Everything stopped for tea at Benton End. The cowbell that rang for dinner was a symbol of the gentle civility that reigned in the sprawling Suffolk farmhouse, which is now synonymous with some of the most important names in 20th-century British art.
In the 40s and 50s, Benton End, on the outskirts of Hadleigh, was home to the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, founded by Arthur Lett-Haines and his partner, the painter and plantsman Cedric Morris, who described it as “an oasis of decency for artists outside the system”.
Bored at the Central School of Art, Lucian Freud came here aged 16. Though Freud described it as offering evening classes “mainly for old women”, Benton End was notorious, and local artist Ben Coode-Adams has recalled how his mother was not allowed to attend, her parents concerned about its louche reputation.
The garden, presided over by Morris, was designed with painting in mind. Flower paintings form the core of this exhibition, Life with Art: Benton End and the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, curated by Colchester Art Society…
