Dorothy Hutton Explained

Dorothy Hutton
Honorific Suffix:MVO
Birth Date:1889 11, df=y
Birth Place:Bolton, England
Death Place:London, England
Nationality:British
Field:painting, calligraphy, printmaking
Training:Central School of Arts and Crafts

Dorothy Hutton (21 November 1889  - 19 May 1984)[1] [2] was an English painter, scribe and printmaker. She was particularly renowned as a calligrapher[3] and most widely known for her London Transport posters.

Early life and education

Hutton was born in Bolton, Lancashire, daughter of the Reverend F.R.C. Hutton.[1] [4] Her cousin, Captain Anthony David Hutton,[5] would go on to organise the evacuation of refugees from Cyprus during the Turkish invasion of 1974.

She was educated at Queen Margaret's School, York, and later studied architecture.[6] She worked at the Curwen Press during the First World War.[7] In the 1920s, she attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts, studying with F. Ernest Jackson.[8]

Career

Hutton first garnered attention in mainstream newspapers when she entered the Daily Mails 1920 Exhibition of Village Signs, placing third out of 617 entries.[9] Her Battle of Hastings-inspired design for the village of Battle, Sussex was "greatly admired", and earned her £200 in prize money (equivalent to £7,500 in 2024), launching a "long and productive career".[9] [10] [11]

In October 1920, Hutton, together with a group of other northern artist-craftspeople living in London who wished to show their work in Manchester, launched an exhibition at Houldsworth Hall.[12] The initiative was very successful, leading to the formation of the Red Rose Guild of Artworkers by printmaker Margaret Pilkington in January the following year. Hutton became a Guild member, and assisted Pilkington in the Guild's early years.[13] The Guild came to be "regarded as the most influential national outlet for makers" during the first half of the twentieth century.[14]

In 1922, Hutton opened the Three Shields Gallery in Holland Street, London, to display her own work, as well as that of other artists.[15] Hutton exhibited prints, drawings and watercolors. She also sold greeting cards that she designed, marketing them under the Holly Bush label, as well as tags for Christmas presents and place names for children's parties.[16] Through her gallery, Hutton championed and platformed many emerging craftspeople who would achieve notability, such as Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, Enid Marx, Katherine Pleydell-Bouverie,[17] Ethel Mairet, Michael Cardew,[18] pioneering studio potter Frances Emma Richards,[19] John Paul Cooper[20] and Bernard Leach .[21]

Well known for her depictions of flowers, Hutton was commissioned by London Transport for multiple poster designs between 1922 and 1954, including seasonal posters advertising flowers in bloom throughout the city, as well as posters of historical landmarks. Hutton exhibited widely in the 1930s and 1940s, and at the Royal Academy in London for over 60 years, from 1923 to 1984.[11] [22] She also exhibited with the New English Art Club and at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.[23]

Hutton was the official artist to the Crown Office, and among other works was responsible for rolls of honour and many patents of nobility for the Crown Office and the House of Lords, as well as a memorial to General Dwight Eisenhower in Bushy Park, West London.[23] She was a co-founder, in 1921, of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators, and was also a member of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and Senefelder Club.[24] [25] [7] In 1964, she was one of the first women to be admitted as a member of the Art Workers' Guild.[26]

Hutton worked in several media throughout her career, including calligraphy, tempera, and printmaking in both paper and textiles. Among her works of calligraphy are the Metropolitan Police Roll of Honour (on which she collaborated with Vera Law),[24] the Barclays Bank Roll of Honour, the RAF Coastal Command War Record, the Record for the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, the Metropolitan Borough of Fulham Roll of Honour of the Great War, the Queen's University Belfast Roll of Honour,[27] the gold lettering on the war memorial tablet in the church at Great Horwood in Buckinghamshire,[4] [28] and a map of the Cotswolds, with most of the towns indicated by churches.[29]

In the 1959 New Year Honours, Hutton was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order, fifth class.[30] She lived in Kensington and Chelsea, London. At her memorial service, held on 20 June 1984 at the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy, the chaplain to the Royal Victorian Order officiated.[10] [6]

Legacy

Donald Jackson, Hutton's successor as official scribe and calligrapher to the Crown Office, remembers Hutton as "a very confident woman. She had her own gallery  - a crafts gallery in Notting Hill  - and she was quite formidable".[31] Distinguished calligrapher Heather Child characterises the work that Hutton undertook for the Crown Office as "important".[32]

In 20th Century Pattern Design, Lesley Jackson describes "the multi-talented Dorothy Hutton" as "an accomplished illuminator, letterer and lithographer".[33] The Penrose Graphic Arts International Annual expands on Hutton's impact on the design of contemporary printed greeting cards:[7]

Joanna Selborne, former Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Courtauld Gallery, lists Hutton "among the most distinguished" printmakers, alongside Enid Marx.[34] [35] Modern adaptations of Hutton's textile prints continue to be marketed today.[36]

Hutton's Three Shields Gallery, described as "pioneering" by the British Council, is recognised as an important development in Britain's interwar arts scene, bringing many positive impacts for women artists and gallerists.[37] According to Helen Ritchie of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, Hutton was one of "a number of progressive and pioneering women [who] established successful and influential ... galleries in interwar London."[38] Hutton's gallery was the first of such establishments to open, encouraging craftswomen to create work by providing a forum in which they could sell it.[39] [40] [41] Jerwood Arts identifies the Three Shields Gallery as one of "a number of important outlets for designers wanting to sell high quality craftwork ... women ran many of these."[42]

Ritchie notes how Hutton and her peers "actively sought out new work, created a market for it, and carefully curated their spaces, acting as tastemakers and as conduits between the artist and the public. This complex and mutually supportive network of female artists and gallerists enabled its participants to live and work independently in new and non-traditional ways, often outside of the heteronormative sphere." The Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft further notes that Hutton was "influential in promoting this new, contemporary work in the context of a 'modern' lifestyle."[43]

Hutton and her Three Shields Gallery both feature in Alison Love's 1997 historical romance novel Mallingford.[44]

Hutton's work has been exhibited posthumously in retrospectives including 'I Don't Know Her Name, But I Know Her Work' at Central Saint Martins,[45] 'Treasures Past and Present' at Fulham Palace and 'Words Made Beautiful', a 2022 exhibition of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators at the Mall Galleries, London.[46]

Hutton is remembered by the Society of Scribes and Illuminators for "her distinguished work" and having "admirably fulfilled the objects assigned to [the Society]".[47]

Collections

The British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and National Portrait Gallery in London hold examples of Hutton's work, as do Yale University and the National Gallery of Canada.[48] [49] [50] [51] [52] The London Transport Museum collection includes her 1935 poster Heather Time.[53] The Whitworth Art Gallery and the University of the Arts London also hold works by Hutton.[54] [55]

Works (incomplete)

Calligraphic works (partial list)

Essays

Paintings and prints (partial list)

Exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts:[22] [64]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dorothy Hutton (Biographical details) . The British Museum. 12 October 2019.
  2. Web site: Hutton . Dorothy . England & Wales Government Probate Death Index . gov.uk . 11 September 2023.
  3. Book: Webb . Brian . Skipwith . Peyton . Design: Harold Curwen & Oliver Simon, Curwen Press . 2008 . Antique Collectors' Club . 9781851495719 . 23 . 18 September 2023.
  4. News: Death of the Rev. F.R.C. Hutton . 18 October 2019 . Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press . 10 July 1926 . Buckingham, England . 5.
  5. Book: Hutton . Dorothy . Last will and testament . 20 August 1983 . . 7 August 2023.
  6. News: In Memoriam. Miss Dorothy Hutton . The Daily Telegraph . 40127 . 21 June 1984 . London, England . 16.
  7. Book: Carrington . Noel . The Contemporary Christmas Card . 1949 . The Penrose Graphic Arts International Annual, Volume 43. 45 .
  8. Book: Delaney . J. G. Paul . Ashmolean Museum . F. Ernest Jackson and His School . 2000 . Ashmolean Museum . Oxford . 9781854441348 . 13, 17 . 17 October 2019.
  9. News: Village Signs. Fruit of a Royal Suggestion . The Daily Telegraph . 20437 . 16 October 1920 . London, England . 15.
  10. News: Sussex Village Signs. Prize Designs for Mayfield and Battle . 18 October 2019 . Sussex Agricultural Express . 22 October 1920 . Sussex, England . 9.
  11. Book: Sara Gray. The Lutterworth Press. 2009. The Dictionary of British Women Artists. 97807-18830847.
  12. Web site: Records of the Red Rose Guild . Archives Hub . 30 June 2024.
  13. Book: Harrod, Tanya . 1999 . The crafts in Britain in the 20th Century . Yale University Press . New Haven, USA . 133 . 0300077807.
  14. Book: Schoeser . Mary . Backemeyer . Sylvia . Making their Mark: Art, Craft and Design at the Central School, 1896-1966 . Herbert Press . London . 0-7136-5261-6 . 113 . 30 June 2024.
  15. Web site: Broadbent . Lizzie . Mary Wheelhouse (1867-1947) . Women Who Meant Business . 30 June 2024.
  16. News: Johanna . Gossip - Grave and Gay. For Children . 18 October 2019 . Pall Mall Gazette . 16 November 1922 . London, England . 11.
  17. Book: Elliot . Bridget . Doan . Laura . Garrity . Jane . Sapphic Modernities: Sexuality, Women and National Culture . 2006 . Palgrave Macmillan . New York . 978-1-4039-8442-5 . 121 . 30 June 2024.
  18. Book: Coatts . Margot . A Weaver's Life: Ethel Mairet, 1872-1952 . 1983 . Crafts Council . London . 0-903798-70-0 . 108 .
  19. Web site: Rutter . Jill . Finding Frances Richards . jillrutter.com . 3 July 2024.
  20. Book: Kuzmanovic . N. Natasha . John Paul Cooper: Designer and Craftsman of the Arts & Crafts Movement . 1999 . Sutton . Stroud . 0-7509-2088-2 . 37 .
  21. Book: Leach . Bernard . Beyond East and West: Memoirs, Portraits & Essays . 1978 . Watson-Guptill Publications . New York . 0-8230-0485-6 . 145 .
  22. Web site: Index, Hs-Hu . The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: A Chronicle, 1769-2018 . 30 June 2024.
  23. Book: David Buckman. Art Dictionaries Ltd. 2006. Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L . 0-953260-95-X.
  24. Book: Lomas . Elizabeth . Guide to the Archive of Art and Design: Victoria and Albert Museum, London . 2019 . Routledge . 9781135970970 . 226 . 17 October 2019.
  25. Book: Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society: catalogue of the thirteenth exhibition, 1926 . W.H. Smith and Son, The Arden Press . 9,37,72,89,117 . 18 October 2019.
  26. Book: Thomas . Zöe . Women Art Workers and the Arts and Crafts Movement . 2020 . Manchester University Press . Manchester . 978-1-5261-4045-6 . 222 .
  27. Web site: Queen's University in World War 1 . Remembrance NI . 18 September 2023.
  28. News: Great Horwood. The War Memorial Tablet . 18 October 2019 . Buckingham Advertiser and Free Press . 6 September 1919 . Buckingham, England . 4.
  29. News: London Display of Art in Handwriting . 18 October 2019 . Birmingham Daily Post . 2 October 1956 . Birmingham, England . 30.
  30. Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood . Supplement to the London Gazette . 1 January 1959 . 5 . 18 October 2019.
  31. Web site: Jackson . Donald . Donald Jackson (calligrapher) . Donald Jackson interviewed by Hawksmoor Hughes . . 11 September 2023.
  32. Book: Child . Heather . Calligraphy Today: A Survey of Tradition and Trends . 1964 . Watson-Guptill Publications . 25 .
  33. Book: Jackson . Lesley . 20th Century Pattern Design . 2011 . Princeton Architectural Press . 978-1-61689-065-0 . 58 . 23 October 2023.
  34. Web site: Joanna Selborne . The Art Workers' Guild . 24 October 2023.
  35. Book: Selborne . Joanna . Backemeyer . Sylvia . Making their Mark: Art, Craft and Design at the Central School, 1896-1966 . 2000 . Herbert Press . London . 0-7136-5261-6 . 24 . 24 October 2023.
  36. Web site: The Flood . Ehrman . 24 October 2023.
  37. Book: The British Council Collection 1984-1994 . 1995 . The British Council . 0-86355-290-0 . 121 . 24 October 2023.
  38. Web site: Ritchie . Helen . Modern Gallerists: Women and the retail of craft in interwar London . Association for Art History . 23 October 2023.
  39. Book: Roscoe . Barley . Gillian . Elinor . Women and Craft . 1987 . Virago . London . 0-86068-540-3 . 139 . 24 October 2023.
  40. Book: Boydell . Christine . Attfield . Judy . Kirkham . Pat . A View from the Interior: Feminism, Women and Design . 1989 . The Women's Press . London . 62 . 24 October 2023.
  41. Book: Anscombe . Isabelle . A Woman's Touch: Women in Design from 1860 to the Present Day . 1984 . Virago Press Limited . London . 0-86068-338-9 . 147 . 24 October 2023.
  42. Web site: Epps . Philomena . The Female Cover . Jerwood Arts . 23 October 2023.
  43. Web site: Women's Work . Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft . 23 October 2023.
  44. Book: Love, Alison . Mallingford . 1999 . Transworld Publishers Limited . 50–152 . 0-7089-4036-6 . 11 September 2023.
  45. Web site: I Don't Know Her Name, But I Know Her Work . Graphics UK Women . 23 October 2023.
  46. Web site: The Society of Scribes & Illuminators . Facebook . 23 October 2023.
  47. Book: Lamb . C.M. . Osley . A.S. . Calligraphy and Paleography . 1966 . October House . New York . 246 . 23 October 2023.
  48. Web site: Collection online: Print made by: Dorothy Hutton . The British Museum . 17 October 2019.
  49. Web site: Name: Hutton, Dorothy . V&A Collections . Victoria and Albert Museum . 18 October 2019 . London, England . 2017.
  50. Web site: Dorothy Hutton (1889-1984), Artist . National Portrait Gallery . 24 October 2023.
  51. Web site: Dorothy Hutton, 1889-1984, British, The Daffodils Are Out. What About You? 1939 . Yale Center for British Art . 24 October 2023.
  52. Web site: Dorothy Hutton, The Trough . National Gallery of Canada . 24 October 2023.
  53. Web site: People. www.ltmuseum.co.uk. 2019-10-12.
  54. Book: Whitworth Art Gallery . Hopper . Robert . British drawings since 1945 in the Whitworth Art Gallery . 1979 . The Gallery . 51 . 9780903261104 . 17 October 2019.
  55. Web site: Dorothy Hutton . University of the Arts London . 18 October 2019 . 2018.
  56. Book: Dolman, Bernard . Who's Who in Art, Fifteenth Edition . 1970 . The Art Trade Press Ltd . 287 . 13 September 2023.
  57. Web site: Fulham's Past on Show at Unique Exhibition . FulhamSW6.com . 13 September 2023.
  58. Book: Roberts . Jane . Queen Elizabeth II: A Diamond Jubilee Souvenir Album . 2011 . Royal Collection Publications . London . 9781905686407 . 138 . 19 October 2023.
  59. Web site: On the Silver Wedding of Their Majesties The King and Queen . Royal Collection Trust . 23 October 2023.
  60. Web site: BBC Radio Circle Membership Card (1930). Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums . 19 October 2023.
  61. Web site: BBC Radio Circle Membership Card (1931) . Aberdeen Archives, Gallery & Museums . 19 October 2023.
  62. Book: Miner . Dorothy E. . Carlson . Victor I. . Filby . P.W. . 2,000 Years of Calligraphy . 1980 . Taplinger Publishing Co. Inc. . New York . 0-8008-7919-8 . 162 . 18 October 2023.
  63. Book: Lamb, C.M. . The Calligrapher's Handbook . 1976 . Pentalic Corporation . 44-64, 232-236 . 11 September 2023.
  64. Book: Royal Academy of Arts . Royal Academy Exhibitors, 1905-1970: A dictionary of artists and their work in the Summer Exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts, Volume IV . 1979 . EP Publishing . 108–109 . 0-85409-982-4 . 11 September 2023.

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