The Millinery Works GALLERY

THE LIBERTY STYLE

An exhibition to celebrate the one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary of Liberty & Co.

7 to 28 June 2000

The exhibition includes a private collection of Liberty pieces and a rare display of Upchurch pottery

     The unique contribution of Liberty & Co to the Arts & Crafts Movement.

‘The Liberty Style was one tributary of the cleansing river which by 1900 was radically altering the European aesthetic …’

Mervyn Levy - Liberty Style - The Classic Years 1898 - 1910

Like William Morris, C F A Voysey and C R Ashbee and the Guild of Handicraft, the name Liberty has become a byword for the Arts and Crafts Movement. The peacock feather fabrics, from a design by Arthur Silver, were (and still are) a recognisable signature in all the major capitals of the world.

Yet unlike Morris and the others Liberty was not a designer or craftsperson. It was a store in London’s Regent Street that, in the space of 25 years from its inception in May 1875, became one of the most popular arenas in which some of the most accomplished and avant garde designers and craft workers of the period could have their wares displayed. The likes of George Walton, E A Taylor, Archibald Knox, Jessie M King and Richard Riemerschmid all had their designs retailed through Liberty, even if anonymously.

The store’s fame was such that in Italy the term ‘Stile Liberty’ was used to describe what Victor Arwas calls a ‘new fully-fledged movement in the decorative arts’.

And yet the recognition of Liberty & Co. as a central feature of the growth, if not the foundation, of the new movement is necessarily a biography of one man - Arthur Lasenby Liberty. He was the moving spirit and vision of the whole enterprise; he set its policy from the outset and controlled its workings throughout its ‘classic years’.

His business training started in 1859. Aged sixteen he was apprenticed to a draper in Baker Street, but it was not until 1862 that he came into contact with the branch of trading with which his name has been inseparably associated. In that year he became one of the staff of Messrs. Farmer and Rogers and was employed in their “Oriental Warehouse” of which he soon became manager.

It was here that Liberty began to meet the many prominent artists and students of the East who were attracted to the shop by the treasures gathered there. From this period A L Baldry asserts that many of Liberty’s friendships which had a ‘definite bearing on his work’ began: Lord Leighton, Edward Burne-Jones, Albert Moore, E W Godwin, William Burges, Gabriel Dante Rossetti and an array of others of equal repute.

In the spring of 1875, confident that the market in Eastern taste would expand, Liberty left Farmer and Rogers and opened at 218a Regent Street. In 1881 Liberty also had interests in the Art Furnishers Alliance which had been set up by Dr Christopher Dresser. When the Alliance went into liquidation in 1883 Liberty reputedly obtained a large amount of the stock from the Official Receiver at keen prices.

By 1883 success was such that he moved to a much larger shop in Regent Street which he named Chesham House. From here the firm’s reputation grew immensely. In 1883 Leonard F Wyburd took over the furnishing and decoration studio in a now expanding furniture department. He designed ‘a popular set of furniture which incorporated painted, turned lattice work panels imported from Egypt and North Africa’. It is here that the famous ‘Thebes’ stools and the ‘Mushrabiyeh’ panels emerge as powerful images of Liberty’s formidable range.

Stephen Astley states that ‘under Wyburd’s influence Liberty furniture was to evolve rapidly’. For him Liberty furniture ‘... combined several potent resonances which ensured its wide popularity. It brought all the appeal of the Arts & Crafts Movement, without the high cost of production, but had its roots in the English tradition of old workmanship, and it was sold by a shop with exactly the right image of being slightly exotic to be of interest to those looking for something stylish rather than simple reproduction’.

This was then the panache of Arthur Liberty at his best, recruiting the best talents available he merged them into the Liberty fold and in doing so he would do more to popularise the Arts & Crafts Movement than any other retailer in the late 19th century. 

Jeff Jackson
©
THE EXHIBITS:

FURNITURE

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1. A ‘Moorish’ sideboard from the ‘Kharan’ range in oak with wavy line cornice and mirror to the back with copper strap hinges, stamped L & Co, circa 1885. 70in (178cm) high x 60in (152cm) wide x 22in (56cm) deep.

2. A ‘Moorish’ two tier round top occasional table in mahogany, circa 1890. 25in (64cm) high x 19in (48cm) wide x 19in (48cm) deep.

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3. A pair of ‘Moorish’ two-tier octagonal topped occasional tables in light oak, circa 1890. 27in (68cm) high x 21¼in (54cm) wide x 21¼in (54cm) deep.

4. A ‘Moorish’ two-tier octagonal topped occasional table in light oak, circa 1890. 20in (51cm) high x 16in (41cm) wide x 16in (41cm) deep.

5. A pair of Moorish two-tier octagonal topped occasional tables in stained oak, circa 1890. 20in (51cm) high x 16in (41cm) wide x 16in (41cm) deep. 

6. A ‘Moorish’ two-tier octagonal topped occasional table in dark oak, circa 1890. 27½in (70cm) high x 21½in (55cm) wide x 21½in (55cm) deep.

7. A ‘Moorish’ stool in walnut with upholstered seat and Musharabiyeh turnings, circa 1890. 15in (38cm) high x 16in (41cm) wide x 16in (41cm) deep.

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8. A ‘Moorish’ two-tier rectangular occasional table in walnut with Musharabiyeh turned panels to each end, circa 1890.
27½ in (70 cm) high x 21in (53 cm) wide x 17½ in (44 cm) deep. Above right

9. A ‘Cairo’ Moorish window stool in walnut with Musharabiyeh turnings and upholstered seat, circa 1885. 22in (56cm) high x 28½in (72cm) wide x 14in (36cm) deep. Above left

10. A ‘Moorish’ octagonal two-tier centre table in mahogany, circa 1890. 27in (68cm) high x 32in (81cm) wide x 32in (81cm) deep.

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