1st Edition Penguin Modern Painters Edward Bawden by J.M. Richards

1st Edition Penguin Modern Painters Edward Bawden by J.M. Richards 

First Penguin Edition of The Penguin Modern Painters series edited by Sir Kenneth Clark - Edward Bawden by J M Richards, 1946, with 31 plates in colour, 32 plates in black and white, and a long essay on the artist and his work by J M Richards.

Published in 1946 by Penguin Books Limited.

Edward Bawden (1903–1989) was a British artist known for his bold prints, book illustrations, posters, and design work. His style combined modernist influences with a strong sense of pattern and composition, making him one of the most distinctive illustrators of his time.

A graduate of the Royal College of Art, where he later taught, Bawden worked as a commercial artist for clients such as London Transport and Fortnum & Mason. During the Second World War, he was appointed an official war artist, documenting scenes across North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. 

Bawden was a skilled watercolourist but worked in many different media, including murals and even garden metalwork furniture. He was a close contemporary of Eric Ravilious, and his influence can be seen in the work of later illustrators like Edward Gorey and David Gentleman. Playful yet precise, his work remains a key part of British design history.

We have acquired this book from the estate of Mollie and Graham Dark.

Mollie & Graham met in Wimbledon in 1978. He, a Cornishman, born in Gulval in 1930, acquired an early appreciation of art visiting Newlyn Gallery with his family. In his early career Graham worked in London writing for the Daily Express and he was responsible for one of the first Arts columns in a tabloid paper, but in 1960 he opened an antique shop in Chelsea.

Inspired by trips to Italy, he displayed early furniture and antiquities in an uncluttered modern setting, a technique he later utilised in his own home. The Darks moved back to Cornwall in 1980 and at their home in Flushing, and later Truro, curated an impressive body of art and antiquities with a particular focus on Cornish artists such as Paul Feiler and Terry Frost, who both became close friends.

The paintings were displayed alongside mid-century modern designer furniture by Eames, Bertoia and Magistretti, and arrangements of antiquities, thought of as 'ensembles' by Graham. Warm, charming, and generous hosts, they entertained their artistic circle of friends in their exquisitely arranged home, and it is a privilege for us to handle their beautiful possessions today.