Jim Ede
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Harold Stanley Ede (7 April 1895 - 15 March 1990) also known as 'Jim' Ede, was a British collector of art and friend to artists.
Ede studied painting at Newlyn Art School between 1912-14 when he was called up in WWI. On returning from the Western Front he continued his studies at the Slade School of Art.
In 1921 Ede got a job as assistant curator at the Tate Gallery in London whilst continuing to study part time at the Slade. Shortly after he married Helen Schlapp who he'd met in Edinburgh. Whilst working at the Tate, Ede tried to promote the work of the contemporary artists of the day; artists such as Picasso and Mondrian. However he was more often thwarted by the more conservative attitudes of the gallery directors. During his time at the Tate, Ede formed numerous friendships with avant-garde artists of the day. In the process he acquired many works of art which were largely under appreciated at the time. In particular he secured much of the work of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska from the estate of Sophie Brzeska.
In 1936 Ede tired of fighting the establishment at the Tate and left live in Morocco, building a house outside Tangiers. Some what ahead of his time, Ede adopted a minimalist style of interior design advocating plain white-washed walls and the minimum of furniture required to complete a room. For the next twenty years Ede lead an itinerant life, writing, broadcasting and lecturing in Europe and America, whilst keeping the house in Morocco as a base.
Returning to England in 1956 Ede converted a house in Cambridge as a place to live and display his art collection. It was part of Ede's philosophy that art should be shared in a relaxed environment, as such he would hold 'open house' giving personal tours of the collection to students from the university over afternoon tea. In 1966 Ede gave the house and collection to the Cambridge establishing Kettle's Yard art gallery.
Ede continued to live at Kettle's Yard until 1973, then moving to Edinburgh where he lived out his retirement.
Publications
- Savage Messiah, H.S. Ede, Heinemann (1931) - Biography of the Sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
- reprinted Kettle's Yard Gallery (1971), ISBN 0900406151
- A Way of Life, H.S. Ede, Kettle's Yard Gallery, ISBN 090707457 - Guide to Kettle's Yard and its collection.