Bye-Bye to BOWD by GOLDSMITH'S COLLEGE - 1926: Being a Dinner Given By The Members of the B.G.S. To celebrate The Leave-Taking of my Lord The Bishop of Nouveau-Croix. On the occasion of his Pilgrimage to Rome MCMXXVI.

London: Self-published., 1926. First edition. Paperback. Very Good. A large single sheet folded into 4. This was the menu to celebrate Edward Bouverie Hoyton ( BOWD) winning the Prix de Rome in 1926. The members of the B.G.S. (Bassett-Gray Society )The cover is designed by Eric Fraser, who must have been 24 years old. (‘Nouveau-Croix’ translates as New Cross , this is where Goldsmiths Art College is based.) On reverse are the signatures of some of the well-wishers of the B.G.S who also attended these ‘Bibbings’. They include Bouverie Hoyton, Paul Drury, William Morgan, Charles Thompson, S.W. Hayter, Henry Bassett, Graham Sutherland, Eric Fraser, Edmund Sullivan, Stanley Anderson, F.Marriott, Malcolm Osborne, Percy Buckmann, Cecil Notley, Clive Gardiner, Alfred Drury, (Paul Drury’s father who was a sculptor), and Milner Gray.On the inside is the menu, and a is a list of ‘toasts’. Loosely inserted, printed on hand made laid paper is yet another invite from ‘St.Bassett’ and ‘St. Gray’.The menu is lightly foxed and dusty, the paper is a little worn. There is a previous owners (?) name on top margin. The separate invitation is clean and in very good condition. Scarce. (Only thirty three members-see details below, so the printing number would have been very small) Jolyon Drury has kindly sent us his book which I can highly recommend. ( Revelation to Revolution.The Legacy of Samuel Palmer.Drury and the Goldsmiths School in the 20th Century . Written and published by Jolyon Drury). All the extracts below are from his book. He explains in detail about the Milner Grey and Bassett-Gray Studio. Milner Gray first entered Goldsmiths in 1915, but due to the First World War he took time out and worked with the Royal Engineers in the camouflage section, returning to Goldsmiths Art College in 1919. Basset, like Gray, also returned from the war. By the time Drury and Sutherland had arrived at Goldsmith’s, Gray and Bassett had set up their Bassett-Gray Studio. Working as an advertising and commercial art studio, with their offices in Imperial Buildings, Ludgate Circus, Gray and Bassett , being ex Goldsmiths students, needing young talented artists, got Goldsmiths students on their books. ‘Gray set out the principals of an association of essentially independent artists who, whilst working within the umbrella of Bassett-Gray, were free to develop their own specialisms. This philosophy survived through the development of the practice into The Industrial Design Partnership in 1935, to evolve into The Design Research Unit (DRU), which still survives to this day. It was this freedom of the association that attracted so many of the top designers and artists of the day.’. ‘Milner Gray’s mature vision of a group practice understood the value of social as well as industrious activity in team building both for his clients and supporters as well, as his associates. From 1924to 1929 there were annual dinners that were very carefully planned and choreographed to be seen to be different from anything else in the fledgling advertising industry.’ ‘The dinner was always held at ‘Ye Olde Dr. Butlers’s Head Masons Yard in the city.’ These were called ‘Bibbings’. ‘1926 celebrated Bouverie-Hoyton winning the Prix de Rome and Drury (Paul) election as ARE; the dinner was an altogether bigger affair. The menu was designed by Eric Fraser with the theme of Bouverie, nick –named Bowd as Durer’s ‘Nemesis’ with Patrons drawn on the left and members drawn of the studio on the right . Thirty-three sat down to dinner on the 24th of September and ‘everyone’ was there; Alfred Drury RA, Malcolm Osborne RE,(to become President of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers in 1938),Amor Fenn, (the then Head Master of Goldsmiths) , Frederic Marriott, (the recently retired Head master after thirty years’ service), Clive Gardener (the up and coming star), Edmund (Old Sully)