The Decorative Arts Society 1850 to the Present

ELIZABETH ASLIN 1923-1989Author(s): Barbara MorrisSource: The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 - the Present, No. 13, ARTISTS ASEDUCATORS (1989)Published by: The Decorative Arts Society 1850 to the PresentStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41809044 .

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ELIZABETH ASLIN 1923-1989

Elizabeth Aslin, who died on April 14th three weeks after her 66th birthday, was the daughter of the architect Herbert Aslin. She studied at the Slade School of Art, followed by service in the ATS and a Diploma from the Institute of Education. She did not pursue a teaching career but joined the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum as a Research Assistant in the Department of Circulation in 1947. There she rapidly developed a specialist knowledge of the decorative arts of the 19th and 20th century and was one of the team, under the late Peter Floud, responsible for the pioneering exhibition of Victo- rian and Edwardian Decorative Arts held at the Museum in 1952. She later organised an exhibition of the British Origins of Art Nouveau for the British Council, which was held in Paris, and also played a prominent part in organising the first major exhibition of the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

In 1964 she was promoted to Assistant Keeper in charge of Bethnal Green Museum where she organised the display of the V & A's 19th century continental decorative arts. In 1968 she left Bethnal Green Museum to become Assistant Director to Sir John Pope-Hennessy with responsibility for liaising with the Ministry of Works (as the Property Services Department was then called) her architectural knowledge and know-how making her specially fitted for the post. In 1974 she returned to Bethnal Green Museum to oversee the transformation to the Museum of Child- hood. Having moved with her friend Joan Lawton to Hove inl979, she decided to take early retirement in 1981. There she immediately became involved in a number of local activities including the Brighton Society, of which she was a committee member. She was also an active supporter of the Brighton Philharmonic Society.

Elizabeth was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was much in demand as a lecturer both in this country and the United States. She was an active member of the Victorian Society, the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Socie- ty, and particularly the Decorative Arts Society, being a member of the working committee from its foundation in 1975. She organised a number of visits for the Society, including a memorable visit to Brussels in 1975 in which unfortunately, through a back injury, she was unable to participate. She wrote a number of articles for the Society's Journal and edited two issues, the fifth (1981) and the eleventh (1987), devoted to continental decorative art.

Elizabeth's opinion, particularly on Victorian furniture and the work of E. W. Godwin, was eagerly sought by scholars, students, collectors and dealers, both at home and abroad and she was always generous in sharing her knowledge with others. Her greatest pleasure was prob- ably in communicating with fellow enthusiasts. Fortunate- ly she leaves behind a considerable corpus of published work, and her two most important books, Nineteenth Century English Furniture{'962) and The Aesthetic Move- ment : Prelude to Art Nouveau (1962) both pioneering works which ran to second editions, will remain standard works for years to come.

A real extrovert, with enormous drive and energy, her forthright approach and sharp caustic wit would at times be slightly intimidating, but behind an apparently domi- nating personality, was a kind and caring person, a generous and loyal friend, who will be sadly missed by all who knew her. The courage and dignity with which she faced the fact of her terminal illness, were an indication of her strength of character, and even in the last few weeks she devoted her energy to supporting the campaign against the re-structuring of the V & A.

Barbara Morris

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