Caroline Byng Lucas

Caroline Byng Lucas, née Caroline Lucas, (1886-1967) was a British artist and printmaker who established the Millers Gallery and Millers Press in Lewes in Sussex.

Biography

Byng Lucas studied painting and sculpture in London, Paris and Rome during the 1920s and first exhibited works at the Galerie des Jeunes Peintres in Paris in 1928.[1] In the 1930s she studied sculpture under John Skeaping and had solo exhibitions of her paintings at the Lefevre Gallery in 1934 and of her sculptures at the Leicester Galleries in 1939.[1][2] In 1941, with her older sister Frances Byng Stamper, Byng Lucas established the Millers Gallery in a converted outbuilding at her home in Lewes.[3] The Gallery acted as an arts centre with a programme of exhibitions, concerts and lectures.[3] Although focussed on local artists they also hosted works by Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde.[2] Kenneth Clarke was a visitor and E. M. Forster gave readings.[4] The Gallery hosted over 40 exhibitions, which included showing works by Matisse, Cezanne and Pissarro.[5][4] During the war, John Maynard Keynes, who was establishing the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts at the time, was closely involved with the Gallery.[3]

In 1945 the sisters established the Millers Press with the aim of promoting colour lithography. Among the works published were a set of six lithographs by Byng Lucas of Lewes and Brighton.[2] In 1948, in conjunction with the Redfern Gallery, Byng Lucas set up the Society of London Painter-Printers to support artists in producing colour prints.[3] The sisters disbanded the press and gallery in the mid-1950s due to their increasing fraility and died within a few months of each other in 1967.[3][2] In 1989 the Towner held an exhibition of the work of Byng Lucas and her sister.[4] Both the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London hold examples of her prints.[6][7]

Further reading
  • The Ladies of Miller's by Diana Crook, 1996, Dale House Press (Lewes)

References
  1. Frances Spalding (1990). 20th Century Painters and Sculptors. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1 85149 106 6.
  2. David Buckman (2006). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0 953260 95 X.
  3. Robin Garton (1992). British Printmakers 1855-1955 A Century of Printmaking from the Etching Revival to St Ives. Garton & Co / Scolar Press. ISBN 0 85967 968 3.
  4. "100 Lewes Women #4 & 5: The Ladies of Miller's: Caroline Byng-Lucas and Frances Byng-Stamper". Vote100Lewes. 8 April 2018. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  5. "Caroline Lucas (1886-1967)". British Council. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  6. "Collection Search: Caroline Lucas". British Museum. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  7. "Search the Collections: Caroline Lucas". Victoria & Albert Museum. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.