Light Fitting thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Light Fitting

1880-1915 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

William Arthur Smith Benson (1858-1924) was born in London and educated at Winchester and Oxford. Benson was first articled to the office of Basil Champneys until 1880. Through his friendship with the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones, he met William Morris, whom he had long admired and was inspired to set up a workshop for the manufacture of metalwork in 1880. He later opened a well equipped factory in Hammersmith and in about 1887, a shop in Bond Street.; the firm survived until he retired in 1920. Benson was an active member of the Art Worker’s Guild from 1884, a leader in the formation of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society from 1886 and wrote an essay on metalwork in the catalogue of the first exhibition in 1888. On Morris’s death in 1896Benson became chairman of Morris & Co. for whom he designed furniture and wallpapers. In 1914, he was a founder member of the Design and Industries Association.

Benson’s firm produced some simple furniture but his great output consisted in well designed utilitarian metalwork, usually in copper and brass but sometimes in electroplate, including lamps, teapots, food warmers etc. Benson had always been interested in engineering and, unlike so many of his Arts & Crafts contemporaries, had little compunction about the use of the machine.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 4 parts.

  • Light Fitting
  • Shade
  • Shade
  • Shade
Materials and techniques
Copper, brass and glass
Brief description
Electrolier, three light, copper, brass and glass, London, 1880-1915, made by W.A.S. Benson & Co.
Physical description
Three light electrolier of brass, copper and opalescent glass. The central shaft, a copper tube, terminating in a moulded tip and fixed to the ceiling by a brass rose with stepped mouldings. A stepped, moulded circular knop is fixed half-way down the shaft. The lower part of the shaft is embellished with three flat strips of brass attached by screws to the main shaft which curve outwards, returning inwards and ending is a wavy line. From the base, three curved brass branches sprout upwards terminating with moulded and leaf decoration, a spiral stamen and a curved hook. The three curved branches of hollow brass tubing rise from the base hold the lamps and are supported by flat strip, curved scrollwork. The junction with the shaft is concealed by brass leaf decoration. The glass shades are held in trumpet shaped holders and are retained by screws in a deep flange. The glass shades, of opalescent, veined glass in a teardrop shape with a bulbous knop and concave rims.
Dimensions
  • Height: 100cm
  • Width: 50cm (without glass shades)
  • Glass shade height: 13.5cm
  • Glass shade diameter: 11.5cm
Style
Production typeMass produced
Credit line
Given by Ian and Rita Smythe
Subjects depicted
Summary
William Arthur Smith Benson (1858-1924) was born in London and educated at Winchester and Oxford. Benson was first articled to the office of Basil Champneys until 1880. Through his friendship with the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Edward Burne-Jones, he met William Morris, whom he had long admired and was inspired to set up a workshop for the manufacture of metalwork in 1880. He later opened a well equipped factory in Hammersmith and in about 1887, a shop in Bond Street.; the firm survived until he retired in 1920. Benson was an active member of the Art Worker’s Guild from 1884, a leader in the formation of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society from 1886 and wrote an essay on metalwork in the catalogue of the first exhibition in 1888. On Morris’s death in 1896Benson became chairman of Morris & Co. for whom he designed furniture and wallpapers. In 1914, he was a founder member of the Design and Industries Association.

Benson’s firm produced some simple furniture but his great output consisted in well designed utilitarian metalwork, usually in copper and brass but sometimes in electroplate, including lamps, teapots, food warmers etc. Benson had always been interested in engineering and, unlike so many of his Arts & Crafts contemporaries, had little compunction about the use of the machine.
Bibliographic references
  • Ian Hammerton, ed. W.A.S. Benson, Arts and Crafts Luminary and Pioneer of Modern Design, Woodbridge, Antique Collectors' Club, 2005. ISBN: 1851494766
  • Shirley Bury, A Craftsman who used the Machine, Country Life, CXXXVII, no.3550, March 18, 1965. pp.624-7.
Collection
Accession number
M.25:1 to 4-2018

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Record createdSeptember 5, 2018
Record URL
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