Door knocker, strike plate and back plate with letter aperture, aluminium, steel and brass, Birmingham, ca. 1936, made by Henry Hope & Sons, designed by Gertrude Hermes, RA.

The design of this door plate and knocker uses abstract, geometric forms which refer to a draughtsman's protractor and set square. The back plate is composed of a semi-circular strip of metal; the inner edge stepped where it overlaps the triangular bottom plate with the apex pointing downwards. The hypotenuse of this triangular plate forms the lower edge of the segment shaped, letter aperture. This edge has a semicircular section cut out at the centre and a three tiered stepped moulding which follows the leading edge. Other decoration includes six partially drilled holes of diminishing diameters, at either end of the semicircular upper strip following the centre line. A hinged flap, with the hinge on the back of the main plate, closes the letter aperture and is an oblong strip of metal with the lower corners, chamfered, attached to an aluminium rod which is retained by two lugs attached to the back of the main back plate. The flap was originally held closed by a coiled spring, now broken. The knocker, which is separately attached to the door through the bottom triangular section of the main plate is a plain cast, aluminium circle, the upper face flat, the underside semi-circular in cross section. A simple bracket is cast into the body of the ring at the top and is hinged to a bolt which holds the knocker in place; a protruding circular lug is cast in to the base of the ring to hit the strike plate. The strike plate is separate from the main plate and is secured to the door below the triangular apex and long the centre line of the main plate. The strike plate is triangular with a convex upper edge and a stepped moulding following the two straight, lower edges. The main plate, strike plate and knocker are attached to the door by threaded bolts which are secured by a nut and washer at the back. On entering the Museum, the main back plate was painted an olive green, the letter flap, knocker and strike plate, black. This was not the designer's original intention; the paint scheme had been applied some years after installation and this paint will be removed by Metalwork Conservation so that the original surface is exposed. The original surface was polished aluminium.

The back plate and strike plate are made up of layered, thin aluminium sheets: the upper, semi-circular arc of four, the lower triangular section and strike plate of three which are clamped together through the back by grub screws. This method of construction facilitated the formation of the moulded details. The letter flap is a single sheet of aluminium. The knocker and retaining bracket are cast aluminium.

Dame Elizabeth Chesterton Gift

Made for 12 The Mount, London NW3 6SZ

Provenance:
Made for Maurice Chesterton (1883-1962) c.1935-40, inherited by his daughter, Dame Elizabeth Chesterton (1915-2002), bequeathed to the Victoria & Albert Museum by Dame Elizabeth Chesterton through her executor, Mrs Helen Haythornwaite (cousin), 2002.

Gertrude Hermes R.A. (1901-1983).
Painter, sculptor, wood engraver, printmaker and book illustrator. She attended Beckenham School of Art 1919-20, and between 1919 and 1921 became acquainted with the work of Rodin and Lehmbruck. From 1921 to 1925 she attended Leon Underwood's School of Painting and Sculpture where contemporaries included Moore, Coxon and Pitchforth.

In 1922 she began wood engraving and in 1924 started to make carvings. In 1926 she married Blair Hughes-Stanton and collaborated with him in illustrations for Pilgrim's Progress, Cresset Press, 1926, and in murals for the World Fair, Paris, 1928. She subsequently received many commissions for wood engravings including work for Penguins Illustrated Classics and in 1931 received her first commission for a portrait sculpture.

From 1940-45 she worked in Canada and on her return to London began to make wood and lino block cuttings using colour. She exhibited regularly at the RA from 1934 becoming ARA in 1963 and RA in 1971, and showed in London and provincial galleries. In 1939 she represented Britain at the Venice International Exhibition and her work is represented in public collections including the Tate Gallery.

She taught at Camberwell, Westminster and St Martins and the Central Schools of Art and from 1966 taught wood and lino block printing at the RA Schools. Her many commissions included a mosaic floor for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford. She established herself as a leading wood engraver in the 1920s with work of great delicacy and complexity. Many of her subjects in sculpture and prints are animals and children and her work was influenced by Brancusi and Gaudier Brzeska. All her work is elegant and concentrated, expressing the essential rhythms and detail of the natural world with economy.

LIT: Catalogues for retrospective exhibitions at Whitechapel Gallery, 1967; RA, 1981; Selbourne: Wood engravings, Gertrude Hermes, Gregynog: Gwasg Gregynog, 1988.

No marks

This is one of a series of door knockers which Gertrude Hermes R.A. (1901-1983) designed for her friends after she had completed a commission, which included door furniture, for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon in 1932. It was displayed at the Industry and Art Exhibition at Dorland Hall. This particular example was commissioned by the donor's uncle, Maurice Chesterton, who was the architect for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and it was made for his studio, Money's Yard, The Mount, Hampstead. The design relates in abstract form to an architectural draughtsman's instruments: the protractor and set square.

Gertrude Hermes was primarily a wood engraver and sculptor, but nonetheless designed an appreciable amount of architectural decorative work, particularly before World War II. During the 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. As well as taking a studio in Chelsea, she taught at the Camberwell and St. Martin's Schools of Art and later at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. She was the first woman engraver to be elected to the Royal Academy in 1963 and she became a Royal Academician in 1971.

M.1:1 to 3-2003