EVENT: The Albert Dawson Collection Showcase at the University of Leeds

You’re invited to the Albert Dawson Collection Showcase – 17 November 2-4.30pm – University of Leeds Libraries

Hi everyone, 

I’m Dr. Melissa Tricoire, Albert Dawson Collection Fellow at the University of Leeds Libraries. I’d like to invite you to the Albert Dawson Collection Showcase on 17 November (2-4.30pm) at the Brotherton Research Centre, Parkinson Building, Woodhouse Lane, Woodhouse, Leeds LS2 9JT.

This event will include a curated display of items in the newly available Albert Dawson Collection, which you may be interested in using in your research. This is a drop-in event. The team and I will be there to welcome you and talk you through the items and our findings informally.

The Albert Dawson Collection at the University of Leeds

The Albert Dawson Collection was created by couple Peter Rose (1927-2020) and Albert Gallichan (1930-2001), pioneering collectors of 19^th century fine and decorative arts. Peter and Albert displayed their world-renowned collection in their Brighton villa. Their collection attracted the attention of many researchers, galleries and art dealers and collectors who visited the villa to view it. Albert had a passion for 19^th century painting and worked as an advertising executive. Peter led a significant academic career, working as Head of Expressive Arts and Governor of Brighton Polytechnic, until he became a freelance writer and lecturer.

Their fine and decorative arts collection was dispersed amongst museums and through sales after Peter’s passing. The Albert Dawson Collection at the University of Leeds contains rich archival material that documents the collection’s development, the far-reaching network of collectors, curators, and antiques dealers that Peter and Albert engaged with as well as their friendships with Charles and Lavinia Handley-Read, and Allen Harriman and Edward Judd. Here is a blog, written by our Collection Officer, which provides more information about the archive.

Items on display at the showcase will include:

• Original drawings and poems by concrete poet and Benedictine monk – Dom Pierre-Sylvester Houédard. These original works deal with religious themes, were created in letters, on postcards, and as Christmas presents, and often feature a mix of English, French and Italian
• A copy of Brian Coleman’s The Best of British Arts and Crafts, a glossy room-by-room guide to the Albert Dawson Collection, to which Peter contributed multiple essays
• Professional and informal photographs of artworks in the collection
• Index cards about Blanche Vulliamy ceramics and Burmantofts pottery in the collection, which evidence Albert and Peter’s meticulous research and record-keeping
• Correspondence with Leeds City Art Gallery and Cartwright Hall about loans for exhibitions about John William Inchbold, George Clausen and Burmantofts potteries
• Correspondence about Albert and Peter’s gift of a W.A.S Benson Kettle and Stand to Los Angeles County Museum of Art in memory of collector Edward Judd
• And more

Who is it for?

The showcase will appeal to scholars interested in poetry, histories of collecting, 19^th century fine and decorative arts, women artists, Victorian humour, the relationship between collecting and art scholarship, object-based learning, the dissemination of knowledge through exhibitions and bequests, LGBTQ+ archives, 20^th century appraisals of Victorian taste, and local links to art institutions in West Yorkshire.

Let me know if you’ll attend by RSVping here. Don’t hesitate to forward this invitation to people in your network who may find it of interest.

I look forward to meeting you.

Dr Melissa Tricoire

Albert Dawson Collection Fellow | Cultural Collections and Galleries, University of Leeds Libraries