The Camden Town Group in Context

ISBN 978-1-84976-385-1

Minutes of the Fifth London Group Meeting 6 December 1913

Minutes of the Fifth London Group Meeting 6 December 1913
Minutes of the Fifth London Group Meeting 6 December 1913
Typescript, by James Bolivar Manson (1879-1945)
Tate Archive TGA 806/10/6
© Estate of James Bolivar Manson
The first election for new artists to join the London Group was held at this meeting. Members who could not be present for the election asked colleagues to be their proxy: Henry Lamb asked Spencer Gore (fig.1 TGA 806/10/6), Cuthbert Hamilton asked Edward Wadsworth (fig.2 TGA 806/10/6), Lucien Pissarro asked James Bolivar Manson (fig.3 TGA 806/10/6), and Malcolm Drummond asked Charles Ginner (fig.4 TGA 806/10/6). Although Lamb and Gore are not known to have been particularly intimate, the other requests were all to close friends. Lamb is the only one who states who he wants to vote for: Darsie Japp.
Henry Lamb 'Postcard to Spencer Gore' 6 December 1913
Fig.1
Henry Lamb 1883–1960
Postcard to Spencer Gore 6 December 1913
Tate Archive TGA 806/10/6
© Estate of Henry Lamb
Cuthbert Hamilton 'Letter to Edward Wadsworth' Before 6 December 1913
Fig.2
Cuthbert Hamilton 1884–1958
Letter to Edward Wadsworth Before 6 December 1913
Tate Archive TGA 806/10/6
© Estate of Cuthbert Hamilton

Lucien Pissarro 'Letter to James Bolivar Manson' 29 November 1913
Fig.3
Lucien Pissarro 1863–1944
Letter to James Bolivar Manson 29 November 1913
Tate Archive TGA 806/10/6
© Estate of Lucien Pissarro
Malcolm Drummond 'Letter to ?Charles Ginner' Before 6 December 1913
Fig.4
Malcolm Drummond 1880–1945
Letter to ?Charles Ginner Before 6 December 1913
Tate Archive TGA 806/10/6
© Estate of Malcolm Drummond

The rules for election had been agreed at the previous meeting, that ‘in the election of members one adverse vote should cancel one favourable vote and that to secure election a member must finally receive the votes of at least half the total number of members of the Group’. However, owing to the disparate artistic allegiances of the current members, no candidates gained over half the number of votes needed for election. This led Jacob Epstein to suggest an amendment to the rule so that only the votes of one third of the members were needed to secure election.
Of the unsuccessful candidates, the following were elected under the new rules on 3 January 1914 (TGA 806/10/6): David Bomberg, Stanislawa de Karlowska, Jessica Etchells, Douglas Fox Pitt, Sylvia Gosse, Thérèse Lessore and Walter Taylor. The others were never elected, despite being put forward as candidates two or three times. For minutes of the previous meetings, see TGA 806/10/6, TGA 806/10/6, TGA 806/10/6 and TGA 806/10/6.
Wendy Baron, Perfect Moderns: A History of the Camden Town Group, Aldershot and Vermont 2000, p.66.

Helena Bonett
August 2011

Transcript

[Typescript:]
THE LONDON GROUP.  
Meeting at 19, Fitzroy Street, on Sat. Dec 6th 1913.  
 
Present 
 
W. Sickert in the chair,  
 
Renee Finch       J. Epstein 
E. Sands          C. Ginner 
A.H. Hudson       W. Ratcliffe 
H. Gilman         F. Etchells 
C.R.W. Nevinson   E.A. Wadsworth 
R.P. Bevan        P.W. Lewis 
S.F. Gore         H. Sund 
J.B. Manson       W. Bayes 
H. Squire         W.B. Adeney 
The President read the agreement with Messrs Marchant 
 
Proxies were handed in from H. Lamb to S.F. Gore 
                            C. Hamilton to E.A. Wadsworth
                            L. Pissarro to J.B. Manson
                            M.C. Drummond to C. Ginner
The election for membership of the following 14 candidates then took place, all of the candidates failed to secure election.: Therese Lessore, Hamilton Hay, W. Rothenstein, Fanny Eveleigh, S. de Karlowska, Darsie Japp, A. Rothenstein, Walter Taylor, Fox-Pitt, Mark Gertler, Miss Gosse, Miss J. Etchells, D. Bomberg, C. Winzer.
ON the proposition of J. Epstein, seconded by C.R.W. Nevinson the Rule regarding membership was amended to read ‘one-third of the total number of members instead of one-half.  

How to cite

Minutes of the Fifth London Group Meeting, 6 December 1913, in Helena Bonett, Ysanne Holt, Jennifer Mundy (eds.), The Camden Town Group in Context, Tate Research Publication, May 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/minutes-of-the-fifth-london-group-meeting-r1104635, accessed 19 March 2024.