Lives in Art: The Collection of Renowned Architects Gordon and Ursula Bowyer Comes to London Auction This October
On 30 October 2025, a remarkable private collection of Modern British art and design will be brought to auction in London: the lifelong collection of Gordon and Ursula Bowyer. Spanning six decades, the Bowyers’ collection charts the friendships, passions, and pioneering spirit of two architects whose lives were immersed in the creative currents of post-war Britain.
Leading Lyon & Turnbull’s Modern Made auction at the Mall Galleries, the collection features works by Ben Nicholson, Victor Pasmore, Keith Vaughan, Adams, Butler, and “The Two Roberts” Colquhoun and MacBryde - alongside important design pieces by leading European makers.
The remarkable story of Gordon and Ursula Bowyer’s life in art and design began with a single decision: in 1946, given 21 guineas to buy a bicycle for his birthday, Gordon instead bought a painting by Ben Nicholson. That moment marked the start of a sixty-year collecting journey shared with his wife Ursula - one that would grow to encompass some of the most significant names in post-war British art and design.
Their collection, now recognised as one of the most thoughtful private assemblies of Modern British art, features works by Victor Pasmore, Keith Vaughan, Adams, Butler, and “The Two Roberts” - Colquhoun and MacBryde - artists who were contemporaries, colleagues, and in some cases close friends. Many of these figures are today celebrated as modern masters, yet Gordon and Ursula knew them in their youth, when British art was entering a bold new chapter.
Ursula herself embodied the spirit of that generation. Born in Berlin to a Jewish family, she arrived in Britain in 1938, escaping persecution while losing much of her extended family in the Holocaust. She went on to study at the Regent Street Polytechnic, where she met Gordon. Together they trained under émigré architects such as Peter Moro, inheriting Bauhaus ideas of design as a way of life. Their marriage in 1950 coincided with the commission that would define their early career: the Sports Pavilion at the Festival of Britain, a symbol of optimism in the nation’s post-war recovery.
From their Greenwich home at Maze Hill - where they lived for the rest of their lives - the Bowyers developed an architectural practice that was at once collaborative and inventive. Their work ranged from private houses and experimental projects such as The Growing Home at the 1961 Earl’s Court Furniture Show, to major schemes including housing developments and the celebrated boutiques of Vidal Sassoon across Europe and America. They also contributed to Britain’s museum landscape, designing galleries at the British Museum. By the time Gordon retired in 1993, their practice had completed over 550 projects.
Alongside their professional achievements, the Bowyers’ home became a living artwork in itself. Designed with Gordon’s picture windows, Ursula’s bespoke kitchens, and furniture by close friends Robin Day and Finn Juhl, Maze Hill was both a family house and a cabinet of curiosities. Its walls are filled with paintings, drawings, and sculpture - including Emily Young’s work in the garden - creating an atmosphere often likened to Kettle’s Yard: elegant, unpretentious, and deeply alive to the conversations between art, architecture, and life.
Simon Hucker, Senior Specialist in Modern & Contemporary Art at Lyon & Turnbull commented,
“The Bowyer Collection is a testament to two lives lived in art, design, and friendship - an extraordinary vision of modern Britain. It has been a joy to be bring this collection to auction.”
Above all, Gordon and Ursula Bowyer represent a generation of collectors and creators who made the conditions for contemporary art in Britain possible. They were not patrons from wealth or distance, but practitioners and participants - architects, designers, friends - who believed in supporting the new and the modern. Their story is not only about a collection, but about a way of living with art, in which creativity was woven into every aspect of their lives.
