Artists' Houses in Sussex

A century ago, the county of Sussex became a hub for artists and writers who came to escape the urban, be inspired and build new lives. Our tour takes us to the houses in which their ideas and lifestyles were formed, homes that embrace the richness of the past whilst showcasing how English artists and writers embraced a modern style.

From the 1890s to the 1940s, British design was driven by the tension between tradition and modernity. Houses and interiors at the turn of the century continued to explore the delightful possibilities of the Arts & Crafts movement. We will experience this in neighbouring Surrey at G F Watts’s studio and house, which became the focus of an artists’ community when it opened to the public in 1904. Philip Webb’s plans for Standen (1891–4), meanwhile, incorporated the brightest and best of Morris & Co interior design.

We will explore the life and work of the Bloomsbury Group: Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and their friends. In desiring to create a Modern movement in Britain, to rival the new art of Paris and Berlin, they transformed their old Sussex houses through bold colour and abstract pattern-making.

Farley Farmhouse was the home of Surrealist photographer, Vogue model and Second World War correspondent Lee Miller. It played host to many leading figures of 20th century modern art, including Picasso. Here, we will discover the remarkable lives of Farley’s inhabitants as well as the uniquely decorated interiors. A private talk from Antony Penrose (son of Lee Miller and Roland Penrose) will offer further fascinating insights into the house and the lives led there during this period. 

Artists like Eric Ravilious were also walking the Downs in the 1920s and 30s, wrestling with the desire to paint in a style that was sensitive to the deep history of the landscape, while responding to the upheavals in art and design since the First World War. We visit the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne and view its collection of works by Ravilious, taking in some of the scenes that inspired him en route.

We stay throughout at the three-star Deans Place Hotel, a classic country house hotel located in the heart of the Sussex Downs in the pretty village of Alfriston.  

This tour will be led by Stella Lyons, BA, MA, a freelance art history lecturer and speaker accredited with the Arts Society, who lectures frequently throughout the UK, Europe and in Asia. Stella studied at the universities of Bristol and Warwick and at the British Institute of Florence. Her particular interests include the Italian Renaissance, 20th century American figurative art and 19th century British art.