Peggy Angus Collection

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1383 PA
Held at	: Middlesex University: Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.moda.mdx.ac.uk ›
Full title	: Peggy Angus Collection
Date(s)	: [1904-1993]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: c 60 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Angus | Peggy | 1904-1993 | artist

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Peggy Angus (1904-1993) was a highly inventive designer of flat patterns, an artist, a committed teacher and a socialist. Her belief that art should be available to all and that patronage was beneficial to the artist influenced her lifelong approach to her practice. Equally, she encouraged every type of artistic activity equally. Although best known for her wallpapers, her earlier ceramic tile designs of the late 1940s to early 1960s are an important and, until now, largely overlooked aspect of her work. Many of her tile designs were commissioned for post-war public buildings by leading English modernist architects. As such they are important examples of ideas that were dominant in architecture and design at this time, a desire to humanise modern architecture through the use of colour, art and a range of building materials. Peggy Angus was a gifted artist and teacher who produced inspired designs for tiles for Carters of Poole and her 'bespoke' wallpapers which were created individually and printed for clients and friends. She was a friend and contemporary of Enid Marx, Barnet Friedmann and Edward Bawden, and was married to the architectural historian Sir J M Richards.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

PLEASE NOTE: THIS COLLECTION IS NOW HELD BY THE EAST SUSSEX RECORD OFFICE

Papers and designs of Peggy Angus, comprising: Business papers and reference material including correspondence, Angus trade cards, Carter tile catalogues, sketch books and photographs of tiles, painted murals and wallpapers in situ. Printed ephemera, comprising cards (postcards, cigarette cards, greetings, advertising cards); booklets (programmes, guidebooks, exhibition catalogues, leaflets, maps); loose papers (handbills, cuttings, calendars, bookplates, posters). Design examples by Angus and others, including oil paintings, prints, collages; wallpapers and wallpaper samples; tiles and floor designs.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

The collection is divided into eight broad categories comprising: Personal papers; Business records; Reference material; Paper ephemera; Artworks; Wallpapers; Tiles; Designs. Reference material is grouped by period or theme.

Conditions governing access:

THIS COLLECTION IS NOW HELD BY THE EAST SUSSEX RECORD OFFICE

Conditions governing reproduction:

Reproduction of material is at the discretion of the curator.

Finding aids:

Please contact East Sussex Record Office for further details.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

No information

Allied Materials

Related material:

The Museum of Domestic Architecture also holds the library of Angus' husband Sir J M Richards, comprising some 1461 volumes on architecture, design, fine arts and conservation.

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Robert Baxter as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project. Source: MoDA Angus Collection website.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Mar 2002; updated July 2009