Rose, Muriel, 1897-1986

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Muriel Rose was born in 1897 . From 1917 to 1920 she was a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). Rose began her long association with the crafts working as an assistant to Dorothy Hutton in the Three Shields Gallery, Kensington and assisting the selection committee at the 1926 exhibition of The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. It was there that she first thought of running her own gallery.

Rose persuaded her father to allow her to use the 400 left in her brother's account (he had died in the World War I) and with this, set up the Little Gallery near Sloane Square in 1928 . Her partner in the venture was Margaret (Peggy) Turnbull who looked after the accounts and who she had first worked with at the Three Shields Gallery. They created The Little Gallery from a former laundry depot in 5 Ellis Street and it proved to be just what they needed, giving them a large, ground floor room with plenty of daylight and a decent basement space below. For the minimum expense they stripped it out and painted it white, and expanded into the neighbouring premises at 3 Ellis Street within a few years.

Rose had a good eye and very high standards, from the beginning she was determined to show only the best contemporary craft work, and did not want the gallery to be thought of as a gift shop. The intention was to enable craftspeople to show their work in the same way as painters or sculptors. Rose was the acknowledged agent for many of the craft pioneers of the inter-war period. Between 1928 and 1940 the Little Gallery provided a space where customers could meet and be introduced to contemporary craft.

Bombing closed the gallery down in 1940 and Rose, with Bernard Leach, came up with the idea of taking an exhibition of British craftwork to the USA to promote British crafts. The British Council employed Rose to select a travelling exhibition. The Exhibition of Modern British Crafts opened at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in May 1942 and it toured the USA and Canada until November 1945 . After this venture the British Council purchased a collection of crafts.

Rose was the author of The Artist Potter in England which was published by Faber & Faber in 1954 and then reprinted as Artist Potters in Britain in 1970 . Rose was instrumental in setting up the Crafts Study Centre at the Holburne Museum in Bath and was founder Trustee. She died in 1986 .

From the guide to the Muriel Rose archive, 1897-1986, (Crafts Study Centre)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Muriel Rose archive, 1897-1986 Crafts Study Centre
referencedIn Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie archive, 1895-1985 Crafts Study Centre
referencedIn William Simmonds archive, 1876-1968 Crafts Study Centre
referencedIn Nora Braden archive, 1901-2001 Crafts Study Centre
referencedIn Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher archive, 1964 Crafts Study Centre
referencedIn Bernard Leach archive, 1887-1979 Crafts Study Centre
creatorOf Muriel Rose archive, 1897-1986 Crafts Study Centre
referencedIn Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher textile archive, 1968 Crafts Study Centre
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Barron Phyllis 1890-1964 person
associatedWith Braden, Nora person
associatedWith Braden Nora 1902-2001 person
associatedWith Katharine Pleydell-Bouverie person
associatedWith Larcher Dorothy 1884-1952 person
associatedWith Leach, Bernard person
associatedWith Little Gallery London England corporateBody
associatedWith Pleydell-Bouverie Katherine 1895-1985 person
associatedWith Rose, Muriel person
associatedWith Simmonds, William person
associatedWith Simmonds William 1876-1968 person
associatedWith Tanner, Robin person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Subject
Decorative arts England 20th century
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1897

Death 1986

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SNAC ID: 4357669