18 JULY 1931, Page 14

The other artist is a furniture maker, one of an

increasing company, for a deal of furniture is now made in the villages ; but he is the one producer of a famous pattern wrought in a particular material. Now " Gimson " chairs and furniture are famous in the history of the art. There are collections of them in some museums and private hands, and the name begins to take its place with Sheraton, Chippendale, and who not. Now Gimson, who lived too brief a life, journeyed in his youth to the West of England, learned the art from the famous Clisset family, who produced a beautiful and traditional pattern of chair, transferred both art and craft to the Cots- wolds, and being a born artist greatly improved on the originals, though never departing from the lines and lessons of the tradition. Since his death the chief disciple of his craft—and he produces a not less beautifully English product is Mr. Edward Gardner, of Prior Marston, Warwickshire, who has just a sufficient circulation, so to say, to be able, though not without difficulty, to maintain the industry. It is as certain as such things can be that his work, like Gimson's, will acquire an historical value.

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