It was a place where many of the best things in life were combined: art, food, wine, sex, and the natural environment. She had a role in the creation of some of the UK’s most famous post-war painters, including Lucian Freud and Maggie Hambling.
Benton’s End was an extraordinary place where aspiring artists lived and studied under the tutelage of Cedric Morris and his lover Arthur Litt Haines. Now it is celebrated at an exhibition that brings together for the first time alumni of the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing.
In addition to Freud and Hambling, students included Frances Hodgkins, Valerie Thornton, David Carr, Lucy Harwood, and Richard Chobbing. They lived and worked on a sixteenth century rose farm near Hadley, Suffolk, where there was as much emphasis on gardening and cooking as there was on art.
Many of the works loaned to the Firstsite Gallery in Colchester have never been seen in public before. Among them is Woodpecker, a painting by Morris of two red-headed birds on a branch on a winter background, which has been hanging for decades in a private house, slowly cracking and changing color with age.
Ben Codd Adams, Essex artist and president of the Victor Patty Lay Foundation, an art group focused on East Anglia, said Maurice and Leight, as he was known, “study in a very easy way.” “It was more about working together, and although they were in a leadership role, they weren’t dictators. It was just about working. They were interested in people who would shrink.”
Hambling, who started studying at Benton End while still in school, said the farm “was really where life began.” In an interview in 2017, she said, “Part of my attraction at age 15 is that it has been called the home of artists and infamous for every vice under the sun.”
Coode-Adams said Benton’s End was considered too cute. “There was always a lot of people, a lot of drinking, and always good food. The parties were very intense at the time.” The house was “badly filthy–never cleaned by anyone,” and there was so much sexual activity that Lett-Haines took a series of mistresses along with his lifelong relationship with Morris.
The couple founded the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in 1937, initially in Dedham, Essex. Sixty students enrolled within nine months. After Dedham’s house burned down – apparently as a result of a cigarette being thrown by Freud – the school was re-established at Paignton End, where it lasted for 40 years.
There Morris devoted as much time to gardening as he did art, though the two often overlapped when he was painting plants and flowers. Students were also encouraged to paint in the extensive gardens of Benton End.
He rose at dawn to get rid of his beloved flower beds, leaving Lett-Haines in bed until noon. Morris produced at least 90 new species of iris, and traveled frequently to the Mediterranean and North Africa to find species that could be transported back to Suffolk. He also raised birds.
Lett-Haines was not interested in gardening, but had a passion for food and cooking. Hambling remembers serving couscous, which was almost unheard of in England in the early post-war years.
His dishes were served to the artist community twice a day, and included other foods that were unusual for the time, including garlic, olives, and garden-grown eggplant. Abundant amounts of red wine with meals.
Stuart Tulloch, head of the program at Firstsite, said Benton End had a certain “vibe”. “This was a great place. She was liberal and open.”
Although it produced famous artists, there were others who studied at the school who “never had such recognition before”. The exhibition was “Lifting a Stone and Finding a Busy Life Beneath It”.
In keeping with the spirit of Benton End, the gallery rooms are dotted with easels and paints to encourage visitors to create their own works, which will then be hung on the walls next to the main displays. Firstsite also runs workshops on wellbeing, cooking and gardening along with the gallery to reflect the character of the school.
“Life with Art brings together an amazing array of paintings, sculptures, engravings and drawings showcasing the incredible artists and creative talent that emanates from East Anglia,” said Sally Shaw, Director of Firstsite. The goal was to “evoke a real sense of Benton’s ending”.
She said the school’s impact was far-reaching. “Morris was the only person of his generation to achieve national status as an artist and gardener, and our exhibition explores how these two disciplines have combined to form one of the most fascinating artistic environments of the twentieth century.”
In 2019, Benton End was purchased by the Pinchbeck Trust. It plans to reopen the home and gardens as an arts and gardening center operated by the Garden Museum.
Life with Art: Benton End and the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing are on display at Firstsite Gallery in Colchester, Essex, until April 2022.