You have less than a month left to visit the De Morgan Centre before it closes its doors, possibly for a very long time.
The what centre?
It’s a small art gallery/museum that focuses on the pottery of — unsurprisingly — William De Morgan, and the paintings by his wife, Evelyn De Morgan.
It’s a bit of an acquired taste as an art form. Either you like Arts and Crafts style pots or Pre-Raphaelite chocolate box paintings, or not. It like it, but in moderation.
However, the collection has struggled a bit in recent years, with the foreclosure of the lease on their original site by Wandsworth Council in 2009. Since 2011, they have occupied what might be considered a spare space at the Wandsworth Museum.
Now that museum is also moving — and so the current site has to also be vacated.
They said that they “will look for a new permanent home for the collection, in a location with good amenities and footfall”, but if you want to see the current collection in its current location — then you have until the 28th June.
After that, who knows when the display will be seen again.
Entry to the museum is £4.50, and it is open Tue-Fri noon to 4pm and on Saturday 11am – 5pm. [map link]
Their final Thursday Late will take place on Thursday 5th June (tomorrow) and will be open until 8pm.
They’ve also extended the “men in pants” exhibition until the end of the month.
After its closure though, there will remain another place where De Morgan pottery can be viewed – and for free. That is the famous Postman’s Park near St Paul’s Cathedral.
As you might have surmised, the Wandsworth Museum is also closing to move to its new location, so you can take in both venues at the same time if you want.
