Like so many creative catalysts, Amedeo Modigliani set the art world ablaze for all too short a period. To celebrate such a fleeting, yet prolific talent, a new exhibition at London’s leafy Estorick Collection is giving visitors a rare chance to view his distinctive style within an intimate setting.
Bringing together a selection of works on paper, ‘Modigliani: A Unique Artistic Voice’ charts the influences and stylistic developments that helped form his revolutionary approach to the human form.
The greatness of Modigliani will, of course, not be lost on Heal’s having previously exhibited his painting ‘Le Petit Paysan’ (‘The Little Peasant’, 1919) at our very own Mansard Gallery - part of the ‘Exhibition of French Art 1914-1919’ (1919), this group show also featured little known contemporaries Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.
Having passed away just a year after the exhibition following a bout of meningitis, Modigiliani sadly never received widespread recognition during his lifetime. His body of work has, however, had a huge influence on subsequent generations and with beautifully curated shows such as the Estorick’s his unique voice will no doubt resonate for many years to come. Further reading: www.estorickcollection.com
[ INSPIRATION ]
At Heal's
Ambrose Heal had a keen interest in fine art and his involvement with painting and drawing paralleled his development as a designer, manufacturer and retailer. That’s why it's hardly surprising, given his interest in the relationship between art, design and commerce, he should set up a gallery at Heal's to show the most innovative art of the period.
Design Industries Association
A good friend of Ambrose Heal, Frank Pick (1878-1941) was not only the managing director of the London Underground during the 1920s but also a passionate advocate of design. In 1915, he and Ambrose decided to found the Design and Industries Association (DIA), of which they were active members, to promote links between designers, manufacturers and retailers.
Taking this commitment further, in 1917 Ambrose opened the Mansard Gallery within Heal’s Tottenham Court Road store with Pick providing Underground poster artwork for the first exhibition ‘Poster Pictures’. Many of those same graphic artists whose work was featured were commissioned to design posters for Heal’s newest space, including Pick's star designer Edward McKnight Kauffer who produced artwork for each of the London Group’s shows (one of the oldest artist led organisations in the world).
The Bloomsbury Set
The fourth floor gallery was a well-known spot frequented by Bloomsbury group luminaries such as Virginia Woolf and Wyndham Lewis. Such was his connection to the Mansard that in 1920 Lewis used the venue to host his ‘Group X’ show, bringing together a number painters and sculptors from the British Vorticist movement.
Celebrated figures such as Claud Lovat Fraser, who played an important role in graphic design and theatre set design in the early 20th century, also held exhibitions of their work at the Mansard Gallery and designed the company's seminal posters, while its catalogues contained essays by influential art critics.
Exhibition of French Art
The gallery's most influential event took place in 1919, when noted critic and poet Sacheverell Sitwell organised the Exhibition of Modern French Art. This ground-breaking show, which introduced Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani to the British public, was widely praised by modernist critics such as Roger Fry who, upon seeing the show, commented ‘what innumerable different visions, one can enjoy in this gallery!’
Others were less impressed by the new style of painting on show, with one reviewer for the Times describing the works as 'ghastly'. Literary giant Evelyn Waugh was also not enamoured by Heal’s penchant for daring modern forms, later referring to such pieces in his 1939 short story Work Suspended as ‘those vague assemblages of picnic litter which used to cover the walls of the Mansard Gallery in the early twenties’.
Modern Tendencies
As the decade progressed, the Mansard Gallery increasingly served to showcase the latest developments in interior design with some of the new styles of furniture proving more controversial than the artworks.
From 1928, the ‘Modern Tendencies’ series of exhibitions continued to shock commentators by bringing tubular style furniture to the high-street and thus introducing Britain’s homeowners to the ‘moderne’ and Art Deco styles that were sweeping across the continent.
Unlike the art shows, these events tended to consist of fully-formed rooms in which the furnishings were carefully arranged to demonstrate how they could be laid out in the home. Complete with displays from the renowned florist Constance Spry, this novel approach to display was in no small part thanks to Heal’s resident interior designer, and mistress of Ambrose Heal, Prudence Maufe who later became head of the Mansard Gallery.
Hosting shows by notable British artists
Interspersed with exhibitions of contemporary furniture, fabrics and industrial design – the Mansard Gallery played a valuable role in creating the cultural landscape we enjoy today.
Heal’s are officially reopening the doors to the historic Mansard Gallery on Tuesday 15th February. The exhibition space will see a series of artists take residencies within Heal’s flagship Tottenham Court Road store on the 1st floor, offering a commercial platform for both established and emerging designers to sell their works to the public.
For more information, please visit /collections/the-mansard-gallery
Today (10th May) in 1941, our shop was hit by an oil bomb & incendiary bombs. The Heal's Home Guard and workers who were staying in our basement bomb shelter managed to subdue the fires.
Sadly several adjoining buildings were razed to the ground. This photo is of the Heal's Home Guard on Alfred Mews. During the war, Heal's may have looked like a furniture shop on the ground floor but the 2nd floor & up were turned into a parachute factory for the airforce.
Read more about our 200 year heritage here.
Capper's Farm was a 17th-century farmhouse behind Heal's on Tottenham Court Road where some of the Heal's employees lived. The farmhouse was known as Capper's Farm from Christopher Capper who was farming the surrounding property as early as 1693. His widow died in 1739, and his daughters, Esther Capper, and Mary Booth were in occupation until 1768.
"The bedrooms were furnished with 2ft 6in iron bedsteads with spiral spring bottoms, Heal's mattresses, pillows, etc, and each occupant had a chest of drawers with a mirror, a pottery toilet set and a candlestick, with one candle per week. There was no other lighting or heating," remembers Leonard Thoday in an account of his time as a Heal's employee. He joined the firm in 1910 and lodged with other workers on the farm.
"Breakfast was served at 8am, after which we were due in our offices at 8.30am. Lunch was served in two sittings, consisting of a joint with vegetables and a sweet. The shop closed at 7.30pm. Those who 'lived in' went to our rooms after finishing work, then we went down to the dining room.
"Nine nights out of 10 there was bread and cheese, and a glass of beer for supper. This was the worst meal of the day and was often deposited in the piano, which made a good hiding place for it." In 1913, the house was pulled down to make way for a new Heal's bedding factory and other buildings.
Discover more about our heritage here
It was in the year of 1810 – when King George III was declared insane, Napoleon Bonaparte divorced Josephine, Jane Austen wrote Sense and Sensibility and tinned cans were invented to preserve food – that John Harris Heal opened a small feather-dressing business at 33 Rathbone Place.
Bringing a new, continental way of sleeping to London's homeowners, it wasn't long until this humble business became a thriving innovator. Specialising in mattresses, Heal’s became a leader of the bed-making pack.
Famed for its quality, well-crafts beds, the store (which relocated to Tottenham Court Road in the 1840s) became a local landmark where people would meet – “At the Sign of the Four Poster” became a well-used phrase!
Always a step ahead of the competition, Heal's began making iron bedsteads in the early nineteenth century. Using the same level of artistry it applied to its mattresses, the company's beds were hand-forged using solid wrought iron.
Catalogues dating back to 1902 show the huge selection and breadth of iron beds offered by Heal’s, not only for the home – the range included bedsteads designed specifically for hospitals and particular ailments too.
Now, 204 years after our first shop opened, we are celebrating our design history while also looking forward. Drawing upon our design heritage, Heal's has created the brand-new Abacus range, which we will introduce in our next blog post… keep an eye out!
What links a 200-year old furniture company, a 19th century writer and a 21st century model/actress? It’s not a riddle or the start of a bad joke, we promise. The answer is a serialised, first edition novel.
More specifically, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, which was initially published as 20 monthly instalments from March 1852. With every new month, a fresh chapter or section of the novel was printed and bound in green paper jackets that offered prime advertising space to forward-thinking businesses.
Heal & Son was one of the first retailers to realise the potential of advertising in this manner – the popularity of serialised novels meant the brand’s story and furniture could be communicated simply and effectively to a vast captive (or even captivated) audience.
Times and designs may have changed, but those jackets still have pulling power, as proved by actress Milla Jovovich this week. Posting a photo of her birthday present on Instagram this week – a complete first edition series of Dickens’ complex tale – she shared her delight at her new read with thousands of followers.
In amongst the admiration and wonder, someone pointed out that Heal’s had as much longevity as the novel itself, and was still located at the same address on Tottenham Court Road. The power of advertising… even over 160 years later.
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