Self-appointed arbiter of taste
Susan Lasdun
RICHARD REDGRAVE: 1804-1888 edited by Susan P. Casteras and Ronald Parkinson
Yale, £30, pp.175
Artist, designer, educator, administra- tor and Surveyor of Crown Pictures, Richard Redgrave was a polymath combin- ing the high-minded integrity, and dedica- tion to duty of an exemplary Victorian public servant with a considerable talent as
a painter. Yet apart from his 'highly- wrought' moral paintings, he is almost unknown today. It is timely that the centenary of his death should be marked by this book which will now redress the balance. There is also an exhibition of his work currently at the Victoria and Albert Museum (until 22 May), the museum with whose creation he is inextricably bound.
The book takes the form of a series of essays by eminent art historians, each dealing with an aspect of his life and career. Redgrave was both a landscape and a narrative painter. Susan Casteras, assis- tant curator of the Yale Center of British Art, assesses his painting in the context of his contemporaries. She establishes his `Constable'-style landscapes as a part of the mainstream landscape painting of his day; whereas in his subject paintings he broke new ground. By focussing attention on the social and industrial problems of the hungry Forties, and particularly on the plight of women, he provided insights into social and moral problems, inspiring others to use art for such comment.
Apart from painting he was also in the vanguard of modern design for over 27 years and anyone interested in the history of 'taste' should find Anthony Burton's, Sheila Bury's and Lionel Lambourne's contributions fascinating reading; not least for their relevance to our contem- porary debate on the subject. Redgrave was Art Superintendent at the Govern- ment department of Science and Art, set- ting up 100 art schools and laying down the principles which he and his colleagues, Henry Cole, Owen Jones and Pugin consi- dered to be the bases of good design: that ornament should arise out of and be subservient to structure; that natural forms in decoration should not be merely imita- The Deserter's Home, 1847
tive of nature but conventionalised; that the decoration of surfaces like carpets and walls should be flat and preferably of geometric design. It was not for nothing that these principles have earned Redgrave a place in recent editions of Pevsner's book, Pioneers of Modern Design.
Henry Cole published a Journal of De- sign preaching the same principles; and under the name of Felix Summerly he launched a company to make products which combined art and manufacture. Redgrave, needless to say, designed for this too. However, an exhibition in 1852 at Marlborough House, (the ancestor of the V & A) of objects purchased to form a study collection for the schools of design and the accompanying catalogue which justified the sound design of these objects, proved too much for some. Redgrave, as the spokesman of his circle, was severely criticised in the press for having arrogated to himself a monopoly of good taste. A contemporary equivalent, writes Lionel Lambourne, might be an attack by the Memphis group of designers 'against the tyranny of Conran in the High Street'.
The book also provides a comprehensive catalogue of Redgrave's paintings and de- signs, but it has to be said that at £30 he should have been better served by the colour illustrations. Few though they are, they have managed to yellow all his greens.
The main source for Redgrave's life is A Memoir published in 1891 which has been much drawn upon by several of the contri- butors and has led to considerable repeti- tion in some of the essays which better editing could have removed. This is also the case with some of the subject-matter regarding his career. The book is therefore best read as separate essays and not devoured in one go. Nevertheless, it is a scholarly and welcome contribution to Victorian studies and much deserved by its hero, who for too long has remained overshadowed by his more celebrated col- league, Sir Henry Cole.
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