Publications
Watts Chapel: A Guide to
the Symbols
of Mary Watts’s Arts and Crafts Masterpiece
by Mark Bills, Curator, Watts Gallery
Compton Cemetery Chapel is a grade I listed building, created by Mary Watts (1849‒1938) between 1894 and 1904. This new book on the building is a guide to the symbolism of the glorious Arts and Crafts patterns that decorate its interior and exterior. Mary’s book, The Word i n the Pattern, which outlined her ideas for the symbols, along with the sources that she drew upon, forms the basis of the text. Illustrating all the decorative detail of the chapel, it shows the richness of meaning with which Mary infused its imagery. It is, in effect, a key to the symbols of the building as Mary Watts understood them. She knew that her carefully planned symbolism was both ‘exoteric and esoteric in its character, being in some instances so plain and simple… and in others so hidden and intricate…’ and so would not be immediately open to all who saw it. This guide seeks to make Mary’s ideas clear to all those who wish to know the meanings of the striking figurative and abstract symbols that adorn the building. To Mary, a symbol was a ‘magic key’ that ‘unlocks a door into a world of enchantment.’ It is the hope that this guide will enhance both understanding and enjoyment of this wonderful building.
G.F Watts in Kensington: Little Holland House and Gallery
By Barbara Bryant
G.F. Watts's association with Kensington lasted for more than fifty years. The key incidents of his life and his work were played out within the confines of this corner of London, from the grandeur of Holland House and the bohemian enclave at the rambling old Little Holland House to his own purpose built studio house at 6 Melbury road.
Unlike today’s globetrotting celebrities, artists for the Victorian era deployed their homes as the site of their reputations and none more so than Watts. New Little Holland house formed the backdrop to the artist’s career. Most importantly he created his own picture gallery as a public space for the display of his own art. Although the actual house was demolished in the early 1960s this book presents an imaginative reconstruction of this later Victorian landmark, bringing it back to life with documentary photographs, architectural plans, drawings and watercolours. A full discussion recreates the setting and explores the thinking behind Watts' Little Holland House Gallery in Kensington.
G. F. Watts: Victorian Visionary
Widely regarded as a genius and as the greatest painter of the Victorian age, George Frederic Watts (1817–1904) was a ceaseless experimenter throughout his seventy-year career. He was not only the finest and most penetrating portraitist of his age but also a sculptor, landscape painter, and symbolist. This beautifully illustrated book encompasses the work of his entire career, from his early self-portrait in 1834 and first exhibited painting in the Royal Academy in 1837 to his most iconic work, Hope, and the remarkable, almost abstract painting, Sower of the Systems, completed in 1903. In addition, the book includes historic photographs and archival materials, especially concerning the establishment in 1904 of the Watts Picture Gallery in Compton, Surrey, for the permanent exhibition of his art. Essays by leading scholars examine the artist’s output, life, reception, and legacy.
Mark Bills is curator, Watts Gallery, and formerly senior curator of paintings, prints, and drawings, the Museum of London. He is coeditor of William Powell Frith, Painting the Victorian Age (Yale). Barbara Bryant is an art historian, writer, and consultant specializing in the work of G. F. Watts. She wrote the exhibition catalogue G. F. Watts Portraits: Fame & Beauty in Victorian Society (2004).
£20 paperback
£40 hardback
Click here to order a copy now
DVD - G. F. Watts: Victorian Visionary
George Frederic Watts OM RA (1817-1904) was one of the most important artists of the Victorian age. Watts Gallery is unique as a purpose-built Gallery for a single professional artist. G F Watts: Victorian Visionary considers the importance of both.
Historian Tristram Hunt explores the life of the artist and the genesis of the Gallery. In a revealing interview, acclaimed contemporary artist, Antony Gormley speaks of his admiration for Watts as a pioneering Modern sculptor whilst playwright Patrick Marber praises a memorial to ordinary heroes, established by Watts, that influenced
his play and subsequent film Closer (starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law).
Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery recognises the significance of Watts’s portraits of eminent Victorians and Watts Gallery Curator, Mark Bills, discusses the unique place the artist holds in Victorian art. Veronica Franklin Gould, Watts’s biographer, considers his relationships with women.
G F Watts: Victorian Visionary confirms Watts’s place at the centre of the Victorian art world, his relevance today and the importance of Watts Gallery in celebrating his achievements.
Featuring interviews with Antony Gormley, Sandy Nairne, Patrick Marber, Mark Bills and Veronica Franklin Gould.
Directed by Richard Fawkes
Presented by Tristram Hunt
Produced by Take One Productions
Includes two versions of the film:
24 minute and 7 minute
Multi-region
Postman's Park: G. F. Watts's Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice
John Price
The Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice in Postman's Park is an evocative example of how the past survives in the modern world. Created in 1900 by the Victorian artist G.F.Watts, the memorial contains fifty-three memorial tablets dedicated to individuals who lost their life heroically attempting to save another. The tablets allude to tragic circumstances, but they also convey the courage and bravery of those who gave their lives. The memorial also has much to communicate about the beliefs and values of Watts himself, as well as aspects of the period and society in which he lived. This short study provides a comprehensive history of the Watts Memorial while also placing it into a wider
historical context through the use of new research.
£7.50 paperback
£10 hardback
Click here to order a copy now
G. K. Chesterton on G. F. Watts
Brings together Chesterton's book on G . F. Watts along with four essays on the artist not previously published outside their original journals.
Changing Face - Contemporary Portraiture by Peter Monkman
16 pages -27 full colour illustrations
Director's Introduction - Perdita Hunt
Peter Monkman: The Physiognomy of Faces - Mark Bills
Public versus Private Face - Julia Dudkiewicz
G F Watts - Parables in Paint
Hilary Underwood
G. F. Watts: Parables in Paint, explores the religious and spiritual dimension of Watts’s art and the way that this underpins his sense of social responsibility. The exhibition consists of 30 oil paintings and drawings from the collection of Watts Gallery.
G. F. Watts, Physical Energy, Sculpture & Site
Stephanie Brown
Hardback, 60 pages
Illustrated 9 full colour plates and 25 black and white images
G. F. Watts’ colossal Physical Energy is his most ambitious sculpture, known through the original plaster model at Watts Gallery, Compton and three bronze casts in Cape Town, London and Harare. Stephanie Brown examines the less familiar origins of this iconic work in Watts’ equestrian bronze Hugh Lupus and explores how Physical Energy relates to its three very different locations. The ways in which site influences the meaning of the sculpture is explored in relation to physical features, orientation and presentation and the effects of ideological and cultural change. The continuing interest in Physical Energy, a design originally conceived in 1870, is traced to the present day through its ongoing reproduction in statuettes and its emblematic value as a logo or trademark.
This book is to be the first of a series of books that consider significant aspects of Watts’ art.
Victorian Artists in Photographs: The World of G. F. Watts
Mark Bills & David Webb
Paperback, 104 pages
Illustrated in full colour with 154 plates.
Published to coincide with the touring exhibition of the same name, organised by Watts Gallery, Compton, Victorian Artists in Photographs brings us a step closer to a distant age and offers us the opportunity to see the faces, homes and families of artists whose work is so popular. The painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, the eminent poets and authors of the day and of course George Frederic Watts and his circle are all included.
An invaluable resource to academics, representing a snap-shot of The Rob Dickins Collection of Victorian photographs now at Watts Gallery, it is also an enjoyable picture book, of beautiful, sometimes quirky but always illuminating photographs of the greatest names of the Victorian age.