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Richard Bawden: A Legacy in Line, Pattern and Playfulness


September 2025

Our forthcoming Garden, Home & Commercial Assets Sale presents a rare opportunity to acquire a group of cast iron garden pieces by Richard Bawden (1936–2024) – a much-loved printmaker, painter, designer, and illustrator whose career spanned more than six decades.

Lot 6 & 7 | Richard Bawden (1936–2024); Cat design painted cast iron garden bench. Estimate: £1,000–1,500 each.

Born in Braintree, Essex, in 1936, Richard was the son of the renowned artist Edward Bawden, who first taught him how to cut lino. After early studies at Chelsea and St Martin’s Schools of Art – and even during his National Service at Winchester School of Art – he went on to the Royal College of Art. There he studied graphic design before transferring to printmaking under Julian Trevelyan, Alistair Grant and Edwin Ladell, where he began his lifelong exploration of etching.

Bawden was widely admired for his ability to capture atmosphere, oddity, texture, and pattern through fine draughtsmanship and expression. His works frequently depicted domestic interiors, gardens, and, most famously, cats – creatures that became a recurring and affectionate motif in both his prints and designs.

Lot 8 | Richard Bawden (1936–2024); Pair of Cat design painted cast iron garden armchairs. Estimate: £1,000–1,500.

Throughout his career he was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society, the Society of Designer-Craftsmen, the New English Art Club, and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. He also served as chairman of Gainsborough’s House Print Workshop in Sudbury. His output was prolific: posters for London Underground, murals for restaurants, book illustrations, and editions of prints for Curwen and Editions Alecto. He held more than 40 one-man exhibitions, and his work is represented in numerous public collections including the V&A and Tate, as well as countless private collections.

Bawden lived much of his life in Suffolk with his wife, the potter Hattie Bawden, drawing inspiration from the Suffolk coast and his own garden. It was here that his love of cats and his sensitivity to his surroundings became central themes in his art.

The four lots in this sale translate that same artistic vision into the permanence of cast iron. Designed by Bawden, they combine the solidity of functional garden furniture with the playful personality of his feline designs.

 

Lot 9 | Richard Bawden (1936–2024); Cast iron circular garden table. Estimate: £200–400 (alongside lot 6 & 8 as featured above).

The benches and chairs showcase Bawden’s characteristic cat motif, with stylised forms prowling across the seat-backs – humorous, bold, and unmistakably his. The circular table, by contrast, provides a simpler, more restrained counterbalance, emphasising utility while completing the set.

These pieces stand as a testament to Richard Bawden’s ability to infuse wit, warmth, and artistry into all he created – whether on paper, canvas, or cast in iron. As functional sculptures, they bring together the best of his legacy: fine draughtsmanship, a love of pattern and a celebration of the everyday.

 
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