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The Carter Prestons and Tyson Smiths

Name: The Carter Prestons and Tyson Smiths
Price: 39.99 EUR
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Author: Panagiotis Konikkos
ISBN: 978-3-656-85869-0

A Liverpool Family Tree

Textbook, 2012

94 Pages, Grade: 71/100

Panagiotis Konikkos (Author)

Excerpt

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank my specialist tutor Dr. Stephen Bowe for his assistance and guidance through my study and also for his wealth of knowledge on Carter Preston, Tyson Smith and the art and sculpture in Liverpool. I also acknowledge the help and valuable information of Dr. Emma Roberts of Liverpool John Moores University who kindly spent time giving me an insight into Carter Preston's work and life.

1: The context of Liverpool at the time

The Beginning of an Artistic Liverpool

''During the nineteenth century Liverpool consolidated its position as a major port and began to enjoy spectacular growth (fig.1.1), which in 1904 led Dr. James Currie to describe the town as a busy, noisy, smoky, money-getting Liverpool"/ In the mid 1880's, the period of Carter Preston's and Tyson Smith's births, Liverpool was the second city in the U.K. in terms of economic confidence and growth. In the early 1900's Liverpool was part of the process of modernism that was spreading out in major European wealthy cities. Liverpool's geographical position and culture, as well as its great port found the City closer to the American Beaux Arts ideas in architecture, towards modernism. These influences spread out through the wealthy merchants of the city before spreading nationally.2 There is no doubt that the English Arts and Crafts ideals were similar to the Beaux Arts schemes but the difference was on the physical expression.

The transition of the two styles took place between 1880 and the beginning of World War One in 1914. Also the rejection of the Arts and Crafts stylistic coding took place in the Liverpool artistic world alongside with innovative and pioneering technologies and American style educational practices. Moreover, the railway which was developed during the period, machinery and the expansion of the Liverpool docks were major elements of change in the city, as shown in the 1896 'Lumierre Brothers' film of the 'Liverpool Overhead Railway'/ In a cosmopolitan city with a busy port at the time, change was necessary and the art and architecture of the port City moved towards the American ideas, rather than the European, due to the increasing trade between Liverpool and America.4 The wealth of Liverpool coming from the sea was changing the city's appearance rapidly including major investments such as the mercantile and maritime structures, the 'Port of Liverpool building' (fig. 1.2), public facilities and housing.

Additionally, the Liverpool University of Architecture and Applied Arts was established to support the artistic transformation of the city in the early 1890's. The university, based on the English Arts and Crafts ideas as well as the Beaux Arts later on, it was the first university in Britain to offer a degree in architecture and civil engineering. It was the most renowned English School of Architecture worldwide, and it was the unique and pioneering approach to the course which made it the main influence upon the arts and architecture of the city in the early Twentieth Century. Liverpool's constant expansion required a substantial building program with wealthy merchants and the city council being the major investors. At the time, the appearance of the city according to Willet John was ''widely considered a dull, ugly and commercial city, for me abounded in interest and surprise.''5 At the time where change was necessary, the city's artistic influences were not enough in the Liverpool background and the result was architects and artists to look elsewhere for inspiration. Meanwhile, the reputation of Liverpool for progressiveness, tolerance, political activity and innovation, was growing rapidly and the Mersey and Liverpool port were the foundations of a powerful city and a thriving economy. The co-operative spirit was becoming part of the city's culture, including the development of voluntary societies and associations between all the classes of citizens and similar was the approach of the Liverpool University upon arts and architecture also, which produced some of the most renowned architects of the time.

Moreover, the statistics of the Liverpool port (fig. 1.3) show its importance at the time, by owning one third of the British shipping and one tenth of the International registered shipping along with 28 miles of linear quayage, as shown in the 'Merseyside Film by the British Council of 1941'.7 Furthermore, the city's wealth raised funds for massive investments in warehousing and the construction of the docks which began in 1840's under the engineer Jesse Hartley, and the port, by 1911 was the world's greatest cotton market. The economic growth of the merchants in the city was constantly increasing along with the level of social divisions. In the same year a two month strike took place at the port, with the consequence to be injured and dead workers. The social disparity was also reflected upon architecture, and mostly upon the contrast of housing, with slum court houses (fig. 1.4) of the poor and the luxury town houses and villas of the wealthy class (fig. 1.5).

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Fig. 1.3

Liverpool Brunswick Dock early 20th century

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Fig. 1.4 Slum Houses, Chorley-Court, dale st. Liverpool, 1925

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Fig. 1.5

Sudley house, Aigburth, Liverpool, built for the corn merchant Nicholas Robinson, 1828, now art gallery

The Liverpool School of Applied Arts

The wealthy city of Liverpool was moving towards modernization, and as it happens in every modern city, the architecture and style are chosen according to the latest fashion and technologies of the period. The American contemporary style was to change the face of the traditional British City into a modern Twentieth Century one. Also, the economic growth led to new opportunities for the artists and architects of the time and the arts were moving towards improvement with the establishment of the 'College of Art' in 1882, the new university buildings in 1885, as well as many Churches, public houses and impressive commercial buildings. These new opportunities were inspirations for young people to take up an artistic career including Carter Preston, Tyson Smith and other important artists of the time. Liverpool's building expansion of the period created new demands and extra skills were needed to respond to the new era of arts and crafts related to architecture. The 'Liverpool Society of Fine Arts', the 'Fine Arts Committee' and also an 'Arts Congress' held in Liverpool in 1888, brought new ideas and inspirations into the city's artistic world. The formation of the 'Architecture and Applied Arts Department' (fig.1.6) of the Liverpool University was a result of all these, and it meant to be a pioneering and inspirational department which produced some of the most important sculptors and artists of the period. The 'Art Sheds' as they used to call the department, aimed in producing individuality, and architecture students were educated alongside with decorative artists in a multy- disciplinary programme, with the purpose being highly skilled specialists in a whole variety of construction related subjects.9

In 1894, the leaders of the University, Professors Stevenson and MacKay decided to turn the programme into an association between architecture and the applied arts which gave the opportunity to the students, to study a combination of arts, crafts and architecture, which were closely aligned, in the same programme. Ruskin's and Morris's teaching passed into younger generations and also ideas such as Leathaby's and Macmurdo's were influential upon the development of the architecture and applied arts students of the period. Additionally, the tradition of the 'English Arts and Crafts' and the 'American Beaux' ideas were also influential upon the 'Art Sheds' students. Christopher Crouch highlights the links between Liverpool and American architects such as Bloomfield Bare, who was highly involved in the arts programme of the Liverpool University. C. Crouch in his book ''Design culture in Liverpool 1880-1914, also talks about the similarities between Liverpool and America, in pioneering modern art and architecture and the successful similar scheme, that seemed to have direct links to the principal towns in America. Crouch also discusses the replacement of the English Arts and Crafts tradition with the French Beaux Arts practices established at the schools of architecture in America. The two art styles of the time seemed to share the same ideology that the cooperative is more important than the individual, but the difference was upon the physical expression.

Further, the Beaux Arts eventually dominated in the Liverpool School of Applied Arts after the appointment of Professor Chares Reilly in 1904. The architect Bloomfield Bare was also to play an important role in the course during the 1890's, with the publishing of the Liverpool University into the magazine 'The Studio' where he argues for the prominence of a combined artistic education, and talks about the problems of their generation, and also the master-apprentice type of relationship they aimed to have with their students. Meanwhile, the Industrial Art Schools in Germany were also to play a small part in the architectural program of the department, while the RIBA and the 'South Kensington System' were criticising the school's distance from their structural system and control. Furthermore, the inspirational tutors of the 'Art Sheds' believed that architecture students should necessarily learn how to 'finger' the clay and every sculptor should be trained in the architecture classes too. The spirit of the architect W.R. Leathaby who was the founder of the 'Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society' and the 'Art Workers Guild' was closely related to the philosophy of the school's course.

Additionally, the skills of a builder were valued along with the skills of the architect's and the artist's due to Simpson's and Jackson's approach to the programme. Their vision was to integrate the skills of masonry, carpentry, plumbing and plastering into the programme of the school. Jackson's vision was highlighted in his essay with the title 'Architecture: A profession or an Art?'

''Imagine some school of architecture to which anyone connected with building could have some access, whether is intended to be an architect, a builder or a craftsman in one of the arts connected with building.''

Richard Rathbone who became the metalwork tutor at the school shared the same ambition in a letter of 1886 telling that the ''best craftsman was an educated man, highly skilled in his craft and able to express through it his own individuality"/ Apart from metalwork in copper, wrought iron and brass the program also provided classes in decorative design, modelling and sculpture, painting from life and antique, enamelling and wood carving. The students of the Applied Art classes were coming from a variety of different backgrounds including art and architecture students, apprentices and aristocratic students who were developing their skills for leisure purposes.

Further, the tutor of sculpture and modelling C.J. Allen19 along with the painter Gerard Chowne20 were two of the most influential teachers upon Tyson Smith's and Carter Preston's development whom both attended the classes in the same period, and later would become brothers-in-law and ''senior artists at the Sandon Society at the Bluecoat Chambers.''21 The Liverpool School of Applied Arts eventually closed down in 1906 and the department joined the fresh 'School of Art' in Hope Street. Some of the students and staff moved to the new School and others who wanted to keep the values of the Art Sheds set up the 'Sandon Terrace Artists Group'. It was the first time in the city that an organised set of artists were opposite and outside the 'Recognised Art Establishment'. Carter Preston and Tyson Smith were amongst the founders of the society and after moving to the Bluecoat Chambers building (fig. 1.7, fig. 1.8) in 1907, they adopted the name 'Sandon Studios'. (The Bluecoat chambers was the first Art Centre in Britain, and also the oldest standing building in Liverpool city centre, dated 1716. Once housed the workshops of Herbert Tyson Smith (fig.1.9), Edward Carter Preston and Julia Carter Preston. Now it is home for art exhibitions and events) (fig. 1.10). The mainstream of the students there, around forty in all, were poor but they were some of the best artists of the 'Art Sheds'. They kept the values of working together and they shared the expenses, and as they were doing before, they kept the ethos of working in collaboration and sharing their skills and ideas towards experimentation and work. Hamel Calder who was one of the most important founders of the society, stated the aim of the fresh group and that their vision was to:

''stimulate the artistic and intellectual life of Liverpool by bringing together those who are interested in something more than fashion and football and bridge the share market'' as well as to unite the artists with the people who were interested in arts''.22

In conclusion, the group employed both the painter G. Chowne and the designer H. MacNair to act as tutors, but due to the economic problems they were facing, the approach of creating a school-like programme had finally failed.

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Fig.1.7

The Front of the Bluecoat Chambers, once house of Sandon Studios Society

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Fig. 1.8 The back yard of the Bluecoat Chambers, used as workshop Space for artists

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Fig. 1.9

Once Tyson Smith's workshop, rear of the Bluecoat Chambers, in 2002 workshop of Terry McGunigle

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Fig. 1.10

Soft Estate Collection, by Edward Shell at the Bluecoat, Dec 2013 - Feb 2014

1. Footnotes:

1 Peter Richmond, Marketing Modernisms: The Architecture and influence of Charles Reilly, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2001, p.1
2 Maureen Ann Bampton, Craftsman and Client: the official commissions of Edward Carter Preston, PhD Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2007, p.20
3 Liverpool scenes: Lime Street the Liverpool Electric Overhead Railway, dir. Alexander Promio, UK, Lumiere Brothers Films, British Council Film Collections, 1896, [film].
4 Richmond, Marketing Modernisms: The Architecture and influence of Charles Reilly, Liverpool, p.1
5 John Willet, Art in A City, London, The Shenval Press, 1967, p.55.
Bampton, Craftsman and Client: the official commissions of Edward Carter Preston, p.20 7 The Mersey - Liverpool's River, dir. John Finn, UK, Liberty Films, British Council Film Collections, 1941, [film].
6 Bampton, Craftsman and Client: the official commissions of Edward Carter Preston, p.20
7 Bampton, Craftsman and Client: the official commissions of Edward Carter Preston, p.22
8 Professor John Macdonald Mackay (1856-1931), Rathbone Chair of History, University of Liverpool (1884-1914).
9 Charles Harvey and Jon Press, William Morris Design Enterprise in Victorian Britain, Manchester,
10 Manchester University Press, 1991, p.85 12
11 Christopher Crouch, Design Culture in Liverpool 1880 -1914: The Origins of the Liverpool School of Architecture, Liverpool, Liverpool University Press, 2002 p.10
12 Sir Charles Herbert Reilly (Mar. 1874 - Feb. 1948) was born in London and he was an architect and teacher. He became the leader of the Liverpool school of architecture in 1904 and he was strongly influenced by Architecture in America. Some of his students were Herbert Rowse and Lionel Budden.
13 Henry Bloomfield Bare (1848 - 1912) was a Liverpool Architect who moved to Philadelphia, U.S.A. in the 1980's and he was a fellow to Liverpool School of Architecture of the Liverpool University.
Crouch, Design Culture in Liverpool 1880-1914, p.99
14 Crouch, Design Culture in Liverpool 1880-1914, p.99
15 Richard Llewellyn Benson Rathbone (1864-1939) was a metal worker, designer and teacher at the department of Applied Arts of the Liverpool University. He was also a member of the Sandon Studio Society.
16 Mary Bennett, The Art Sheds 1894-1905: An Exhibition to Celebrate the Centenary of the University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery, University of Liverpool, 1981, Introduction
17 Charles John Allen (Greenford, Middlesex, 1862-1956) was a British sculptor, a figure in the New Sculpture movement. In 1894 Allen moved to Liverpool, where he spent more than thirty years as a respected teacher at the University of Liverpool and Vice-Principal at the Liverpool City School of Art.
18 Gerard Chowne (1875-1917) was a British visual artist who was the tutor of painting at the School of Applied Arts of the Liverpool University.
20 Bampton, Craftsman and Client: the official commissions of Edward Carter Preston, p.28
21 Hamel Calder, 'Sandon Studios', The Bulletin of the Sandon Studios Society, No. 1, March 1912, LRO 367 SAN/4/2/1.
22 James Herbert MacNair (December 23, 1868 - April 22, 1955), was a Scottish artist, designer and teacher whose work contributed to the development of the "Glasgow Style" during the 1890's. He was a member of the 'Glasgow Four' along with C.J. Mackintosh and others. In 1894 he moved to Liverpool and became the design tutor at the 'Art Sheds' of the Liverpool University.

2: Family Tree

Herbert Tyson Smith - Sculptor and Medalist

Father, George Tyson Smith, Lithographic artist and Engraver. He was responsible for the 'Illuminated Address presented to the Queen on the opening of the exhibition of the Wavertree park' in Picton Road.

Mother, Mary-Jane was passionate about renaissance art and music. She was very supportive upon her son's creativeness and childhood.

Sister, Clarisa-Marie (Wife of Carter Preston), water-colourist, dressmaker and costumist. Once worked for a local theatrical costumier. She also studied at the Liverpool School of Applied Arts with her brother and husband.

Son-In-Law, Neville Bertram, stone carver, colleague and apprentice of Tyson Smith.

Edward Carter Preston - Painter, Sculptor and Medalist

Wife Clarissa-Marie (sister of Tyson Smith) water-colourist, dressmaker and costumist.

Brother Albert, manuscript, illuminator and commercial artist. Once worked with his brother Edward on the 'King's Liverpool Regiment Book of Remembrance' during the Second World War.

Daughter Julia Carter Preston. She was a talented ceramicist and potter. One of the most inspirational potters of all time mostly with her sgraffito technique.

Daughter Irene Carter Preston. She was a talented silversmith and jeweller.

George T. Capstick, brother-in-law, sculptor, painter and decorator. He studied at the Liverpool School of Applied Arts with Carter Preston and Tyson Smith. He was also colleague and apprentice of Tyson Smith at the Martins Bank project.

Family Background of the Artists:

The Background of Edward Carter Preston

Edward Carter Preston (fig.2.1) lived between 1884-1965, and he was a successful and inspirational artist, sculptor and medalist. His artistic skills took him a step forward and he was also very familiar with painting, glassware and wood carving. Edward was part of a family whose background was based in the world of commerce and he decided not to follow the family's tradition but to take up an artistic career. He was the oldest of four siblings (Winifred, Albert and Jessie), and he always wanted to be a good example for them/ Further, Edward's grandfather William, was a successful brewer who moved in Liverpool during the 1850's from North Lancashire. William became one of the most renowned brewers in the area by 1861 and Edward's father Robert John was to continue this family tradition after his father died in 1872.

Carter Preston lived in the family's house in Walton, Liverpool, where he was involved in many aspects of farming as well as brewery activities, helping his father since he was a small boy. Fields, trees and animals such as dogs, cats and horses were also part of his life at their house at Walton, Liverpool. These influences can be seen in many of his works throughout his career, including the Liverpool Cathedral project, the Royal Mint commissions and also in his late works in the form of mostly symbolic representation. The ''tradition of the spirit of Victorian self-reliance which was instilled into all the children at an early stage in their lives''2 seemed to be an influence upon Edward, and later in his career, it became a characteristic of the man, who was described as an industrious and energetic professional in his commissions, by his colleagues, clients and friends.

Meanwhile, brewers were important business at the time and his father wanted to pass the traditions and techniques into the family by turning Edward into a successful brewer in the late 1890's. Carter Preston's passion for art and creation was to cause major problems to the family, especially because artists were making no living before the First World War in Liverpool. His father was furious about his son's ambition to become an artist, and it seemed an alien decision to him according to the family's background. Brewing was the best option for Edward according to his father, Robert John. Pugh-Thomas, Edward's son-in-law claimed that his father discouraged him from his dreams, while characteristically saying that: ''painting is for ladies, it's no way for a man to earn a living''.4 Thomas adds that after their aggressive conversation, Robert John asked his son to leave home if he does not change his decision, and if he wants to become an artist he will have to do it alone without the family's support. Carter Preston would never leave his passion for creation behind and he decided to follow his dreams by taking his life on his hands early in his life.5

His first step was to enrol for art classes run by a local woman, privately, and there, he would experience gilding and engraving. Two dimensional design, which he learned at the local school can be seen in many of his sculptures and medals. Edward was a realist and after leaving his family for a new life, he knew that he would have a difficult time making his own living as an artist, and his first job at the Morison's furnishing store was about to begin. At the store he was involved in different aspects of design, decoration and applied art techniques. Carter Preston also worked as an apprentice with E. Lathom in Renshaw Street where he experienced glassware and he learned decorative glass techniques.

Nothing indicates an artistic talent or tradition in Edward's family tree but surprisingly his generation produced many talents including many of his siblings who were interested in arts, became artists, or even married artists. His brother Albert was a commercial artist and manuscript illuminator. According to Edward's daughter Julia, himself and his brother Albert worked together on the 'King's Liverpool Regiment Book of Remembrance' during the Second World War. Further, in the Preston's family tree, Edward's daughters Irene (was a silversmith and jeweller) and Julia (was a talented ceramist and potter), were to prove their grandfather wrong for his discouragement against their father.7 Unfortunately the Carter Preston artistic family tree came to an end after this generation with none of Edward's grandchildren becoming professional artists. Meanwhile, the family tree was expanding, and the new member of the family was his brother-in-law and friend from the 'Sandon Studios', George T. Capstick , who was a sculptor, painter and decorator. Capstick assisted Tyson Smith in several commissions including the 'Martins Bank' Project too. The most important person though, to become a member of the Carter Preston's artistic family was his Wife Clarissa-Marie, who was a talented water-colourist, dress-maker and costumist. Marie was the factor that two artistic families of Liverpool, the Preston's and the Smith's, became one. Additionally, her brother Herbert Tyson Smith was another great artist and sculptor, who is considered as one of the most successful sculptors Liverpool has ever produced, along with his brother-in-law Edward Carter Preston.

Further, during the Edwardian period, Carter Preston entered the 'Art Sheds' of the Liverpool University. ''Carter Preston attended the classes as an evening student from 1902-1903 and a day student 1903-4''9. This was a period of transformation, change and experimentation in the world of art and architecture in Liverpool and also in his personal life when he met his future wife Marie, at the school. Some important art movements such as the 'Art Deco', the 'Arts and Crafts', and also Classicism and Impressionism, proved sources of inspiration for the young artist and his work. His training at the school was mostly based on traditional techniques, but Edward was always experimenting with new materials such as fiberglass, later in his career. Furthermore, he was very confident in working with a variety of different media, and this reflected his 'Art Sheds' education mostly on the 'Arts and Crafts' thinking. Some of his tutors at the Liverpool University were very influential upon his work as well as exhibitions by Clive Bell and Roger Fry , who organised postimpressionist demonstrations at the Bluecoat Chambers.

After his training at the school, Edward was about to begin his career at the Bluecoat, and the Sandon Studios, where for the first time he had the opportunity to work alongside with other talented artists of the time, mostly on producing watercolour paintings for commercial purposes. Carter Preston was originally registered as a decorator during 1901-1902 and as a glass decorator during 1902-1903 . Painting, (fig.2.2 - fig.2.4) was the major source of income for the young artist but this was about to change with the start of the First World War in 1914. Edward was also very successful in producing glassware, sculptures and medals, later in his career.

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Fig. 2.2

Watercolour painting by Carter Preston, 1904-05

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Fig. 2.3 E. Carter Preston, Coastal Scenes Collection, Watercolours, 1905-06

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Fig. 2.4 E. Carter Preston, Coastal Scenes Collection, Watercolours, 1905-06

The Background of Herbert Tyson Smith

Herbert Tyson Smith (fig.2.5) was born in Liverpool and he lived between 1883 and 1972. He was a very influential sculptor and medalist, one of the best the city has ever produced. He was the son of George Smith, a lithographic artist and engraver. Herbert was fortunate to belong in a family with artistic background, and individuals who were passionate about art and creation, and parents who would encourage every element of creativity of their children. George, Herbert's ''father had been responsible for making the illuminated address presented to the queen on the opening of the exhibition of the Wavertree park in Picton Road''. Tyson Smith was present at the exhibition with his parents at the age of four, and it was the first time he had the opportunity to get involved with art and creation, and in a late interview he seemed to remember art pieces from the show. His mother, Mary Jane Tyson, who was passionate about Italian Renaissance art and music, was also a very influential and encouraging person upon Herbert's childhood and creativeness. Herbert's sister, Clarissa-Marie was also an artist (water-colourist, dress-maker and costumist), and she attended the 'Art Sheds' of the Liverpool University along with her brother and future husband, Edward Carter Preston. This bonded the two families together to create a dynasty of artistic background in the Liverpool world of art and sculpture. Tyson Smith's artistic family tree came to an end after Herbert's generation, and none of his children is known to have become an artist.

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Fig. 2.5

Portrait of Herbert Tyson Smith

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