Omega chairs in the Dining Room at Charleston.
"In the summer of 1913, at 33 Fitzroy Square in London, the ornate Georgian house where the Pre-Raphaelites once gathered became the venue for another visionary artistic enterprise. Founded by the Bloomsbury painter and art critic Roger Fry, the Omega Workshops Ltd. was an interior decor and furniture company that sought to provide struggling artists with a regular income. 'There is a certain social-class feeling, a vague idea that a man can still remain a gentleman if he paints bad pictures,' Fry observed, 'but must forfeit the conventional right to his Esquire, if he makes good pots or serviceable furniture.' At the Omega, the distinction between fine and applied arts was dismissed. In the upstairs studio, fine artists designed colorful and original furniture, ceramics, textiles, and rugs, while downstairs two showrooms were open to the public, who could browse and purchase the wares. Fry, who coined the term post-Impressionism, wanted to energize fusty British homes with the French art movement’s vibrancy and brio. ..."
The Paris Review
Post-Impressionist Living: The Omega Workshops (Video)
A Five-Step Guide to Bloomsbury Interiors
Plate with overglaze painted sailing boat design, Duncan Grant, 1913-14.
2019 April: Bloomsbury Group
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