Florence Camm (1874 – 1960) stained glass artist and decorative metalwork maker. Born into a family of stained glass designers in Smethwick, between 1892 and 1912 she periodically studied at Birmingham Municipal School of Art where she studied under Henry Payne. Payne was one of the Birmingham Group of Artist-Craftsmen who formed around Joseph Southall and the Birmingham School of Art in the late nineteenth century. The Birmingham School was associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement . Behind its metal bashing exterior Birmingham and the Black Country always had an artistic bent, a creative flair that turned art into usuable objects as evidenced in the Arts and Crafts movement itself. The story of Florence Camm is I think important not only for the masterpieces of stained glass art she produced but also for what it says about women of her generation in the West Midlands at that time. Birmingham in the late nineteenth century was a liberal city whose fathers were innovators of what has been called "gas and water"or "municipal" socialism.
The term "municipal socialism" has been used to describe the local government-led social reform movement as it developed in Britain. This includes the reforms initiated by Joseph Chamberlain as mayor of Birmingham between 1873 and 1875. Florence Camm was an early beneficiary of this municipalism which changed the face of Victorian Birmingham and preserved the beautiful legacy of Florence Camm for all to marvel at today.
That same spirit of progress and civic pride that was gas and water socialism, and which gave greater opportunities to a talented woman like Florence became the ideoligical underpinning of the Fabian Society and inspired its pioneers like Beatrice and Sidney Webb to engae in a crusade for social justice and welfare capitalism..
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I ran across the Arts and Crafts Movement during my studies of the origins of the Labour Party many years ago, AA. This was surely an example of political and social good works going hand-in-hand with a movement which gave us great artists and artisans. These stained glass marvels and other treasures of the Birmingham School are something to behold. Thanks for this wonderful reminder, AA.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Doug. The evolution of English libertarian socialism is closely associated with William Morris whose 'Liberty' brand could be said to be the flagship for the Arts and Crafts Movement in England. Birmingham and Black Country artists (and as you say artisans) like Florence Camm are at the forefront of not only gas and water socialism and Fabianism on one hand, but also left libertarianism on the other. Glad it took you back to your student days Doug.
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