Rose motif door handle, patinated brass and steel, Birmingham, made by Henry Hope & Sons,1935, designed by Gertrude Hermes.

Door knob and back plate in cast brass, patinated, the handle a cast sphere with a circular depression in the centre within which is a recessed cross. At the rear, a fluted collar backed by a circular plate with a crenated edge. A steel rod, square in cross section and with ridged edges extends from the centre, back which turned the locking mechanism for the door (now missing). The back plate, a circular casting in the form of a stylized rose. the central boss recessed for the knob and with a central hole for the steel shaft, a series of spokes terminating in tear shaped terminals radiate from the centre to the edge.

Bequest of Christopher John Kennington

Commissioned by Eric and Celadine Kennington for their house, Holly Copse, Oxfordshire, 1935.

This door handle forms part of a group of six items of door furniture designed by Hermes for her friends which was first exhibited at Dorland House in 1935 and again a year later in an exhibition of English Domestic Metalwork held at the V&A. Of this group we already have a door knocker in brass, designed for Lord Mitchison, (M.36-1974), a frog door knocker in cast brass made for Gertrude Hermes (M.57-1981), a version of this design was also made for Eric Kennington and a door knocker made in aluminium, steel and brass, made for the architect, Maurice Chesterton (M.1:1&2,-2003).

These items of door furniture were made for a close circle of Gertrude Hermes’s friends, largely connected to the project of building the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon between 1928 and 1932, the previous building having been largely destroyed by fire in 1926. The theatre was the first significant British public building to be entirely modernist in style. It was also the first major building to be designed by a woman. Elisabeth Scott (1898-1972), the great niece of the architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott and second cousin to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, won the competition for the theatre against 71 other applicants. She was working for Maurice Chesterton at the time of the competition who provided the administration for the project and who disclaimed any personal share in the successful design. Scott on this project and throughout her career was keen to promote the involvement of women in her projects and hence Gertrude Hermes being brought in to design sculpture and fixtures and fittings for the new theatre. Eric Kennington was commissioned to provide a series of wall sculptures, executed in brick for the main façade.

Eric Kennington was the only artist to be granted the status of Official War Artist in both world wars. He became famous for his portraits of service personnel, particularly of those serving in the RAF in the Second World War. He was also a sculptor of distinction. One of his most famous sculptures is the First World War memorial to the 24th Infantry Division of 1924 in Battersea Park where one of the three figures is modelled on the writer, Robert Graves.

Gertrude Hermes had a distinguished career as a sculptor and a graphic artist. She was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists, made a Fellow of the Royal Society of |Painters, Etchers and Engravers in 1951, elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1963 and elected to full membership in 1971. She was awarded the OBE in 1981.

Gertrude Hermes RA, OBE, (1901-1983) was primarily a wood engraver and sculptress but nonetheless executed an appreciable amount of architectural decorative work, particularly before the Second World War. In 1925 she was one of the finalists in engraving for the Prix de Rome. She was a prominent illustrator and in 1939 was one of the seven wood engravers to represent Britain at the Venice International Exhibition. During the Second World War, she took her young family to Canada where she worked as a tracer and precision draughtsman in the drawing offices of aircraft and shipbuilding practices. After the war, she returned to England and concentrated more on sculpture. She was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1963 for her engraving, she was the first woman engraver to be elected, and she became a Royal Academician in 1971.

M.25:1-2017