Curwen Press

Curwen Press was founded as early as 1863 in Plaistow, east London by The Reverend John Curwen when it produced largely sheet music. His grandson Harold Curwen joined in 1908 and broadened their scope to include limited edition books of high quality. In 1920, Simon Oliver joined and through his contact with the RCA gave commissions to young artists. These included Paul Nash, Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious. The Press continued during World War II by producing propaganda leaflets, themselves now collectors’ items. Due to the appearance of artists' prints, the Curwen Press established the Curwen Studio in 1958. Artists working under this new arm included Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Graham Sutherland, Elisabeth Frink, Alan Davie, Josef Herman and John Piper, all of whom produced many important lithographs.

In 1977, the Tate Gallery, realising the importance of the works produced at the Studio formed an archive of contemporary prints. Thus, the Curwen Press and Studio's importance to British art was duly recognized with an exhibition 'Artists at Curwen'. An independent gallery was set up by the famous Curwen Print Studio obviously called the Curwen Gallery. The Gallery exhibits the work of contemporary British artists, as well as works from South Africa, America, France, Holland, Australia and Japan. The Curwen Gallery merged with the New Academy Gallery in 2004 and has since become known as the Curwen & New Academy Gallery. Exhibiting artists include Anthony Eyton, Terry Frost, Paul Hogarth, David Poole and Kyffin Williams.