BROMSGROVE GUILD OF APPLIED ARTS
Bromsgrove and Birmingham
![Image](http://www.925-1000.com/td/f/Birmingham/Bromsgrove-Guild-1901.jpg)
Bromsgrove Guild - Bromsgrove - 1901
![Image](http://www.925-1000.com/td/f/Birmingham/Bromsgrove-Guild-1902.jpg)
Bromsgrove Guild - Bromsgrove - 1903
![Image](http://www.925-1000.com/td/f/Birmingham/Bromsgrove-Guild-1903.jpg)
Bromsgrove Guild - Bromsgrove - 1903
![Image](http://www.925-1000.com/td/f/Birmingham/Bromsgrove-Guild-1904.jpg)
Bromsgrove Guild - Bromsgrove - 1904
![Image](http://www.925-1000.com/td/f/Birmingham/Bromsgrove-Guild-1904-2.jpg)
Bromsgrove Guild - Bromsgrove - 1904
The Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts was founded in 1898 by Walter Gilbert, the former Headmaster of the Bromsgrove School of Art, and unlike other Arts and Crafts guilds that were formed around this time, they did not disappear after a few years, but continued in business until 1966. Gilbert gathered around him a remarkable group of craftsmen who were working in a variety of different trades. In 1903 when interviewed by
'The Craftsman' magazine, he stated:
'The members of the Guild are individuals who have advanced beyond the limits of 'professionalism', that they might adopt the more prolific method of thinking and working in their media. These men and women, while they stand pledged to co-operation and mutual support, have individual studios and workshops altogether independent. Each department is financed and controlled separately by the guildsmen of the same department who train their apprentices: choosing and employing only those who are capable of developing the main idea of the master craftsman. The Bromsgrove Guild is practically the outcome of the Arts and Crafts Movement begun in England by Morris and his associates in 1887, with the purpose of imparting to and developing from each material or medium such form and quality as lie within the limits of the material; without imitation of the forms and the technique peculiar to substances of other nature: as is commonly the case in these times of the 'one-man-designs' which emanate from the ateliers and offices of 'a learned profession.'
"It is with the purpose of supplementing and supporting architecture that these guildsmen (each of them a trained or experienced architect or artist) have taken up separate and diverse crafts: each individual developing the possibilities of his own particular medium through the use of the experiences of past ages combined with the advantages of modern inventions and appliances.
"It is in this sense and not in the spirit of L'Art Nouveau that the members of the Bromsgrove Guild, encouraged by the greater part of the leading architects of the United Kingdom, are earnestly and successfully attempting to give appropriate decorative form and quality, combined with utility, to objects designed for service or for ornament in buildings ecclesiastical, secular and domestic.
"The members of the Guild include craftsmen in metals, forged or cast, figure-work, etc.; stucco-duro, plaster in situ or cast; painted and leaded glass; glass-mosaic for external or internal decoration (Westminster Abbey) ; wood and stone carving; furniture; embroideries for hangings and decoration; wood-engraving; jewelry and enamels; and other of the lesser, kindred arts."
The article in
'The Craftsman' later notes:
Another most active section of the Guild is that of jewelry, or rather the goldsmith's craft, as distinguished from the work of the mere framer of precious stones, chosen largely for their commercial value. The recent reform in this art has led to its rapid elevation, until at least one goldsmith, M. Rene Lalique, is honored in his own country as the equal of any contemporary painter or sculptor of his nation, while the world at large recognizes him as the artistic brother and perhaps the superior of Benvenuto Cellini himself. The change and advance in taste now felt throughout Europe and America, are producing a demand for beauty of form and design, rather than for intrinsic value. The pearl, the opal, the moonstone, the aqua-marine, with other gems and stones prized for the play of color which they afford, are the ones most favored by the new order of goldsmiths, who do not repeat a favorite design until its freshness is lost, but who render individual and unique every piece which passes through their hands. The jewelry of the Bromsgrove Guild is produced by two artist-craftsmen who are husband and wife, and whose work is highly commended by the noted critic, Aymer Vallance.
The guild carried out many important commissions, including the railings and gates that enclose Buckingham Palace, the bronze doors of the Bank of England, the Grace gates at Lord's Cricket Ground, the lamp columns in Parliament Street, the Liver Birds that surmount the Royal Liver Building at Liverpool, and much of the ornate metalwork that graced the
Lusitania and the
RMS Queen Mary.
The guild stated producing jewellery as from 1901 from workshops in Bromsgove, and also silverware, mostly ecclesiastical, and much of this work was produced by the great A. Edward Jones (1879-1954) and can be seen in churches and cathedrals around the United Kingdom.
The guild converted into a limited liability company in June 1922, styled as Bromsgrove Guild Ltd. They suffered greatly from the depression in the 1930's, and this, followed by WWII and loss of skilled hands, saw the business go into decline and it finally closed in 1966.
Some images of the mallet, trowel, and casket, that were used for the laying of the foundation stone by King Edward VII for the new buildings at St Bartholomew's Hospital at London in 1904:
We give illustrations of the trowel, casket, and mallet used by the King for the laying of the foundation stone of the new buildings of St. Batholomew's Hospital. The motif adopted in the trowel is the defeat of Death by Life when helped by Sympathy and Affection. In the blade of the trowel, in the narrow circle of the golden hours, is the figure of Life–“a fair young lusty boy such as they feign Dan Cupid to have been, full of delightful health and lively joy, decked all with flowers and wings of gold fit to employ "--tying the hands of Death the reaper, with the face almost hidden and in the shade. The figure of Life is attended by two little figures representing Love and Sympathy. Above all this arises a rich sheltering canopy, surmounted by the royal crown in gold ; and from this springs again the handle, enriched by the titles of the King, and surmounted by a little figure releasing itself from the thorns or pains of affliction. The motif in the casket is Love bearing another’s burden (as amplified in the corners by the supporting loves), and rising superior to Pain by the little figure wrestling with the thorns.
Source:
The Studio - Volume 33 - 1904
![Image](http://www.925-1000.com/td/f/Birmingham/Bromsgrove-Guild-1904-3.jpg)
Bromsgrove Guild - Bromsgrove - 1904
![Image](http://www.925-1000.com/td/f/Birmingham/Bromsgrove-Guild-1908.jpg)
Bromsgrove Guild - Bromsgrove - 1908
Trev.