The East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, otherwise known as the Benton End Group, was established by Cedric Morris and Arthur Lett-Haines in 1937. Initially located in Dedham, Essex, the school was moved to a 16th century farmhouse, near Hadleigh in Suffolk called Benton End in 1938. It was here that the school was run for some 40 years and is said to have had a hand in fostering the talents of some of the most highly regarded painters of post war Britain, including Lucian Freud and Maggi Hambling. Benton End quickly became a sanctuary for “artists outside the system” and offered a space for students to both live and work. Morris and Lett-Haines promoted the exchange of artistic ideas and techniques, and took a free rein approach to teaching, which was poles apart from the more formal and structured training offered by most academies at the time. Quickly, Benton End became an established community, with artists, horticulturalists and writers heading to Suffolk, with famous alumni including the likes of Frances Hodgkins, David Carr, Richard Chopping and Valerie Thornton.
Following Philip Mould’s Cedric Morris exhibition in 2018, there has been a marked increase in demand for works by the Benton End group. This is centred on Cedric Morris himself, whose work is seeing a renaissance in popularity and skyrocketing prices as a result. This is thanks to both the figurative patterns and bright colours of his work which appeal to contemporary tastes, but also the flourishing levels of romanticism and mystique which surround Morris and his contemporaries at Benton End. At the Art & Design Sale on 27th October, we will be offering a fabulous still life by Morris, depicting an autumnal bouquet of flowers, which is signed and dated ‘Cedric Morris 1928.’ This comes with cast iron provenance, having been passed down within the artists’ family, and now holds a pre-sale estimate of £20,000 - £30,000.
Lot 358, Autumnal Bouquet by Cedric Lockwood Morris
For Morris fans there is also a fabulous portrait of Cedric by his student, Vivien Gribble, who was best known for her wood engravings. This wonderfully colourful portrait shows Morris in his younger years and has an estimate of £2,000 - £3,000. Vivien Gribble is thought to have painted the work between 1927 and 1932. Her and her husband, Douglas Doyle-Jones were owners of a farm named The Pound in Higham which she would go on to leave to Cedric Morris following her death in 1932. The Pound went on to be Cedric and Arthur Lett-Haine’s permanent base in Suffolk, and a place which they would go on to transform into a paradise of gardens, ponds and exotic plants and birds.
Lot 357, Cedric Morris by Vivien Gribble
To view the paintings section of the sale, please click here