May 2015 – Toovey’s Blog

Franz Sedlacek Secessionist Painting for Sale at Toovey’s Auction

Franz-Sedlacek Image ©Toovey's — 'Blüten und Insekten Nr. 3' by Franz Sedlacek ~ Secessionist Painting to be offered at Toovey's Auction

An oil on panel by Franz Sedlacek, one of Austria’s most prominent artists during the 1920s and ’30s, will be offered in Toovey’s sale of Fine Art on the morning of Wednesday 17th June 2015.

Franz Sedlacek was born in Breslau in 1891 and moved with his family to Linz when he was six. He displayed a talent for art from an early age but went on to study architecture, then chemistry in Vienna. He continued to develop his drawing and painting skills, though, and in 1913 co-founded an artists’ association in Linz. His studies were interrupted by a period of service in the First World War, but he returned to complete them and started work at the Technical Museum of Vienna in 1921.

In the subsequent years, Sedlacek began to concentrate on oil painting and in 1927 joined the Vienna Secession, a group of painters, sculptors and architects who had broken away from the Association of Austrian Artists. Formed in 1897, the group’s first president was the notable symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. The Secessionists sought originality in the visual arts, unencumbered by the traditions of academia or influences from the past.

Sedlacek’s style does not fit easily into a category but it is most often classed as belonging to the post-expressionist movement of New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit). A dreamlike and sometimes nightmarish quality prevails in his paintings; strange figures and creatures inhabit unsettling interiors and exteriors. His scenes often suggest a hidden narrative and his compositions always convey a sense of drama.

Sedlacek went on to garner considerable critical acclaim and numerous awards. In 1939, however, he was recalled for military service with the Wehrmacht in the Second World War. After serving in Norway and Russia, he was listed as missing in Poland in 1945.

The work to be offered at Toovey’s is one of a number of works in which Franz Sedlacek explored the theme of fantastical flowers and insects and is titled Blüten und Insekten (Nr. 3) to a paper label on the reverse of the panel. The image area measures approximately 50.5cm high by 40cm wide and is signed with initials and dated 1935 at the bottom left corner. Sedlacek exhibited regularly with the Secessionists and the reverse also bears a label indicating that the painting was shown at the Vienna Secession’s autumn exhibition of the same year. The work will carry a pre-sale estimate of £50,000-80,000.

Provenance: local private ownership by inheritance.

Click on a thumbnail below to see full image

Sedlacek titled label verso — Titled Label

Embroidered into the Rich Threads of Sussex History

This week I am visiting Lady Emma Barnard at Parham House and Gardens. As we walk through this wonderful house, I am struck by the quality of the famous needlework in the collection. We come to the Great Chamber and are greeted by the gentle light of this spring afternoon. Lady Emma’s great-grandparents, Clive and Alicia Pearson, bought Parham in 1922 and set about restoring the house and gardens after years of neglect. The Great Chamber was remodelled in 1924 to become Alicia Pearson’s bedroom.

At the heart of the room is the Great Bed. Emma explains: “My great-grandfather, Clive Pearson, purchased the bed from Wroxton Abbey in Oxfordshire and brought it to Parham. It is partly Tudor and probably from the court of Henry VIII.”

The exquisite headboard, backcloth, canopy and bedspread are delicately embroidered with interwoven monograms and fleurs-de-lys within an overall design of flower and leaf tendrils. It is thought that they date from about 1585 and are of French or Italian workmanship. The two sets of curtains, pelmets and valances are also rare. They date from around 1620 and are worked with flame stitch embroidery.

Emma quickly draws my attention to an extraordinary mid-17th-century embroidered panel depicting ‘The Finding of Moses’. She remarks enthusiastically, “My husband, James, and I love this piece. It was a great favourite of Great-aunt Veronica’s too.” Veronica Tritton lived at Parham before Emma and her family.

The scene depicted on this needlework panel is from the Old Testament story in Exodus, chapter 2, in which Pharaoh orders all the newborn Israelite boys to be killed. Moses is hidden by his mother in a cradle amongst the bulrushes of the Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter discovers Moses and brings him up as her son. The story of Moses is one of obedience, leadership and salvation. Lady Emma points to the three women in the scene and exclaims, “Look how surprised they are to find him; they’ve two sets of eyebrows! It’s so finely worked, thirty stitches to the inch, and the details are amazing. Look at the sun with a face, the caterpillar, grasshopper, leopard and even a kingfisher with a fish in its beak. The more you look at it, the more fantastic it is. But those eyebrows, so surprised.” This family favourite is signed with the embroidered initials ‘ML’ and dated ‘1644’.

The embroidery of ‘The Finding of Moses’ at Parham has traditionally been considered to be a christening cushion. The textile specialist and conservator Dr Mary M. Brooks has suggested that this particular scene might reasonably be interpreted as reflecting concerns about political loyalties, issues surrounding royal succession and personal concerns, such as the safe upbringing of male heirs at this time.

These interpretations and the date of the panel, 1644, have a significance for Parham and its history. On 6th January 1644 Arundel Castle was surrendered to Sir William Waller, leader of the Parliamentarians, during the English Civil War. Amongst the prominent ‘hostages’ from the besieged castle, demanded by Waller as part of the treaty of surrender, was Sir Edward Bishopp, 2nd Baronet and owner of Parham. Sir Edward had fought at Winchester, Portsmouth and Arundel for the Royalist cause. He was taken to the Tower of London and heavily fined by the House of Commons.

Returning to the kitchen, we sit drinking tea in this timeless place, looking out over the park and gardens. I am reminded how important objects can be in bringing the common narrative of our island nation’s history to life.

Lady Emma and her family bring such life to Parham through their delight in this place, its history, collections and their desire to share it with others. We are blessed that Parham has such passionate, dedicated and generous custodians.

Parham House and its collections provide a window to our past and our future. Whether you are visiting for the first time or returning, Parham never fails to captivate and delight anew.

Parham House and Gardens are open until the end of September on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays and this May Bank Holiday Monday, at 2pm and 12pm respectively, closing at 5pm. For more information go to www.parhaminsussex.co.uk or telephone 01903 742021.

Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 20th May 2015 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Borde Hill Gardens at the Heart of the Arts

Borde Hill Sculpture in the Garden Opening — Andrewjohn and Eleni Stephenson Clarke open the 2015 Borde Hill Garden ‘Sculpture in the Garden exhibition’

This last weekend I found myself returning to Borde Hill Gardens, near Haywards Heath in West Sussex, as the guest of Andrewjohn Stephenson Clarke and his wife Eleni. These generous custodians have worked hard to put Borde Hill and its famous gardens at the heart of the arts in West Sussex. Borde Hill Gardens are celebrating their 50th Anniversary of being open to the public.

Andrew Bernardi and the ‘1696 Stradivarius’ at Borde Hill

Much has been written about the importance of the gardens and plant collection. Between 1893 and 1937 Colonel Stephenson R. Clarke sponsored many of the Great Plant Collectors’ expeditions. They returned with rare specimens brought back from their travels in the Himalayas, China, Burma, Tasmania and the Andes. Many of these plant species are still at the heart of the collection which make up the seventeen acres of formal gardens we enjoy today.

As the Friends of the Shipley Arts Festival gather at Borde Hill Andrewjohn welcomes us in the panelled Drawing Room. He explains that his family have owned Borde Hill since 1892 and says “Although my family extended the house and this room I think my great-grandfather was more interested in the gardens than the house. When he came to Borde Hill the land gave him the opportunity to plan, layout and plant the garden.” Andrewjohn speaks with a gentle pride and understanding of his own place in the story of Borde Hill. As he does his love for it and the desire to share it with others is apparent.

Andrew Bernardi, Artistic Director of the Shipley Arts Festival, leads a trio of remarkable musicians which includes the cellist Jonathan Few and pianist, Maria Marchant. The concert opens with two Debussy pieces written at about the time that Andrewjohn’s grandfather purchased Borde Hill. There is an intimacy in this setting as the delights of the concert unfold.

The textural melodies and rhythms of the music take me back to the week before when I joined my friends Andrewjohn and Eleni at the opening of their 2015 Borde Hill Sculpture in the Garden Exhibition. We gathered in the Italian Garden for the opening, as sculptor Angela Corner’s ‘Respond 1’ rose and fell responding to the forces of nature and the flow of water. The piece brings your senses alive to the play of light, sound and movement as you respond to the sculpture and the setting.

As I continued around the gardens the sight and scent of banks of bluebells, contrasted against the bright new leaves on trees, the giant rhododendrons and magnolias, made me feel more fully alive. The sculptures, like Guy Portelli’s ‘3 Blue Pokers’, are framed beautifully by the plants and gardens in this ever changing setting.

The Gardens extend into traditional parkland and woodlands, where the variety of micro-climates have contributed to the best collection of ‘champion’ trees (the tallest and largest girth) on privately-owned land in Britain. These ‘champion’ trees, together with many other exotic specimens, provide a canopy for spring flowers in Warren Wood, which is over 100 year’s old, and Stephanie’s Glade.

Andrewjohn and Eleni have placed Borde Hill Gardens at the heart of our community and the arts and their generous spirit and dedication is deserving of our thanks and support.

You must treat yourselves to an outing to Borde Hill Gardens. The 2015 Sculpture in the Garden runs until 1st September 2015 at Borde Hill Gardens, Borde Hill Lane, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH16 1XP, For more information on opening times and forthcoming events go to www.bordehill.co.uk or telephone 01444 450326.

For information on The Shipley Arts Festival concerts click here.

Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 13th May 2015 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Steinway Grand Piano to be offered at Toovey’s Auction

Steinway Grand Piano at Toovey's May Auction

The name of Steinway & Sons has been synonymous with quality piano manufacture ever since the company was founded in Manhattan in 1853 by the German immigrant Henry Engelhard Steinway. Their first award came in 1855 when they won a gold medal at the American Institute Fair. Over the next seven years they won a further 34 gold medals, establishing the firm as one of the elite piano manufacturers. With the company awarded a royal warrant to Queen Elizabeth II it is an accolade they still hold today.

On the company’s website they state that each Steinway piano takes nearly a year to create. Nothing is hurried as they are dedicated to making the finest pianos in the world. The Steinway & Sons ebonized grand piano to be offered at Toovey’s on 22nd May 2015, Lot 2200, is circa 1936 and is model Z97 424 No. 286593, length 210cm. It is offered with a pre-sale estimate of £10,000-15,000.

“This Was Their Finest Hour” – Winston Churchill

70 years ago, on the 7th May 1945, the Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany’s armed forces. What had been fought for were the ideals of liberty, freedom, justice and fairness. But we had also fought for our national identity, bound up with the narrative of our island history and the English Romantic tradition.

Whenever the English find themselves under threat, they turn to their monarchy, their church and their landscape; our nation’s identity is bound together by these timeless threads. As 1944 drew to a close Winston Churchill said “A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened nations in their hour of peril.”

Victory in Europe, VE Day, was celebrated on the 8th May 1945 with a public holiday. There was a sense of relief and exhilaration at the end of six years of war. Stepping stones of defeat and been turned to triumph. The hard fight to free Europe restored, preserved and changed our nation’s ideals and identity.

Photographs taken by Captain B. St. C. Tony Rutherford — Black and white photographs taken by Captain B. St. C. Tony Rutherford, group photographer of the 53rd Welsh Division, from late June in Normandy to Hamburg May 1945

In response to the attack by British Bomber Command on Lubeck in March 1942 Hitler ordered bombing raids on old historic English cities, noted as important places to visit in the Baedeker travel guides of the period. They became known as the Baedeker bombing raids. Targets often included our Cathedral cities like Canterbury, York and Exeter. In so doing the Nazis sought to strike at the very identity of our nation, the quintessentially English. Remarkably the Cathedrals of Canterbury, York and Exeter survived. The tragic loss of life and homes failed to diminish morale.

A view of the ancient Cathedral city of Chichester

Although bombed on three occasions Chichester remained relatively unscathed and it is for this reason that it gives us such a wonderful and complete picture of an ancient English Cathedral city.

Suffragette movement via blog.tooveys.com — A photographic postcard depicting the suffragettes Mary Gawthorpe and Miss Pankhurst speaking to a crowd in the Market Place, Uppingham, Rutland, posted in 1907

At the heart of our modern freedom is our democratic right to vote. The Reform Acts, from 1832 onwards, had successively extended democratic voting rights to broader sections of British society. Women’s suffrage became a national movement in 1872. It was the efforts of suffragettes like Mary Gawthorpe and Emily Pankhurst which brought limited rights for women to vote in 1918. But it was not until the Conservative government passed the 1928 ‘Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act’ that all women over the age of 21 were given the vote. Women’s working roles during the war had been vital to Britain’s success. Women’s votes and equal rights would shape the future of British society.

Victory in 1945, and political victories before and since, have shaped our nation, upholding and defending our ideals of liberty, freedom, justice and fairness.

It is perhaps fitting, then, that our Parliamentary elections should fall on such an auspicious day as the 7th May 2015.

Late in the war the House of Commons was bombed. Reflecting on its rebuilding, in October 1944, Winston Churchill said “We shape our dwellings, and afterwards our dwellings shape us.” Our freedoms have been hard won and costly to defend. Rights come with responsibility. Our universal right to vote and shape our nation through the House of Commons is a vital responsibility.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 6th April 2015 in the West Sussex Gazette.