Working Women

Saffron Walden is a market town in Essex with a rich history, once famous for the crocus fields producing saffron in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, which was used in medicine, perfumery, as an expensive dye, even an aphrodisiac as well as the more familiar culinary uses. Although no longer a producer of saffron it is a fascinating town to visit with quaint streets lined with historic houses, the largest parish church in Essex, an excellent museum, a ruined castle and a good selection of interesting shops and cafes, although sadly my favourite yarn and fabric shop is no longer there.

The Market Place,Saffron Walden, linocut, Edward Bawden 1962

In the past 6-7 years I have visited Saffron Walden a couple of times a year to have lunch with an old friend. She lives in Chelmsford, so it is about halfway between us. We usually have a leisurely lunch in the same Turkish café where we catch up on what has been happening in the previous six months or so, followed by a mosey around the shops. It is always lovely to meet up and exchange news but when we arranged a date to meet last week I was feeling less than enthusiastic about doing the same old things. I couldn’t help but feel that Saffron Walden had more to offer.  In in all my visits I have never before visited The Fry Gallery which hosts a wonderful collection of paintings, books and ceramics by artists who have lived and worked around Saffron Walden and Great Bardfield since the 1930s. So, I sent Mary a tentative message suggesting we try a different café and if she was up for it after lunch, maybe we could visit the Fry Gallery instead of shopping, which is never a favourite activity of mine at the best of times. Fortunately, she received my suggestions with enthusiasm.

We met at Café Coucou in George Steet where we ate fabulous sandwiches with generous fillings between doorstep slices of delicious bread, baked in house. It was probably for the best that we were both too full to sample the large portions of various homemade cakes on offer although it was tempting to buy some to take home. From there we made our way to Castle Street and the Fry Gallery (open Tues - Friday 2-5 pm, Saturday 11 am - 5 pm and Sunday 2-5 pm)

Two Women Sitting in a Garden, watercolour, Eric Ravilious 1932

Housed in a delightful building, a small purpose built Victorian gallery built in 1857, the Fry Gallery was reopened in 1987 by the Fry Art Gallery Society. This independent gallery is run entirely by volunteers and is completely free to visit. The best known of the Bardfield artists are probably Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious and the gallery holds numerous works by both artists, as well as work by Michael Rothenstein RA, John Aldridge RA and Bernard Cheese. But in addition, the gallery also showcases the work of women artists such as Sheila Robinson who was married briefly to Bernard Cheese and Ravilious’ wife Tirzah Garwood, who often remained unsung amongst their male counterparts.

Cat, linocut, Sheila Robinson, 1962

However, in more recent years there has been a significant reappraisal of the work of many women artists of the twentieth century who were overlooked during their own lifetimes, and it was the exhibition ‘Working Women’ celebrating the work of Sheila Robinson along with contributions from her daughter Chloë Cheese that I specifically wanted to see.

Parrot, cardboard cut, Sheila Robinson, 1965

Sheila Robinson was born in Nottingham in 1925. She left school aged just 14 but during the war years she attended Nottingham art school. During this time, she was conscripted to serve in the Land Army, but this was short lived due to a breakdown and the migraines that were to plague her throughout her life. At the end of the war, Sheila was encouraged to apply for a scholarship at the Royal College of Art in London where she was a student of Edward Bawden who remained a lifelong friend. Whilst at the RCA she also met and later married artist Bernard Cheese. At the end of her studies, she assisted Bawden in painting his large mural for the Festival of Britain in 1951 which effectively launched her career as an artist and illustrator. In 1953 Sheila and Bernard moved from London with their baby Chloë, born in 1952, to rural Essex to live near their friends Charlotte and Edward Bawden. Sheila continued to work whilst raising their small daughter but often was alone at their home in Bardfield End Green whilst Bernard continued to teach in London at St Martins. In 1957 the couple separated, Bernard requesting a divorce following his affair with a student and Sheila moved, now with two children, to Great Bardfield, a village that was already home to several artists who were to become close friends.

Sheila continued to work as a successful illustrator and printmaker whilst raising her young children as a single mother, also opening her home for the Great Barfield Artists exhibition in 1958. Both children Chloë and Ben were also encouraged to make art and their pictures were often on display in the kitchen during these exhibitions. Chloë has said in the excellent catalogue that accompanies the Fry exhibition

I was lucky to have her as my mother; she was a peerless example of a woman who worked and was respected for it, and that made it always seem possible… housework could not be a priority.

Even if you have never heard of Sheila Robinson, if you are of a certain age, like me, and went to school in the UK you are probably familiar with her work. Her beautiful linocut illustrations were used for the BBC booklets that accompanied the schools radio programmes.

Illustration for BBC School Radio, linocut and cardboard cut, Sheila Robinson, 1954-66

Although proficient in wood block printing and linocuts, Sheila often made collagraphs for her printing, taking thick mountboard and cutting or tearing into the smooth surface to reveal textured areas to print from. She called these her ‘cardboard cuts’. She never remarried and continued to work throughout her life until her premature death in 1988.

Great Bardfield Cat, Lithograph, Chloë Cheese 2010

Chloë is also a painter and printmaker, who claims that drawing is of primary importance to her practice, something instilled in her by her mother, but she prefers lithography and etching over Sheila’s preference for cutting blocks. After attending Cambridge School of Art, she also went on to study at the Royal College of Art in London.

Dark Tulip and Bay Tree, Etching with stencilled colour, Chloë Cheese 2016

The exhibition ‘Working Women’ focuses mostly on the art of Sheila Robinson but also showcases some of work of her daughter Chloë, whose early life was influenced by living with her mother in Great Bardfield. It is not a large exhibition, only occupying a single room in the small gallery yet it is packed full of beautiful prints of mostly a domestic nature, anyone of which I would happily hang on my walls.

There were also a couple of lovely cabinet displays of sketchbooks that reminded me it has been a while since I took a sketchbook out and about with me. The exhibition is open for another couple of months until 30^th June and I can definitely recommend it if you can get to Saffron Walden before then. I think I will be going back.