February 2016 – Toovey’s Blog

From Town and City to the Country

‘The Tug’ by Sussex artist, Vanessa Bell

In the late 19th and 20th centuries many of Britain’s leading artists were inspired to leave London and our towns and cities, for the country. For some it was to escape the effects of the industrial revolution and for others the wars. There was a desire to articulate the ancient hope of the English expressed in and through their landscape. A hope bound up with a romanticized view of a rural idyll, lost or under threat.

It was Virginia Woolf’s love for Duncan Grant and her sister, Vanessa Bell, which brought her to Sussex during the First World War. Vanessa was living with her lover, the artist Duncan Grant, and his friend David Garnett, at Wissett Lodge in Suffolk when her sister, the author, Virginia Woolf, wrote to her in the May of 1916. She extolled the virtues and potential of Charleston house near Firle in East Sussex. To avoid being called up to fight and the prospect of gaol as conscientious objectors, Duncan Grant and David Garnett needed to be essentially employed on the land. Virginia Woolf was by this time living at Asheham some four miles from Charleston and, having suffered a breakdown, sought Vanessa’s company. In her letters Virginia explained that not only did the house need a tenant but that the neighbouring farmer was short of ‘hands’ to work on the land.

Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant would gather an extraordinary array of artists, writers and intellectuals to Charleston. Amongst them was the great economist Maynard Keynes, the authors Lytton Strachey and T. S. Elliot, the artist and critic Roger Fry and, amongst many others, Vanessa’s husband Clive Bell.

In London Vanessa Bell had married the art critic Clive Bell and was one of the leading members of what would become known as the Bloomsbury Group. She worked in the Omega Workshops with Roger Fry and collaborated with Duncan Grant in numerous decorative projects and artistic commissions.

As well as covering the walls and furniture at Charleston with painted decoration they portrayed those who visited and the countryside around them. The delightful oil by Vanessa Bell titled ‘The Tug’ depicts a scene reminiscent of Newhaven harbour which is across the Sussex Downs from Charleston. The light is golden and luminous. Her handling of paint is broad and filled with life and movement in the manner of the French Post-Impressionists. There is freedom and joy in the moored boat’s hopeful depiction.

Walter Langley’s oil painting, ‘A Quiet Time’

In contrast to Vanessa Bell’s bright palette is Walter Langley’s depiction of a working class woman at rest. Titled ‘A Quiet Time’ it reflects Langley’s empathy with the persistent hardship faced by the poor in 19th century Britain. Muted earth hues are employed in the stillness of this sensitive, delicate portrait. The economy of detail is typical of his portrayals of the working people of Newlyn in Cornwall. Walter Langley belonged to a group of artists from Birmingham who journeyed to Newlyn in Cornwall to escape the hardships caused by the Industrial Revolution in our cities. Their pursuit of realism was influenced by the French Barbizon painters. There is a romantic articulation of the nobility in working people.

If Sussex and her Downs touch your heart the need to live in their folds never leaves you. Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant would continue to live at Charleston throughout their lives. 2016 marks a century since the Bloomsbury Group artists, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, arrived in Sussex to make their home at Charleston. I look forward to returning to Charleston and their array of events to celebrate this important anniversary. For more information go to www.charleston.org.uk/whats-on.

Vanessa Bell’s and Walter Langley’s paintings are already consigned for sale in Toovey’s select Fine Art Sale on Wednesday 23rd March 2016, each with an estimate of £8,000-12,000.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

Eric Gill, Art and Architecture in Sussex

Woodbarton, designed by the artist Eric Gill in 1920

Woodbarton is a hidden artistic jewel in the heart of Sussex. The house is being offered for sale on the open market for the very first time since it was built in 1920. It was designed and decorated by the famous Ditchling based artist, Eric Gill (1882-1940).

Eric Gill was born in Steyning, West Sussex, in 1882. In his formative years he lived both in Brighton and Chichester. In 1900 he moved to London to train as an architect with the firm W. D. Caroe. Gill became ever more disaffected with this path. He studied stonemasonry in Westminster and calligraphy at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. By 1903 Eric Gill had given up his architectural training to become a calligrapher, letter-cutter and monumental mason.

In 1907 Eric Gill found himself drawn back to Ditchling in Sussex. Together with a group of fellow artists Gill worked within the Roman Catholic Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic at Ditchling. These artists lived in community with their wives, children, associates and apprentices. They upheld the principles of the artisan artist. Their work and lives were framed by the monastic rhythm of prayer. Thanks to their work this Sussex village became a centre for the Arts and Crafts Movement. The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic was founded by Eric Gill, Hilary Pepler and the English poet and artist, Desmond Chute (1895-1962).

Eric Gill brought his artistic and architectural skills to bear when he designed Woodbarton for his associate Desmond Chute.

The house sits confidently in its generous gardens, surrounded by open countryside with stunning views. An old brick path leads past the studio to a welcoming front door which, it is thought, might be the work of the Arts and Crafts designer and architect, Ernest Gimson. That this home was designed by the artist Eric Gill for an artist becomes quickly apparent as the light breaks into the generous hallway. The qualities of light and welcome run through the whole house.

Eric Gill’s carved and painted stone Lavabo in the hall

The Christian foundations of the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic is visible in the carved and painted stone Lavabo by Eric Gill, which is set into the hallway’s wall. It would have contained Holy water for a priest to ritually wash as a sign of inner purity before celebrating the Mass, and for members of the Guild and visitors to bless themselves.

A detail of Eric Gill’s carved stone fireplace in the sitting room

The sitting room is arranged around a fireplace which is framed by a stone carving with a central cross, again by Eric Gill. The stone was originally made for Westminster Cathedral where Gill carved the Stations of the Cross. It was broken in transit and was therefore installed at Woodbarton.

There are stone panels carved with meditative inscriptions by Gill and others set into some of the walls of the house.

Desmond Chute only lived at Woodbarton for a few years before leaving for Rapallo in Italy for his health. Chute would be ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1927. After he left, the house became the home of the Guild’s treasurer, Eric Gill’s brother-in-law, Charlie Walters and subsequently the weaver, Valentine Kilbride.

In 1983 the Guild was wound up and Woodbarton was bought privately by the artists, Edgar and Jennifer Holloway. When they arrived there was no plumbing and only an outside toilet and single cold water tap. This artistic couple set about modernising the house to create the comfortable home and studio, in which to live and work, which you see today.

With its three bedrooms, reception rooms and studio the fortunate buyer of Woodbarton will acquire a generous and charming home. This exceptional house forms part of an important story in the history of both the Arts and Crafts Movement and Modern British Art here in Sussex. It provides a remarkable opportunity to live with exceptional art-in a beautiful setting.

The property is being marketed by Clifford Dann with a guide price of £800,000. Partner, Michael Hudson, understands the importance and qualities of this unique property. For more information contact Clifford Dann’s Ditchling office on 01273 843344 or email ditchling@clifforddann.co.uk.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

Cabinets of Curiosity

A Peruvian Chimu effigy vessel painted with a face and decorative collar, circa 1100AD to 1450AD, with a Mexican Nayarit figure and a Mexican Veracruz pottery head

The latest exhibition at the Horsham Museum and Art Gallery, ‘Curiosity: A Tale of Quirky Collecting’, combines the delights of the Renaissance cabinet of curiosity with the enquiry of the 18th century Enlightenment. It charts the questioning journey of a 21st century Sussex antiquary. The objects form part of his private collection and have never before been seen together in public.

Between 1680 and 1820 the imaginations of some of Britain, Europe and America’s leading philosophers, scientists and writers were inspired by a new age of reason and learning which became known as the Enlightenment.

During the Renaissance rooms and cabinets of curiosities housed encyclopaedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were yet to be defined. They were often known as wonder cabinets and rooms. Similarly 18th century collectors, antiquaries and travellers brought together, but also sought to classify, objects from the world around them. Many of these objects were categorised according to the seven major new areas of enquiry during the Enlightenment. These included: natural history, art and civilisation, religion and ritual, the birth of archaeology, discovery and trade, the translation of ancient scripts and classification.

These areas of enquiry are abundantly displayed in this exhibition’s cabinets of curiosity filled with wonder and learning at the Horsham Museum. The objects’ stories are bound together with their custodian’s very personal journey of discovery through collecting.

An incunabula, ‘Chronicle of the World’, printed in 1493

The story begins with geology. Encouraged by his mother, when 11 years old, he began to collect geological specimens. He would eventually amass more than seven hundred examples. From geology we move to the natural world and a Christmas gift of an antique taxidermy red squirrel given to our enlightened collector as a boy of fourteen. And then to books, not just as documents of learning but as aesthetic objects, like the ‘Chronicle of the World’ seen here which was published in 1493. It is an incunabula, a term given to any book which was printed rather than handwritten before 1501. It means cradle of printing. The printed words seem to lead us into the marvellous woodblock illustration which depicts a bustling harbour filled with trading ships and a city beyond. I share this collector’s fascination with books. They have been collected for millennia. The libraries of the ancient world must have been wondrous.

This gifted antiquarian writes how one day, feeling flush, he purchased a Chinese Han Dynasty (206BC to 220AD) pottery figure from a shop near the British Museum in London and his journey of discovery through antiquities began.

Ten ancient terracotta figures from the Indus Valley, circa 3000BC to 2000BC

There are some truly ancient objects in this exhibition. Look at the remarkable group of ten terracotta figurines from the Indus Valley which date from between 3000BC and 2000BC. It is thought that might they might be emblematic of fertility. The Bronze Age, Harrappan Civilisation (3300BC to 1900BC) of the Indus Valley extended from what is now northwest India through Pakistan to northeast Afghanistan. It flourished on the banks of the Indus River. This important civilisation was lost in the mists of time until it began to be rediscovered during the Archaeological Survey of India instigated by the British Raj in 1861. There is something remarkable in these figures being displayed against the backdrop of Horsham’s Causeway.

Alongside objects from Europe, the Indus and China are pieces from the ancient Aztec, Inca and Mayan civilisations of South America. These include the Picasso like Peruvian Chimu effigy vessel painted with a face and geometric collar which dates from between 1100AD and 1450AD. Beside it is a marvellous Mexican Nayarit red pottery figure wearing a bird headdress. It dates from 100BC to 250AD. The Mexican pottery Veracruz head, circa 400AD to 800AD, has wonderfully expressive features.

The romance of history and a curiosity about the past is often bound up with the joy of owning and observing objects. I love the qualities of an enquiring and learning journey expressed in this very personal exhibition of eclectic items. The displays in these wondrous cabinets of curiosity and discovery give us an insight into how human achievement has evolved over the centuries. They allow us to glimpse the 18th century age of Enlightenment’s spirit of enquiry which, it would seem, is alive and well in 21st century Sussex!

‘Curiosity: A Tale of Quirky Collecting’ runs until 5th March 2016, at the Horsham Museum & Art Gallery, The Causeway, Horsham, RH12 1HE. Entrance to the Museum and exhibition is free. It is the perfect half-term outing! For more information go to www.horshammuseum.org or telephone 01403 254959.

By Rupert Toovey, a senior director of Toovey’s, the leading fine art auction house in West Sussex, based on the A24 at Washington. Originally published in the West Sussex Gazette.

An International Aesthetic

A rare pair of Sunflower Andirons designed by Thomas Jeckyll being auctioned at Toovey’s, estimate £10,000-£20,000

This week’s column is, in part, inspired by the remarkable discovery of a rare pair of Sunflower Andirons attributed to the Aesthetic Movement designer, Thomas Jeckyll (1827-1881), which are to be sold at Toovey’s in West Sussex.

Since the 1860s designers and potters in Britain and America have fallen under the influence of the Japanese aesthetic. The influences of Japanese culture and art joined with the theories of ‘art for art’s sake’ promoted by influential European writers, poets and critics like Théophile Gautier and Charles Baudelaire. Their thinking promoted artistic expression without edifying, moral or utilitarian purpose; rather it was bound up with a sense of human self-determination and inner-direction. It resulted in the Aesthetic Movement in Britain and America. At the forefront in Britain was the American born, British based, artist James McNeill Whistler and Oscar Wilde.

Thomas Jeckyll worked as an architect and designer and was part of the Aesthetic Movement in Britain. He was commissioned to design a dining room as part of the remodelling and redecoration of Frederick Richards Leyland’s home in London. Leyland had made his fortune as a British shipping magnate. Jeckyll conceived the room to display porcelain in the Anglo-Japanese taste. Despite his undisputed gifts for architectural design he is predominately celebrated for his ironwork. The sunflower features prominently in his designs. A pair of the rare Sunflower Andirons by Jeckyll can be seen in the fireplace of the famous Peacock Room from Leyland’s house. They are very similar to those entered for sale at Toovey’s. These andirons have been described as ‘an exquisite example of the Anglo-Japanese style’. As with many of Jeckyll’s pieces they were made by the Norwich firm, Barnard, Bishop & Barnard.

The Peacock Room acquired its name after the artist James McNeill Whistler overpainted the Jeckyll designed dining room. Between 1876 and 1877 Whistler, inspired by the Chinese porcelains contained in the room, turned it into a masterpiece of mural art painting. He employed a rich, unified palette of over-glazed and gilded brilliant blue-greens. It is considered by many to be the finest surviving Aesthetic Movement interior in the world.

Charles Lang Freer purchased the Peacock Room and in 1904 shipped it from London to his Detroit Mansion where it was reconstructed to display pots in his collection from Egypt, Iran, Japan, China and Korea. The Peacock Room is now on display, together with his collection, in The Freer Sackler, The Smithsonian’s Museum of Asian Art, in Washington D.C.

A selection of work by the 20th century British studio potter Wally Keeler

The influences of the east, especially Japan, also became apparent amongst studio potters from the later 1860s. This influence continued into the 20th century in the work of British potters like Wally Keeler (b.1942). Toovey’s Arts and Crafts specialist, William Rowsell, explains that a collection of Keeler’s work, and pieces by other leading studio potters, have also been consigned to Toovey’s for sale. Keeler led the revival in salt-glazed wares. The combination of his very fine throwing, craftsmanship with his exemplary sense of form is apparent throughout his work and is displayed in the jugs and dish illustrated. The forms are beautifully accentuated by the pitted, coloured salt-glazes he employs.

Toovey’s forthcoming specialist sale of Arts and Crafts Furniture and Works of Art and British Studio Pottery will be held on Tuesday 29th March 2016. William Rowsell, is excited by the Studio Pottery and the potential result of the important Aesthetic Sunflower Andirons designed by Thomas Jeckyll which are expected to realise between £10,000 and £20,000. Entries for this exceptional sale are still being accepted. William Rowsell will be delighted to offer free advice on your Arts and Crafts furniture, objects and Studio Pottery whether you are considering selling or buying. Telephone Toovey’s on 01903 891955, or email auctions@tooveys.com, to arrange an appointment.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 3rd February 2016 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Remarkable New Exhibition at Petworth House

The Adoration of the Magi, attributed to Hieronymus Bosch, circa 1515

Last Thursday evening I found myself at Petworth House for the opening of ‘Remastered: Bosch to Bellotto’ –it is a ravishing display. Rarely do you encounter an array of art as remarkable and exciting as this exhibition of European Old Masters. It reunites rare, unseen masterpieces, loaned from the private collection of Lord Egremont, with paintings from the National Trust’s collection at Petworth House.

This jewel like show is woven together by a coherent and strong narrative which gives an insight into the passionate collecting tastes and connoisseurship of the Earls of Egremont over many centuries. The gallery display gifts us with the opportunity to examine the familiar and the new with a rare intimacy. It allows us to delight in the paintings in the way that these gifted patron collectors must have done as they acquired them. The show continues in the house where the paintings are in their natural setting, forming part of the decorative scheme at Petworth House, alongside furniture and objects.

The exhibition is once again the inspiration of Andrew Loukes, Exhibitions Manager at Petworth House, who continues to break new ground at the National Trust by adding serious in depth exhibitions to the already rich experience of the visiting public. The importance of this exhibition was affirmed by the National Trust’s Central Curator of Pictures and Sculpture, David Taylor, who opened the show.

As you enter the gallery space your eye is immediately drawn to the iconic, seemingly life size, portrait of Henry VIII painted towards the end of his reign in the studio of Hans Holbein. It was placed in the panelling of the Carved Room, by the 3rd Earl of Egremont (famous as the patron and friend of the artist, J. M. W. Turner) in the early 19th century. The picture’s usual setting does not allow you to experience the passages of real beauty in the details. The finely painted hair displays grey in this older monarch’s beard. There is a real sense of metal in the swords hilt and ruby encrusted chain. As you stand in the presence of this painting you feel that if you dared to breathe the delicate, lifelike ermine would move. Andrew Loukes explains that the painting was almost certainly commissioned by Edward Seymour who was very close to Henry VIII in the latter part of his reign and acted as guardian to his sister’s son, Edward VI, during the young King’s short reign. His family’s connection with Petworth through the 6th Duke of Somerset, Charles Seymour (1662-1748), may well have brought his important painting to the collection.

King Henry VIII (1491-1547) from the studio of Hans Holbein the younger, circa 1543/47

To your left is the remarkable Adoration of the Magi, attributed to Hieronymus Bosch and leant by Lord Egremont. Painted around 1515 it is thought to be a version of the central panel of the great triptych now at the Prado in Madrid. It is a work which commands the attention of the viewer as layered meaning and exquisite details reveal themselves. Academic opinions vary but the gold sculpture, Jaspar’s gift, appears to depict the sacrifice the prophet Isaac, foreshadowing the death of Christ. Behind the kneeling Jaspar stands Melchior whose cape depicts King Solomon receiving gifts from the Queen of Sheba. To the left is Balthazar wearing white and bearing myrrh. That the figures in the landscape beyond wear northern European costume against the imaginative backdrop of Jerusalem. Look out for the owl in the rafters too!

After his success with Mr Turner last year Andrew Loukes has done it again! That he has provided us with the opportunity to discover European Old Master paintings of international importance here in Sussex is remarkable and he is deserving of our thanks.

This accessible and jewel like exhibition is a must see and runs at Petworth House until 6th March 2016. Tickets for the exhibition are just £12 (including National Trust members). To book tickets telephone 0844 249 1895.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 13th January 2016 in the West Sussex Gazette.