Rowley Gallery – Page 5 – Frames of Reference

Ofili Cum Ovid

This is a giclée print from a watercolour, pastel and charcoal drawing by Chris Ofili, Study For Ovid-Windfall. In 2012 Ofili painted a huge backdrop for the Royal Opera House production of Diana & Actaeon, a collaboration between the National Gallery and the Royal Ballet and a celebration of Titian’s paintings of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Ofili immersed himself in Ovid’s shapeshifting tales of transformation. His image of windfall/waterfall/shower of gold came twice for framing. Continue reading “Ofili Cum Ovid”

William Morris Gallery

The William Morris Gallery is at Water House in Lloyd Park, Forest Road, Walthamstow. William Morris was fourteen when his family moved here in 1848. They had downsized from Woodford Hall where William’s playground had been Epping Forest. At Water House he played in the grounds, particularly the moated island where he imagined there be dragons. Continue reading “William Morris Gallery”

A Rowley Pumpkin

Continue reading “A Rowley Pumpkin”

Blue Sky

Dominic just sent me this photo. It’s the view from the back door of The Rowley Gallery workshop, looking across the yard and over the District & Circle line and out to the west. It was taken on the Saturday before last, August 18, which was the hottest day of the year. Such a blue sky and intense shadows, more like California than Kensington.

Brangwyn’s Frieze No More

Three carved wooden panels made by Sir Frank Brangwyn for the facade of The Rowley Gallery in 1933 were destroyed in a fire last week at Chilford Hall. They had been part of The Rowley Gallery showroom until 1941, when the premises were hit by an incendiary bomb during WW2, but amazingly they survived that blaze only to be lost to arsonists 71 years later. Continue reading “Brangwyn’s Frieze No More”

A Pedantic Plaque

We made this plaque around twenty years ago. The wood was cut and shaped and painted with size and gesso and red bole, then gilded with 22 carat gold leaf and finally inscribed with a tongue twister. According to Iona & Peter Opie, editors of The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, this was in past times considered to be a remedy for hiccups when repeated thrice in one breath. But they don’t say whether it is Rowley as in rolled, or Rowley as in round. It seems to play on the possibility that it could be either. We think the former but there are some who insist it’s the latter. Maybe this will help –

Brangwyn’s Frieze

This is The Rowley Gallery in 1933. Business must have been good. It had expanded from a single shop at 140 to double the size at 140-142 Church Street, and the facade had been rebuilt featuring a carved frieze by Frank Brangwyn depicting life size sawyers, painters and carpenters. Continue reading “Brangwyn’s Frieze”