Letchworth Rewind: Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) founder of the Garden City Movement

Rewind: Here's a piece on an oil painting portrait of Sir Ebenezer Howard, founder of the Garden City Movement, by Clare Winsten, featured at the brilliant North Herts Museum.

Howard was a prominent British town planner who wrote the famous publication Garden Cities of To-morrow (1898), in which he proposed utopian cities where residents lived harmoniously together with nature. The publication led to the founding of the Garden city movement, that led to several Garden Cities in Letchworth and Welwyn at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The portrait was exhibited at the Fourth Exhibition of Welwyn Garden City Art Club between 24 September-20 October 1927.

The artwork of Howard, a keen proponent of unity and peace is believed to have painted by Winsten just over a year before his death, during a sitting with Howard in early 1927.

Ebenezer Howard died on May 1, 1928 in Welwyn, his second garden city. There is also a blue plaque on the outside of a home he lived at in Stamford Hill, North London.  

Howard believed he had a duty to preach the 'gospel of the garden city' and to tackle the Victorian housing crisis by attempting to build a New Jerusalem in the Hertfordshire countryside, where the town of Letchworth is now. Howard also wanted garden cities to be places of spiritual exploration.

The artist Clare Winsten was the only female member of the 'Whitechapel Boys' group of artists and poets. Born Clara Birnberg she and her husband Stephen Weinstein, another Whitechapel Boy, adopted the married name Winsten with Clara also taking the name Clare.

Visit the North Hertfordshire Museum that showcases the History of North Herts. The museum, cafe and gift shop are open. Drop in for free.