E. W. Godwin, British architect and designer - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, Dec, 1999 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

Not all interior design corn missions result in friendship between homeowner and designer, particularly when both parties are eccentric geniuses. A case in point involves Oscar Wilde and the equally pugnacious and idiosyncratic interior designer E. W. Godwin. They quarreled and even went to law before making up in 1885, when Wilde wrote Godwin about his remodeling and redecorating project in general and the dining room in particular: "You have had a good deal of trouble over the house for which I thank you very much, and must insist on your honorarium being not ten but fifteen guineas at least....Each chair is a sonnet in ivory and the table is a masterpiece in pearl."

An exhibition evocative of Godwin's vast and varied output is on view at the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts galleries in New York City The show is entitled E. W. Godwin: Aesthetic Movement Architect and Designer and remains on view until February 27,2000. Some 150 objects testify to Godwin's extraordinary vision and talent, which he applied to nearly every aspect of architecture and decoration He designed buildings and orchestrated the decoration of their interiors, including textiles, carpets, ceramics (both tiles and hollow ware), wallpaper, furniture, metalwork, stained glass, and theatrical stage sets and costumes. (Godwin lived with and had two children by the celebrated actress Ellen Terry.) He was also a prolific writer and critic and an astute and devoted collector. Little wonder, then, that he worked in so many stylistic idioms. His furniture designs alone incorporated ornament and design elements from many earlier civilizations and styles, among them Japanese, Chinese, Gree k, Egyptian, and the English Gothic, Jacobean, Georgian, cottage, and Queen Anne periods. His designs were marketed to a wide audience and he undertook custom work for several clients. More than a handful of his designs required the assistance of some of the leading artists and craftsmen of the period. For example, Godwin called up an his great friend James McNeill Whistler to execute splendid painted decoration on pieces of his furniture, and Whistler commissioned Godwin to design a London studio house which was to be an atelier and living quarters for the artist's students.

Thirteen essays by leading scholars comprise the catalogue for the exhibition, which gives an excellent overview of the way of life of the leading lights in England during the latter half of the nineteenth century and the many artistic collaborations that were a natural outcome of the position Godwin held m society. The publication is edited by Susan Weber Soros and co-published by Bard and Yale University Press.