Primavera is a fine arts and crafts gallery at 10

King's Parade King's Parade is a street in central Cambridge, England.Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, England.

Henry Rothschild Heinrich Wilhelm Jacques Rothschild (21 November 1913 – 27 May 2009) was a collector and dealer in ceramics, textiles and other craft works. He was a Jewish émigré from Offenbach am Main who left Germany for England in 1933. He read natu ...

founded Primavera in 1945 in

Sloane Street Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along. History Sloane Street takes its name from Sir Han ...

, London, in order to promote and retail contemporary British art and craft.Greg, Andrew.''Primavera:Pioneering Craft and Design 1945–1995.'' Newcastle Upon Tyne: Tyne and Wear Museums, 1995. The Cambridge branch of Primavera was opened in 1959.

History

Henry Rothschild first became interested in the crafts when he encountered them in Italy in 1944 while on Army service with the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

. On his return to England, he researched British crafts and decided to found Primavera in

. Primavera offered

stoneware Stoneware is a broad class of pottery fired at a relatively high temperature, to be impervious to water. A modern definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire ...

by the

Winchcombe Winchcombe () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the county of Gloucestershire, England, situated northeast of Cheltenham. The population was recorded as 4,538 in the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census and ...

and

Crowan Crowan ( (village) or (parish)) is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is about three-and-a-half miles (6 km) south of Camborne.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 203 ''Land's End'' A former mining pa ...

potteries,

tin-glaze Tin-glazing is the process of giving tin-glazed pottery items a ceramic glaze that is white, glossy and opaque, which is normally applied to red or buff earthenware. Tin-glaze is plain lead glaze with a small amount of tin oxide added.Caiger-Smit ...

from the Cole brothers' Rye Pottery, tableware by

Lucie Rie Dame Lucie Rie, (16 March 1902 – 1 April 1995) () was an Austrian-born, independent, British studio potter. She is known for her extensive technical knowledge, her meticulously detailed experimentation with glazes and with firing and her unu ...

, textiles, furniture and basketwork being exhibited and sold. From 1953, Primavera developed an exhibition programme showing continental ceramics, toys, sculpture and folk art. The reputation of the gallery enabled Rothschild to promote arts education in schools and to support museums and local authorities in putting together art and craft collections. The Cambridge branch of Primavera was opened in 1959, when Rothschild took over a shop formerly run by the Cambridge Society of Designer-Craftsmen on King's Parade. The interior was refitted by Gordon and Ursula Bowyer and the basement redesigned as a textile showroom. Marion Goodwin and Valerie Webb were appointed as managers and focused on sourcing local crafts. The upstairs gallery space at 11 King's Parade was once home to

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...

, the poet and essayist, along with his sister

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

in 1819. In 1965, the Viewpoint 1965 exhibition held at the gallery featured

Geoffrey Clarke Geoffrey Clarke (28 November 1924 – 30 October 2014) was a British sculptor of ecclesiastical art and maker of stained glass. Life and work Clarke was a student of Ronald Grimshaw and attended the Royal College of Art in 1948 after serving ...

(sculpture and stained glass), Mary Potter (paintings), and

Dan Arbeid Dan Arbeid (2 April 1928 - 19 September 2010) was an English studio potter, considered innovative with a radical use of hand-building techniques. Early life and education Arbeid was born into a secular Jewish family in Stepney, East London. Havi ...

(ceramics). In 1999 the current owner, Jeremy Waller, purchased the gallery. Waller returned to Cambridge (where he was previously a student) after spending many years working and travelling in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Since 1999, Primavera has been remodelled to accommodate more work on 3 floors of the King's Parade site. The location of the gallery opposite King's College and its

Chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

produces an effect that is powerful. Primavera now represents more than 500 UK makers, exhibited in the Grade II-listed galleries on King's Parade. Waller and his wife Sheila have also dedicated a significant part of their home and grounds at College Farm,

Haddenham, Cambridgeshire Haddenham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 3,228. The 2011 census reported a population of 3,344, a figure which ...

(ex-

Gonville and Caius College Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges an ...

), to housing a permanent collection of work by UK artists. In 2001 Waller revived the connection between the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

and Primavera by staging a joint exhibition entitled "Ceramics and Glass". New works by

Alan Caiger-Smith Alan Caiger-Smith MBE (8 February 1930 – 21 February 2020) was a British ceramicist, studio potter and writer on pottery. Life and work Caiger-Smith was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts ...

and Peter Layton were shown. Primavera has received commissions from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

to design and craft pieces for colleges, including a pair of wooden candlesticks for St Catharine's College turned by Guy Ravine in 2008. Primavera displays jewellery by the late Barbara Christie. In the early twentieth century James Joyce visited the premises. The Queen Mother also liked to pass by the gallery on occasions and, in more recent times, Stephen Hawking used to be a frequent visitor. Numbers 10 and 11, King's Parade are a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Historical summary

In 1945 Henry Rothschild opened Primavera at 149 Sloane Street, London. In 1953, Primavera developed an exhibition programme starting with a selection of traditional British baskets held at the Tea Centre. In 1999,

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public research university in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins date back to the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at the Unive ...

, Cambridge, recognised Rothschild's contribution to the crafts by awarding an honorary Master of Arts degree. In 1999, Jeremy Waller purchased Primavera and continued the exhibition programme at 10 and later also 11 King's Parade. In 2013, Primavera displayed a new collection of porcelain and ceramic vessels by Tony Laverick In 2016, painter Stuart Cain was Primavera's artist-in-residence for Cambridge Open Studios.

Bibliography

*Fisher, Sue. "Gallery with a difference". '' Cambridgeshire Life'', July 2003. Pages 94–96. *De Bruyne, John. "John de Bruyne's entrepreneur's view". ''

Cambridge News The ''Cambridge News'' (formerly the ''Cambridge Evening News'') is a British daily newspaper. Published each weekday and on Saturdays, it is distributed from its Milton base. In the period December 2010 – June 2011 it had an average daily c ...

'', May 2007. *Greg, Andrew. "Primavera: Pioneering Craft and Design 1945–1995”. Newcastle upon Tyne: Tyne and Wear Museums, 1995. *Hobday, Alan, and Loxston, Rob. “The Fitzwilliam and Primavera: Ceramics and Glass”. Somerset: Field Print and Graphics Ltd, 2001. *Crossley-Holland, Joan. “Contemporary Crafts”. British Art and Antique Year book 1985. Pages 71–74. *Gartner, Peter J. “Art and Architecture:

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

". Oldenburg, Germany: Barnes and Noble, 2001. *Cerver Francisco Asensio. “Interior Design Atlas”. Colgne: Konemann, 2000.

References

External links

Primavera Gallery website
{{coord , 52, 12, 15.8, N, 0, 7, 4, E, type:landmark_region:GB-CAM, display=title Art museums and galleries established in 1945 Art museums and galleries in Cambridgeshire Shops in Cambridge Culture in Cambridge History of Cambridge 1945 establishments in England