We finished the install on our new exhibition on Antique Dealers – called ‘Antique Dealers: Buying, Selling and Collecting‘ at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery at the University of Leeds – all ready for the opening at 1.00pm on MONDAY 4th March. This show runs until 25th May, so there’s plenty of time to see it – and it’s FREE.
The theme of this exhibition is on the same subject – antique dealers – but this one has a narrower focus than the SOLD! exhibition at The Bowes Museum. I’ve decided to focus on the personalities of three of the most well-known dealers and antique dealing businesses of the 20th century – Phillips of Hitchin (established in 1884); Ronald A. Lee (established in 1949) and Roger Warner (established in 1936). Below is a photograph of the R A Lee and Roger Warner sections of the exhibition, with a display in the glass cases of parts of the Lee and Warner archives, as well as some photos of the respective shops of Lee and Warner; and some associated business ephemera.
The Antique Dealers Exhibition at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery at the University of Leeds. 2019.
We also have dealer objects in the exhibition of course – and here’s a photograph of one side of the Antique Dealers exhibition with, left to right, a pen and ink drawing by Anne Webb of the library at Garnstone Hall in 1840, given to Temple Newsam, Leeds Museums by Roger Warner on his retirement from business in 1985; an 18th century chimney board, a bequest in 2008 to Temple Newsam, Leeds Museums, from the estate of Roger Warner (1913-2003); and the early 19th century stool by C.H. Tatham, sold to Temple Newsam by Ronald A. Lee in 1975. The small arched-top framed ‘picture’ is actually a set of 18th century decorative silk trimmings (passementerie) also part of a bequest from the estate of Roger Warner in 2008. And finally the 18th century chair from Houghton Hall, Norfolk, sold to Temple Newsam by Phillips of Hitchin in 1960.
The display of dealer objects at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery exhibition on Antique Dealers. 2019.
There are also a range of objects on loan from the private collections of the Warner family – the photograph of the display case below shows a selection of 19th century tiles by the Arts & Crafts designer William de Morgan (1837-1917) – Roger Warner’s grandfather was Metford Warner (1843-1930) the owner of the wallpaper manufacturer Jeffrey & Co., who produced the wallpapers for the Arts & Crafts designer William Morris for his company Morris & Co. It’s thought that the tiles on display may have been passed directly down from Metford Warner through the family to Roger Warner – they are now owned by Simon Warner, Roger’s son – and thanks again to Simon for generously loaning them to the exhibition. The other object in the glass display case is a 15th or early 16th century oak fragment, carved with a depiction of Adam & Eve – also from Roger Warner’s private collection, and now owned by Simon Warner; and a photograph of Roger Warner at one of the Country House auctions he regularly attended during the 1950s and 1960s.
Roger Warner objects on display in the Antique Dealers exhibition at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds. 2019.
There are many other fascinating objects and archives on display, so I hope you get a chance to pop to the University of Leeds to see the Antique Dealers exhibition. Thanks are due to my co-curator Katie Herrington and to Fred, Eugenie, Laura and the rest of the team at the Brotherton Library Special Collections and the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery. And thanks too to the Leeds Art Fund for so generously supporting the exhibition.
We are planning to run some events during the run of the Antique Dealers exhibition at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery at University of Leeds…I’ll update the blog with details of those once we’ve finished planning them all!
Mark
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