Life with Art: Benton End and the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing

10 December 2021

Cedric Morris in His Garden (detail; c.1957), Glyn Morgan. Ipswich Borough
© the estate of Glyn Morgan / Bridgeman Images

The art school set up by Cedric Morris and his partner, Arthur Lett-Haines, at Benton End house in Suffolk was home to a community of artists and writers during the mid 20th century. This display at Firstsite Gallery in Colchester (11 December–18 April 2022) presents 100 works by some of the school’s best known alumni – including Maggi Hambling, Lucian Freud and Frances Hodgkin, as well as Morris and Lett-Haines themselves. The influence of the garden at Benton End on British horticulture – Morris was a renowned plantsman as well as a painter – will also be explored. Find out more from Firstsite’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Benton End.

Benton End. Courtesy of the Benton End House & Garden Trust

Portrait of Cedric Morris (1930), Frances Hodgkins.

Portrait of Cedric Morris (1930), Frances Hodgkins. Towner Eastbourne

Frances Rose (3) (1973), Maggi Hambling.

Frances Rose (3) (1973), Maggi Hambling. Art Council Collection, Southbank Centre. © Maggi Hambling/Bridgeman Images

Small Head (1973-74), Lucian Freud. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre.

Small Head (1973–74), Lucian Freud. Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre. © The Lucian Freud Archive/Bridgeman Images

Cedric Morris in His Garden (c.1957), Glyn Morgan. Ipswich Borough Council Museums and Galleries.

Cedric Morris in His Garden (c. 1957), Glyn Morgan. Ipswich Borough Council Museums and Galleries. © Estate of Glyn Morgan/Bridgeman Images