It is said that when Elizabeth Clarke (née Knipe) married ‘Big’ John Cobbold (1746-1835) she found only three books in his house; a Bible and two books of brewery accounts! She was an enthusiastic patron of literature and all the arts and has left us copious evidence of her participation.
She would have been thrilled in the 1970s when Richard Cobbold, now of Stoke by Nayland, but then in charge of the Wines & Spirits Department, took up her mantle and oversaw Tolly Cobbold’s sponsorship of 5 Eastern Arts national art exhibitions. This is topical now because the Trust had 2 of the 5 catalogues and Richard has just donated the other 3 so we now have the complete set.
But that is not all, for Richard also donated catalogues for 2 similarly sponsored photographic exhibitions.
The 5 art exhibitions for which the catalogues are illustrated here toured as widely as Edinburgh, Newcastle and Sheffield and they all went to London. The 2 photographic exhibitions were shown regionally. Over the next 7 months we will be focussing on one exhibition per month and bringing you information about each and one or two examples of the artists’ work.
