About the Collection

The De Morgan Foundation owns an unparalleled collection of work by the late 19th and early 20th century ceramicist William De Morgan and his artist wife Evelyn. They were both highly esteemed in their fields and William De Morgan was the most famous ceramicist of the Arts & Crafts Movement. The collection was originally formed by Evelyn’s sister, Mrs Wilhelmina Stirling. She was a fascinating woman who published her sister and brother-in-law’s biography and other books on diverse subjects. She inherited some pieces from her sister and brother-in-law and actively sought out other works to add to her collection which she assembled at her home, Old Battersea House in London.

Mrs Stirling died at the age of ninety-nine in 1965. She bequeathed her substantial art collection to be looked after in Trust for perpetuity and the De Morgan Foundation Charity was formally created and charged with this duty in 1967.

The Foundation owns 56 framed oil paintings by Evelyn De Morgan. These range in scale from the domestic and intimate to extremely large imposing canvases. Evelyn De Morgan was also a prolific draughtswoman and the Foundation has a collection of over 800 drawings which vary from compositional sketches and life drawings to highly finished pastel studies for her oil paintings.

The Foundation’s holdings also include a few watercolours and unframed works by Evelyn and some works on paper and canvas by William De Morgan. In addition the Foundation owns over 1000 pieces of ceramics including individual tiles and tile panels, dishes, chargers, bowls and vases by William De Morgan. The collection includes examples painted by De Morgan’s top three decorators – Joe Juster, Charles and Fred Passenger and several pieces of De Morgan’s “moonlight” colour-way, which are exceedingly rare and are considered to be the pinnacle of De Morgan’s achievements in lustre.

In addition the Foundation possesses some archive material including a small collection of letters, drawings, plays, personal effects and family documents relating to William and Evelyn De Morgan. The vast majority of the archive however pertains to Mrs Stirling herself and includes acquisition details for the collection, her research for various books, photographs and ephemera dating from the 18th Century to 1965. The De Morgan Foundation’s own archive has also been preserved and this dates from 1967 to the present.

Google Arts and Culture

Evelyn De Morgan’s paintings and some of William De Morgan’s ceramics can now be seen on the Google Arts & Culture Platform. In an exciting move towards a digital future, with better access to its collection for everyone, the De Morgan Foundation partnered with Google Arts & Culture in 2019 to have the Google Art Camera capture high resolution gigapixel images of the oil paintings in the collection. The images available are so detailed that even conservators haven’t seen these delectable oils in such detail before.

About Google Arts & Culture 

Google Arts & Culture puts the collections of more than 1,800 museums at your fingertips. It’s an immersive way to explore art, history and the wonders of the world, from Van Gogh’s bedroom paintings to the women’s rights movement and the Taj Mahal.  The Google Arts & Culture app is free and available online for iOS and Android.  Google’s team that help preserve and share culture and allow curators to create engaging exhibitions online and offline, inside museums. Read about Google’s latest projects on the Google Keyword blog.

Art UK

What is Art UK?

Art UK is the online home for every public art collection in the UK. They are a charity, and the website represents a collaboration between over 3,200 British institutions. Through Art UK’s work, art is made available for everyone – for enjoyment, learning and research.

The De Morgan Foundation partnered with Art UK in 2020, bringing an additional 56 oil paintings by Evelyn De Morgan to the platform, to sit alongside 8 from other public galleries. This means that for the first time all Evelyn De Morgan paintings in UK collections can be seen together in one place.

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