Pitzhanger gallery puts on exhibition of the work of Chiswick artist Marthe Armitage

Marthe Armitage

Marthe Armitage: Pattern Maker, 19 March – 19 July 2026

Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery in Ealing is staging an exhibition of the work of Chiswick artist Marthe Armitage next year.

Marthe, now 95, began her career printing her own wallpaper by hand for the family home at Strand on the Green, and from that she built up a business that has made her designs world famous.

She studied art at Chelsea School of Art, where she was inspired by the pattern making of William Morris and CFA Voysey. She found that linoleum was the perfect material for creating her printing blocks.

Marthe’s ‘Angelica’ design

When she spoke to The Chiswick Calendar on the publication of her book The Making of Marthe Armitage Artist and Patternmaker in 2019, she told me she still used lino in preference over other materials developed later, and still followed the same process of drawing, tracing, cutting out the pattern, inking and printing that she has all through her development as a pattern maker.

READ ALSO: Marthe Armitage, artist and patternmaker

Marthe’s ‘Chestnut’ design in two colourways

She is a member and past Master of the Art Workers’ Guild, of which William Morris was Master in 1892.

The exhibition of her work at Pitzhanger Manor and gallery, titled ‘Marthe – Armitage: Pattern Maker’ traces Marthe’s artistic process, revealing the journey behind each work.

Marthe Armitage at work

‘Her designs are rooted in the landscapes, riverbanks, and architectural details of her local Chiswick surroundings — where she and her family have lived since 1939 — and translate the familiar, such as a chestnut tree or an angelica plant into the fantastical, transforming everyday scenes into immersive decorative worlds.

‘This focused exhibition brings together original drawings and tracings, prints, archival material, and large-scale installed wallpapers and fabric, offering an intimate insight into the life and work of an artist whose designs have quietly shaped British interiors for more than half a century’, says the gallery.

Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery is the historic country home designed and built by Sir John Soane (1753–1837) and its exhibitions for 2026 ‘will celebrate and explore a number of the themes and subjects which delighted and preoccupied the great Regency architect’.

Clare Woods: Garden Without Seasons, 29 July – 8 November 2026

Later in the year the gallery will be showing the work of contemporary painter Clare Woods RA, who trained in Fine Art Sculpture at Bath College of Art and then at Goldsmiths College. She was elected Royal Academician in 2022, and her paintings are held in many major national and international collections.

‘Having initially trained as a sculptor, Woods’ understanding of sculptural forms underpin her paintings, collages, and prints’, says the gallery.

‘Her recent works have been preoccupied with destabilising traditional art historical genres such as portraiture, landscape and still life. Hovering between abstraction and figuration, her paintings are characterised by fluid mark-making and vibrant colours’.

One of the biggest works to be featured in the show, Under the Dome (2024) is of the Temperate House at Kew Gardens, looking up through the tropical plants at the spiral staircase to the upper walkway.

Other works are inspired by the parkland setting, historic interiors, and stained-glass windows of Pitzhanger Manor itself.

Clare Woods ‘Under the Dome’
Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and New York

Pitzhander Manor, continuing the legacy of one of Britain’s most visionary architects

Pitzhanger Manor, built in 1800–1804, reopened to the public in March 2019 after a lengthy period of restoration with a mission to promote Sir John Soane’s legacy, inspiring visitors with art and architecture.

It celebrates Soane’s genius and influence, juxtaposing his landmark architecture with a programme of ambitious contemporary art exhibitions, and a vibrant outreach and events programme.

READ ALSO: Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery reopens after restoration

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Pitzhanger Manor; Photograph Andy Stagg

Sir John Soane is considered one of Britain’s most visionary architects, and  was one of the very few of his era to rise from a working-class background.

His buildings are celebrated for their inventive approach to the neoclassical tradition and his pioneering use of natural light.

Soane bought Pitzhanger in 1800, demolishing much of the existing house (apart from the Dance Wing) and designing a new country estate set within 28 acres of parkland, completed in 1804. He and his family lived at Pitzhanger until 1810.

‘The legacy of Soane’s distinctive architecture, teaching, and collections has influenced generations of artists and architects, and continues to shape Pitzhanger’s mission today’.

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