The Garden Museum - Summer exhibition ‘Constance Spry and the fashion for flowers’
“I was first, and hope last to be, a gardener; it was an unanticipated combination of circumstances that led me to do professionally something I did once only as a relaxation, and much as I love doing it, I don’t like the groove to be too deep.”- Constance Spry, 'Garden Notebook' (1940)
This summer the Garden Museum will be celebrating the doyenne of flowers, the 20th century’s most influential floral decorator, Constance Spry. Guest curated by floral designer and writer Shane Connolly, this new exhibition will explore Spry’s exceptional life, achievements and legacy, with exclusive access to her archive at the RHS Lindley Library.
Spry’s popularity has seen a huge resurgence in recent years as a new generation of floral designers rediscovers her ground-breaking approach to the art of flowers: seasonal, natural, yet unconfined by tradition and rules.
For this exhibition the Garden Museum has gained exclusive access to Spry’s personal archives, which were deposited at the RHS Lindley Library after her death and have not been displayed publicly since. The exhibition will feature 100 never before seen photographs, documents and personal items from these archives, a precious record of an extraordinary life.
Constance Spry opened her first flower shop, Flower Decoration, in 1929. Her revolutionary approach to floristry garnered widespread interest in high society, while also democratising the form. Unconfined by traditional floristry training, Spry married classic flowers of choice with ‘unusual’ and uncelebrated plant material like kale and pussy willow, unconventional offerings from hedgerows and scoured Covent Garden flower market for statement flowers. Her influence can still be seen in floral design trends to this day.
Throughout her long successful career, Spry also opened a floristry school, a domestic science school, and published thirteen books. And for more than three decades, she provided inspirational flowers for society weddings, fashion shows, the Wedding of Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson and in 1953 stage managed the design of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Dates
17 May - 26 Sep 2021
Garden Museum
5 Lambeth Palace Road
London SE1 7LB
info@gardenmuseum.org.uk
Published: May 2021
