Private & Public: Finding the Modern British Garden

This catalogue examines the ways in which Modern British artists of the interwar period engaged with private and public spaces. The publication begins by exploring the private realms of artists, as many retreated to planting and painting their own gardens in the wake of the First World War. But while some withdrew, other artists sought pleasure and escapism, and amidst the rise of new technologies and popular entertainment, public gardens became arenas for a modern experience which they strove to capture. Moreover, this catalogue explores the blurring of boundaries between private and public spaces, as the car and other modes of transport opened up areas of the countryside beyond the orbit of the railways. And then there were the houses and gardens of estates such as Garsington Manor - brought into the public eye by artists who attended the gatherings of the great chatelaine and salonnie`re, Lady Ottoline Morrell. So perhaps these worlds of private and public were not mutually exclusive, after all. AUTHOR: Born in Stafford in 1965, Paul Liss is a fine art dealer and exhibition organiser. He joined Sotheby's as a Bursary student prior to working for Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox. He has created numerous catalogues/exhibtions such as Stanley Lewis (Cecil Higgens, 2010), Alan Sorrell (John Soane Museum, 2013) Evelyn Dunbar (Pallant House, 2015), WWI and WWII (Morley Gallery London, 2014 and 2016). He founded Liss Llewellyn Fine Art in 1991.