she was influenced by the work of William Morris.

The book is not just visually stunning and of interest to anyone with a passion for the history of the early 20th century or for interiors - it's also a book about women, about travel, social status and change, all feeding into interiors and fuelling Angus's creative thirst.  Absolutely marvellous stuff.

Peggy Angus

If you're interested in seeing some of Peggy Angus's work, there's actually an exhibition running until September 21st 2014, at the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne.  Well worth a visit I'm sure for those of you geographically closer.

Peggy Angus by James Russell is published by the Antique Collectors Club Publishing Group and is available on their website here for £25.  I was sent the book for review, but all views are my own!

4 comments:

  1. That sounds like a thoroughly engaging, fascinating read. I love learning more about the lives of artists - they're so often incredibly interesting - and the things that drove and inspired their skillful work.

    ♥ Jessica

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    1. Absolutely, and Peggy sounds like one heck of a woman! P x

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  2. Hi Porcelina :) I just stumbled across your blog. I really liked reading this post maybe because like you, i have passion for Art. It is so interesting to get to share and talk about similar interests x

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    1. Thank you so much for visiting! I'm glad you love art too, I find most people are interested in older art and don't pay much attention to the 20th century stuff, apart from the obvious Warhol and so forth. P x

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