Author: Rupert

Dora Carrington at Pallant House

Dora Carrington – Lytton Strachey Reading, oil, c.1916 © National Portrait Gallery London

The winter season of exhibitions has just opened at Pallant House Gallery with a reassessment of the life and art of Dora Carrington.

Dora Carrington liked to call herself Carrington. She thought ‘Dora’ was vulgar and sentimental. A bohemian, Carrington found herself at the heart of a passionate group of artists, writers and friends from the Bloomsbury Group. Her lovers, who included men and women, and friends profoundly influenced her work. Much of the work of this gifted female artist is on a domestic scale which is refreshing. Travel, love, relationships, sexuality and the importance of place are recurring themes. Carrington’s work was never critically acclaimed during her lifetime and the paintings form a very intimate, personal expression and observation of her life.

Dora Carrington – Farm at Watendlath, oil, c.1921 © Tate

Carrington fell in love with the homosexual writer Lytton Strachey in 1915 and a year later she painted an intimate portrait of him reclining and reading. Her love for him is apparent in the intimacy with which she observes his long slender fingers, face and soft reddish beard. Strachey and Carrington first set up home together at Tidmarsh Mill near Pangbourne in 1917. There Ralph Partridge fell in love with Carrington and attracted the attentions of Strachey. Ralph and Carrington were married in 1921, not so much for love but to preserve the ménage à trois with Strachey. On the day she agreed to marry Partridge she wrote movingly to Strachey ‘I cried last night Lytton, whilst he slept by my side sleeping happily – I cried to think of a savage cynical fate which had made it impossible for my love ever to be used by you…’. It was on holiday with Ralph Partridge in Cumbria in 1921 that Carrington began her affair with Ralph’s friend Gerald Brenan. The landscape, Farm at Watendlath, seems to capture the emotional turmoil of their relationships. The farm where they all stayed is painted beneath the brooding Cumbrian hills. The description in Virginia Woolf’s diary of the tensions in Carrington’s life are apparent throughout this show. Woolf would write how likeable, impulsive and self-conscious Carrington was ‘…eager to please, conciliatory, restless, and active…’. The exhibition leaves you with a sense that although Carrington embraced the freedoms and spirit of a bohemian life it was costly to her. Her love for Lytton Strachey could not be fulfilled. She nursed him and heartbroken after his death she committed suicide.

Dora Carrington at Pallant House is an exhibition filled with beauty, joy and sorrow. An intimate portrayal of Carrington’s life expressed through her art and letters.

The Beauty of 18th Century Chinese Cloisonné

A pair of Chinese cloisonné enamelled figures of elephants, probably Jiaqing period

It is likely that the techniques employed in Chinese cloisonné came from the Near East. The tradition of enriching metal objects by fusing a composition of ground up multi-coloured glass under heat stretches back over some 3000 years.

Enamel decoration reached its heights in Byzantium and European sacred art of the early and high Middle Ages. The term cloisonné describes the method of creating compartments on a metal object using raised wirework borders, known as cloisons in French. These thin borders remain visible on the finished object separating the compartments of variously coloured enamels. The enamelled powder is worked into a paste to allow its application before being fired in a kiln. It is likely that these techniques reached China from the Middle East in the 14th century. Byzantium also influenced these developments especially after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 when refugees, in all likelihood, brought their knowledge of enamelling to China.

A Chinese cloisonné enamel and gilt copper ewer, mark and period of Qianlong

In China high quality enamelling becomes apparent from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) onwards. Importantly this branch of artistic endeavour received the patronage of the Imperial Court in China. In the 18th century the emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) surrounded himself with resplendent enamel works in his summer residence. Measuring 18.5cm the Chinese cloisonné enamel and gilt copper ewer had the mark of Qianlong and was of the period. It’s beautifully conceived pear-form body was decorated with blue, red, yellow, white and pink prunus on a ‘cracked ice’ turquoise ground. The gilded neck was also decorated with prunus above a stiff leaf collar and band of ruyi heads uniting the gilt domed cover with its Buddhistic lion knop finial and the chimera mouth scroll spout with the foliate capped scroll handle.

The pair of Chinese cloisonné enamelled figures of elephants probably dated from the Jiaqing period (1796–1820) and were 40cm high. Each caparisoned beast was decorated with colourful trappings and draped in a saddle cloth, brightly enamelled with a hanging chime and vapours above crashing waves on a turquoise ground. The elephant in China is one of the seven Buddhist sacred treasures and symbolizes peace. The combination of an elephant supporting a vase on its back is a reference to peaceful times (taiping youxiang). The decorative motif and symbolism was used on the Imperial throne. These two fine examples of the art of Chinese cloisonné were sold for £13,000 and £15,000 respectively in Toovey’s specialist sales of Chinese and Asian Art reflecting its continuing allure to collectors today.

Picasso in Provence

A collection of Picasso Madoura editions ceramics

Amongst the towering giants of 20th century art was Pablo Picasso. After living under the Nazis in his Paris studio Picasso journeyed south to Provence. Provence, as much an idea as a place, has gathered diverse peoples to her over millennia. Each have added to her richness and, in their turn, have been shaped by this remarkable land and her people.

In 1946, Pablo Picasso visited the annual potter’s exhibition in the provincial town of Vallauris. There he met Suzanne and Georges Ramié, the founders of the Madoura workshop, who were keen to persuade him to come to Vallauris. Picasso returned in July 1947 bringing his extraordinary imagination and creative energy to ceramics. Picasso took the everyday and transformed it in to high art painting and incising with a richness of expression which still causes my heart to race. Favourite themes included figures, bullfights and still lifes as depicted on the jug and plates illustrated here. In each you see the free, graphic rhythm which typifies Picasso’s ceramics. These pieces are Picasso Madoura editions and are authentic replicas of the original work. They sold for a total of £8200 at Toovey’s. Like a handmade print their close connection with Picasso’s hand attracts the attention of an international group of collectors. Picasso’s relationship with Madoura and the Ramiés grew and he lived at Vallauris before moving to Cannes.

Rupert Toovey in the square outside the Musée National Picasso, Vallauris

Picasso resurrected the ancient tradition of the all-round artist exploring painting, sculpture, graphic art, engraving and ceramics. Picasso delighted in the craft of the ceramicist and quickly began to talk with the Ramiés using the technical language of the potter. The Ramiés indulged Picasso’s often extremely unorthodox practices which included his methods of firing, glazes and form. Take for example the plate ‘Bunch with Apple’, made in 1956, in an edition of 400 which was decorated with oxidized paraffin.

You approach the Musée National Picasso at Vallauris in Provence through a square filled with shops and restaurants. Amidst the life of the village stands the bronze L’homme au mouton given by the artist in 1949. Inside the museum there is a jewel like array of original ceramics made by Pablo Picasso which is guarded fiercely by the museum staff. The pieces capture the spirit of Provence in a way which speaks of a joy and freedom after the artist’s years under Nazi occupation in Paris. You sense the effect that the light and warmth of Provence had on Picasso expressed in his ceramics in the post-war years.

Remembrance, Courage, Sacrifice and Hope

The Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall

Families, communities and nations are shaped and bound together by their common stories. Stories of both joys and sorrows.

There are moments in the procession of the our long island history which in their re-telling have become the stuff of legend and which define the character of our island people. They have inspired our writers, artists and leaders. King Alfred hiding from the Viking hoards in the marshes of Athelney in Somerset emerging to defeat their armies. The rescuing of almost all of the British Expeditionary Force, some 338,000 men, from the beaches of Dunkirk by a flotilla of more than 800 civilian pleasure craft in the May of 1940. This year we have marked the 80th Anniversary of D-day and the stories of courage and sacrifice in the cause of freedom, justice and the defence of our shared values, our way of life have been told by a dwindling band of men and women who took part in these momentous events. As I watched the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall I was struck by power of their first hand witness to the events they had lived through. It was as though their memories were ours too. As this remarkable generation fades these stories may well become the stuff of legend. But there is a risk that when history becomes legend there is a danger that we may forget the lessons of our past – that freedom, justice and hope, our way of life and shared values, democracy, are all hard won and must be defended strongly in times of peace as well as conflict.

Richard Shenton, Brigadier Willie Shackell and Des Knight at the Royal British Legion Act of Remembrance at St Mary’s, Storrington

Hope is an important corner stone of a Christian life, in fact a good life however we are inspired whether our hearts be sacred or secular. But today 24/7 news, social media and fake-news unceasingly breaks into our lives with a catalogue of tragedy, war, fear, climate change and suffering. In the face of this our sense of hope, our agency, is diminished and evil is emboldened persuading us that we are powerless to effect change. I think it was my mother who once said to me “You can’t change the world but you can change your corner of it.” This profoundly hopeful statement has much to commend it. Each of us, if we turn our attention from the digital media for a moment, will bear witness to extraordinary hope filled acts of human kindness and generosity all around us, especially in response to suffering and need.

A Revival of English Country House Taste

A pair of George III Chippendale period giltwood pier mirrors from the collection of the late Michael Rawlins of Wakefords, Easebourne

I much prefer a rich, textural English Country House interior over the austerity of minimalism. English Country House Taste is layered and eclectic always reflecting the taste and interests of a family and often the patchwork quilt of a family’s stories and interests over generations. It is unpretentious, layered and evolving.

My Grandparents home made a great impression on me. They had lived through the Second World War and they created a gathering interior. Their home was generous but not grand, rich, eclectic and beautifully conceived. Although quite open in design it was made up of a series of spaces to gather and enjoy the company of friends and family. Two sofas enfolded the fireplace with flanking armchairs and a Regency single-pedestal Pembroke table, the draw always smelt of pipe tobacco and 2B pencils. Chinese porcelain vases served as table lamps with crisp pleated shades, the walls filled with paintings and a bookcase because outward facing lively minds mattered. In the dining room a George V oak gateleg dining table reflected the light from the garden on its richly bees-waxed top surrounded by Georgian chairs. And to the side a chrome and red lacquer drinks trolley held a decanter of Madeira with an assortment of favourite glasses. These two areas were defined by a mahogany bureau which sat confidently against a wall between them.

A rich composition of furniture, paintings and objects in the English Country House taste

The late Michael Rawlins’s interiors were more formal and the collections reflected a glamorous taste. Michael built his home Wakefords at Easebourne when he moved from River. It beautifully demonstrates how English antique paintings, objects and furniture compliment the interior of a home from any period. The windows were framed by chintz curtains and the sofas and armchairs, which framed the fireplace in the drawing room, were upholstered in bright colours reflecting the influence of Colefax and Fowler and the interior designer John Fowler on a post-war generation. The furniture from Michael’s collection has just gone under the hammer at Toovey’s. The George III Chippendale period giltwood pier mirrors realised £3700. They formed part of a layered composition of paintings, furniture lights and objects typical of English Country House taste. There is a revival of intertest in the comfortable and timeless taste of the English country house. And today the quality of antique furniture, its beauty and exceptional value is beginning to attract the attention of decorators and collectors once again.