Roman fresco with banquet scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti (IX 12, 6-8) in Pompeii

In western society we are inheritors of a legacy from Ancient Greece and Rome that despite the passing of over 2500 years is still potent. Through their ideas the desire to capture the essence of fine living was born. Today that art of living has evolved since the development of the domus in European antiquity to a residence in America and Australia, through a diverse and special mix of peoples and their cultures.

Ancient Greek gastronomy developed out of a practice of sacrificing domestic animals to a variety of gods. Afterwards, as one would expect in a democracy, the carcasses were equally proportioned and sold at market. During the fifth century before the Christ event herbs, spices and honey were added to heighten taste.

As documented in the literature of this period, cookery was considered a very important skill, because the Greeks understood it to be one of the basic arts that sustained human life. Romans of the first century embraced Greek ideas and art forms with great passion. Roman orator Cicero [106 BC -43 BC] believed that ‘to style the presence of guests at a dinner table’ lay at the heart of Roman civilised life ‘because it implied a community of enjoyment, a convivium, or ‘living together’.

Reconstruction of the Octagonal Room - Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea

Following the decline of the Republic and ascent of the Empirical system at Rome a shared meal became a vehicle for display, ostentation, rank, hierarchy and for flattering and influencing people, in a setting they could exercise the art of conversation. Roman Emperor Nero (37-68) enjoyed fine living with great gusto. When he entered his just completed residence, the Domus Aurea (or Golden House, built in 64 AD, he is said to have proclaimed, as he gazed upon its many splendours, words to the effect, ‘now at last I can live as a human being’.

Author of a first century best seller Satyricon, Gaius Petronius (27-66 A.D.), was Nero’s advisor in all matters of luxury and extravagance (his unofficial title was arbiter elegantia). He described guests arriving at a banquet as being requested to remove their shoes at the door, have their hands washed in iced water, no mean feat prior to refrigeration, while their toenails were trimmed to the sounds of a chorus singing. Perhaps today we may consider the last just a little excessive.

We do know that Nero’s guests reclined, along with their host, on couches enjoying conversation and cuisine prepared by chefs, who achieved some fame. His vast banqueting hall revolved in harmony with the rhythms of day and night, the ceiling opening to reveal the heavens as perfume and gifts showered onto guests.

The advent of Christianity created a challenge for those at the top because by now there was a well-established tradition of fine living throughout the Roman world.

The Apostle Paul struggled to attend gatherings where rich men and their friends were served different food and drink to those of a ‘lower status’. It was a dilemma he felt he could not resolve so in the end he decided the wealthy had better eat privately.

Paul advised the Corinthians [1 Corinthians 8: 9, 10] when asked should they eat meat sacrificed to idols by suggesting they should be careful about exercising freedom of choice in case it became a ‘stumbling block to the weak’. And, that if what he ate caused his brothers to fall into sin then for his part, he would never eat meat again. Powerful words with a meditative deep inner meaning that reflect Paul’s strength of mind and purpose.

There is a huge gap of reliable documentation from the fall of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, when the demise of eating in a reclining position also came about, until about the fourteenth century in Europe. Communal living by Christian monks and nuns meant communal eating, often to strict rules of silence, with an aim of feeding the soul.

Prolonged periods of peace also meant the aristocracy gentry and merchants could establish great houses in the countryside and along with it invented the concept of ‘eating outdoors’ or, having picnics, which became something new and exciting as described by fourteenth century French nobleman Gaston Phoebus Gaston III of Foix and Gaston X of Béarn (1343-1391).

He summarized his life’s achievements: “I have delighted all my days in three things. The one is arms, the next is love, and the other is hunting.” He added, “There have been far better masters of the two former than I am.” Such humility, is definitely to be applauded.

For Kings and noblemen of the fourteenth century hunting was so much more than just a sport. It was a game of chance in which the thrill of the chase was far more important than the desire to put food on the table.

An artful aristocratic diversion, the hunt ended with man proving he held power and sway over the animal kingdom. A complex event involving strategizing for success with highly valued, well trained dogs and fighting fit falcons hunts were often held on religious days.

They started with a feast for breakfast, as well as an analysis of the droppings of the potential prey to ensure it was both fit and worthy to be hunted at all. Then the hunt was on. The glorious day ended with everyone joining together in a celebratory meal and fittingly Phoebus himself died, as he should, during a bear hunt.

Fifteenth century Florentine author and philosopher Marsilio Ficino 1433 – 1499 revealed his thoughts about a meal that it ‘embraces all the parts of man, for it restores the limbs, renews the humours, revives the mind, refreshes the senses and sustains and sharpens reason’.

Throughout the fifteenth century in Italy dining at table was strongly symbolic of a good society one in which strong social relationships were forged, ideas exchanged and mutual respect established.

In England by the sixteenth century the head of a powerful household sat at the head of his table facing a fanciful portal crowned with trumpeters who heralded the exact moment the food, led by the marshal of the hall carrying a white staff appeared.

At the grandest banquets, a household officer on horseback emerged from underneath a screen that protected guests from draughts from the doorway and rode into the hall to announce that dinner was served. What fun.

At Hatfield House, home of the famous Cecil family, the ornately carved screen was crowned with the Cecil crest and family motto Sero Sed Serio “late, but in earnest’, surely one of the best mottos of all time.

Its painted decoration and a great panoply of decorative devices had been plundered from Turkish rugs and old Medieval manuscripts imposing a visual richness.

If a house during the Tudor period in England, included a Long Gallery hung with portraits of the family, famous patrons or friends it was the mark of a settled and civilized house; an Elizabethan magnate could contemplate their character or otherwise be inspired by their virtues. Owning such a house became important to practicing the art of fine living.

By the beginning of the seventeenth century the French court changed its philosophy from an ideal based on chivalry to one of refined manners.

The most influential teacher of architects in France during this period was Germain Boffrand. He revealed ‘the character of the master of a house…can be judged by the manner in which it is arranged, decorated and furnished’.

By now the art of fine living embraced a well-planned sophisticated garden as well. At Vaux le Vicomte Louis La Vau 1612-70 [architecture] Charles Le Brun 1619-90 [interiors] and Andre Le Notre 1613-1700 [gardens] spent five years building a chateau designed by the three for the glory of one, their patron and illustrious client the Minister for Finances, Nicolas Foucquet. It is at his Chateau, Vaux le Vicomte, that the French classical style was born.

Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Notre created this extraordinary ‘palace of the sun’ as described by the ancient Latin poet, Ovid for his patron, Apollo, The Sun King.

Here at last was the perfect place for a man of substance and his family to dwell; large, imposing, but not huge; with painted wood panelling, colourful carpets, painted illusionary ceilings, carved and gilded furniture, fabulous ceramics, superb textiles all made for the most splendid of man-made environments.  I know that when I visited to view its splendours I could have easily moved straight in. It was not over ambitious, but comfortable, cleverly disposed and in keeping with its times.

At Vaux le Vicomte Foucquet practiced the art of fine living well, eating his meat from a service that included a new fancy fangled invention called the fork, without fearing the accusation of depravity still associated with that practice only a few years earlier.

The publisher Charles de Sercy described Vaux’s gardens in 1652 as the place where ‘Foucquet made art and nature engage in a pleasant contest’. The genius of Le Notre lay not only in his invention of a new style, but in his absolute mastery of a repertoire widely used, at least in its many parts.

It was bringing them together in a controlled harmonious form that was not only pleasing but also a perfect place in which to practice the art of seduction.

Vaux was built for the enjoyment of the countryside while not giving up the pleasures of the city…something England did not emulate at this time as they concentrated on building country houses for sport and display, rather than as a place to practice the art of conversation.

The Baroque style from Vaux le Vicomte became a potent force that influenced the whole of the western world when guided by Louis XIV, he began expanding his father’s hunting lodge nearby the village of Versailles using the combined talents of Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Notre.

The Kings of France lived in the chateau of Versailles, which became a centre for political life from 1682 until 1789. It is today an amazing place to visit with its some 2,300 rooms and over 60 staircases. In its day it cost the equivalent price of what we would pay now for a modern city airport. It was an object of universal admiration in its time, enhancing French prestige on the world stage.

France’s appearance and way of life changed forever during the reign of Louis XIV the Sun King. Many great towns throughout France underwent metamorphosis and the landscape altered forever as Louis XIV devoted himself energetically to all his building projects. Today little remains of his other splendid palaces at Saint-Germain and Marly?

Well cursed as an extravagance when it was under construction, and accused of having ruined the nation at the time of the revolution, the chateau at Versailles stands today as a monument to French achievement and the many milestones reached in its historical and cultural journey.

Over the years since it was finished the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles has reflected many great moments in the history of the world. At the time Colbert, Louis’ 1^st Minister and master of ceremonies used it to launch the Royal Mirror Company. Its success gave considerable momentum to the glazing industry in France and increasingly the public became aware of the decor possibilities of a mirror. They enhanced the art of living well.

Despite all of the work Louis was to complete at Versailles it was always called le Chateau, (which means Gentleman’s seat) never le Palais, remaining the home of a young man, grand without being pompous, full of light, air and cheerfulness just like a large country house.

According to the Oxford Dictionary the term enlightenment means to be free of prejudice, ignorance or superstition. Grand Tourists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Europe were busy discovering the ruins at Rome and an expansion of knowledge revealed that ancient artists and writers had been accustomed to free expression, with religion and honour paramount to society’s daily existence.

This revelation affected the social and moral values of many European societies who were travelling in ever increasing circles in ‘search of the truth’. They began striving for aesthetic perfection wanting to emulate a new ideal; classical perfection.

As a result small temples in a landscape became focal points for those wanting a place of ease and repose.

By the turn of the nineteenth interiors as described by Jane Austen in her novels, presented an image of a sublime world. China, glassware and silverware displayed the family coat of arms proving to those who sat at table with you that your lineage was not only important, but also could be traced to ancient (the inference was more important) times.

Simple white starched linens with drawn thread work were surmounted by elegant vases made of glass, filled with fresh flowers picked from the garden loosely, but consciously arranged and placed on great tables. These were made from the new rage timber, mahogany with their elegantly fluted legs inspired by the columns from a Greek classical temple.

Women’s dresses emulated Greek statuary although some, endeavouring to appear like the goddesses on Greek temples by wetting their dresses, succumbed to pneumonia… because by now death was preferable to not being seen as part of a fashionable scene involved in the art of fine living.

William Morris (1834-1896) self-professed leader of the modern movement said ‘If I were asked to say what is at once the most important product of Art, and the thing most to be longed for, I should answer, a beautiful House’.

Building a house in the country made to appear as old and as venerable as the countryside itself, was what everyone was striving for. If you couldn’t build one you clamoured to be acquainted with those who owned a wonderful old pile. The aim was to affect an invitation to join a country house weekend where the art of pleasure was a very serious business and the art of fine living practiced with confidence and style.

‘Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality’ said English author and art critic John Ruskin 1819 – 1900. He resented social injustice and the squalor that was a direct result of the ‘greed is good’ mentality that accompanied the unbridled capitalism of the Industrial Revolution. His influence on the next generation of artists and craftsmen who led the way toward establishing Le Style Moderne was to be profound.

The agricultural depression of the late nineteenth century removed land as the chief source of wealth in England and by 1901 the money to pay for a country house had to be made in urban centres of trade or, somewhere else in the Empire, like Australia, where the English style and way of life had been transported. World War 1 marked a great divide in the age of the moderns bringing artists face to face with an alternative; either a clean sweep or hope of a reformed society, or alternatively the retention of a privileged art in the service of an elite and moneyed class.

After WWII a focus on art and design coming together again was rejuvenated. At Sydney, the unofficial capital of Australia, a quiet revolution in the art of living well has meant that its interior designers have finally come into their own. Stunning textiles instead of paintings are appearing on the very best walls. Smart eye-catching antique carpets are teaming brilliantly with wide plank nailed timber floors.

Despite the GFC, storm and tempest, floods and fire most owners remain optimistic. Good old Petronius, with his eye for detail and best in life, would have loved the whole concept of a one stop shop and having access to a fabulous design resource like Residence Australia.

During the last decade those who have set the scene for an art of fine living have reinterpreted late nineteenth century European Modernism with great enthusiasm, making it appear all brand new.

Great interiors today are innovative, convenient, comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, technology savvy and above all energy efficient. Sustainability, recycling and quiet elegance have become hallmarks of an interior that will both inspire and nurture its occupants, so that they can enjoy an art of living well.

Carolyn McDowall, ©The Culture Concept Circle 2011, 2012

*Quote by Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)

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Gustave Klimt, leading artist of the Vienna Secession - Judith 1901 Oil on Canvas

The industrial revolution of the nineteenth century as it progressed rapidly changed the face of the western world. By the beginning of the twentieth century in Europe, England and America immense wealth generated a youthful society, one who had very different priorities and objectives than their parents or grandparents. They were clamouring for the best that life could offer. Their aspirations and expectations were different, their views less dogmatic, manners much smoother, prose lighter and morals and codes of conduct easier. At the time England was indisputably the greatest and richest nation in the world with no rivals seriously threatening its trade and industry. The upper and middle classes were enjoying supremacy.

Life without industry is guilt, and industry without art is brutality author and art critic John Ruskin 1819 – 1900 declared. A moral guide or prophet, if you like during the latter years of the nineteenth century in England Ruskin resented social injustice and the squalor that was a direct result of the ‘greed is good’ mentality that accompanied the unbridled capitalism brought about by the Industrial Revolution. His influence was profound on his both his contemporary colleagues and the next generation of artists and craftsmen. They would lead the way towards establishing Le Style Moderne.

Window from Hill House by Charles Rennie Mackintosh

Vienna’s art world in the latter years of the nineteenth century, finally accepted the leadership role of the United Kingdom. in the world of innovation and design. Arts and Crafts leader William Morris and Scottish creative Charles Rennie Mackintosh fought to combat goods produced by machines by championing hand manufacturing. Charles Rennie Mackintosh cultivated a rigorous formal economy of design, which appealed to members of the newly established Viennese Secession.

They were a group of primarily young artists, painters, sculptors and architects in Vienna who seceded from the prestigious Kunsterhaus (Artists House) to set up a Society of Austrian Artists – the Vienna Secession. in I897. It included painted and illustrator Gustav Klimt. His brilliant individualism would dominate the era and his paintings set a stylistic tone that would resonate in far off places. His paintings lining the grand ascending staircase of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum reveal his movement towardthe hallmarks of a style that would become known as Art Nouveau.

The Secession staged their first exhibition in March 1898. Their aims were purely aesthetic and founded in Coffeehouse culture and the decorative arts magazine The Studio, which was devoured in all the capital’s stylish cafes.

Detail of the Secession building in Vienna, constructed by Joseph Maria Olbrich. It is one of the best known examples of Secessionist style of modern architecture.

Members of the Secession Otto Wagner, Josef Hoffman and Josef Maria Olbrich were so impressed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s austere aesthetic they invited him to come to Vienna and exhibit at the eighth Vienna Secession exhibition, which he did to critical acclaim.  Secession artists by their very nature were all fierce individuals striving to create a new style, one that would inform and help to imagine the future.

Vienna was struggling to leave behind its reputation for conservatism and the impact of the repressive political climate of their immediate past. Its citizens eagerly sought to embrace contemporary ideas and change under the influence and leadership of its artists, intellectuals and scientists.

Josef Hoffman in 1905-11 designed the Palais Stoclet in Brussels for Belgian industrialist Alfred Stoclet. It was a Villa built for a private financier who ‘wanted a large house, he loved the arts and gave us an entirely free hand’ said Hoffman.

It has been described as a universal, complete, flawless masterpiece of a thousand years of architectural history.

Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffman combine to produce the design and style of the Palais Stoclet's Dining Room

Modernism demanded a distinction between interior architecture and decoration and a preference for open planned living.

Modernist interiors were meant to be devoid of applied decoration. They seek to concentrate solely on geometry, uninterrupted lines and form.

At the Villa Stoclet the Dining Room contained murals by Gustav Klimt and furniture by Josef Hoffman. Harmony governed every facet of this total work of art and it became the extreme statement of Viennese avant-garde design.

It was ambitious, an accomplished achievement of the Wiener Werkstatte, (Vienna Workshops) founded by Hoffman in 1903. A strange astonishing edifice it might have come from another planet, it was in fact transposed far from the city of its conception to a setting, which is still alien to it. It exemplified in embryo the major features of the coming Art Deco movement of which it was one of the great founding monuments.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century rivals America, Germany and Japan threatened Britain’s manufacturing power. At home industrial unrest, growing feminist and socialist movements were part of a general, and protracted crisis. The population of the United Kingdom was 41.5 million in 1901, twenty percent living in poverty. Emmelline Pankhurst founded the Women’s Social and Political Union in 1903 and it gained an international focus for militant action in the campaign for women’s suffrage. In Britain the Children’s Act of 1904 finally banned employment of children between nine at night and six in the morning.

A most profound influence in the UK and in America would be that of the long established system of French education in design and architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts at Paris. Its style of education was introduced into Britain amid scepticism, resentment and open hostility early in the twentieth century. Rejected previously, the Ecole’s approach to architecture laid heavy emphasis on distinct, formalized planning.

This is a school of design education founded that had no parallel in any other European country. It aimed at being and became a centre for intellectual debate about architecture during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Its teaching program was conceived as a preparation for the design of public buildings.

Tutors taught architects to work up their designs through a series of project stages. They employed the classical orders in the required ‘correct proportions’, but only once the plan was fully developed. The aim of every student was to win the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome established by Napoleon through the Academie des Beaux Arts, so they could spend a year studying in that city.

In England the Ritz Hotel on Picadilly is in the ‘Beaux Arts’ style. In America, the Biltmore Estate (pictured) was designed by the first American educated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at Paris, Richard Morris Hunt. His ‘French Chateau’ style house for George Washington Vanderbilt II, ate up much of the family fortune, installing such new innovations as electricity, which at the time was not even in the area.

The population of Britain in 1800 was 10 million. In 1881 it was 31 million and by 1911 there would be 11 million more to house, and the resultant prosperity was enjoyed most of all by the affluent middle classes. Within the years from 1895 to 1906 more buildings were built than ever before in Britain’s history. Speculative developers, who employed both run of the mill, designed houses, hotels, offices and factories and talented architects in an attempt to invent a new sought after British style. They were the ones who held sway.

Idealists such as William Morris in the latter part of the nineteenth century had championed good design for the poor and had been overwhelmed by the fact it was only those of affluence who could afford to buy what he had to offer. Would that he was in Inala at Brisbane in 2002, to see part of his vision achieved in the revamping of 50′s housing commission bungalows.

The King Edward VII Galleries at the British Museum are the most elegant of all the Beaux Arts influenced Edwardian classical buildings at London. They won a knighthood for their architect Webb J.J. Burnet. While great public buildings were passing through the decade of the High Baroque the Neo Georgian style in architecture was also being revived heavily in the suburbs.

This was a decade where the expansionist and imperialist features of the previous century were displayed to excess, one in which the political tensions and economic frailties of the present century before World War I became apparent. Radical change was required.

Spanish draughtsman, painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) was a dominating figure of early twentieth century French art. He, with French painter Georges Braque (1882-1963) founded classical Cubism. Braque working with Picasso from 1908 to 1914 to explore cubism thorough its various phases. When their association ended Picasso designed costume and sets for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. He was above all an innovator.

His portrait of Olga avoided illusionist realism, which he achieved by flattening the figure against its background. Picasso’s first wife Olga Stepanovna Khokhlova was a Ukrainian-Russian dancer.

She is one of the many women who shed their restricting corsets, cut their hair, raised their hemlines and set out to find what feminine freedom and being modern was all about following World War I.

World War One marked the great divide in the age of the moderns. The upheaval of war brought artists face to face with an alternative, either a clean sweep or hope of a reformed society, or alternatively the retention of a privileged art in the service of an elite and moneyed class. The streamlined success of the style Art Deco would be one answer, at least until World War Two, which would change the face of the world forever.

At London in the year of the second Olympic Games held in England the Victoria & Albert Museum, undoubtedly the world’s greatest museum of art and design, is hosting an important exhibition that encompasses the period between the first ‘austerity’ games held in London in 1948 and the games of the all new austerity age in 2012.

Innovation in the Modern Age (31st March – 12th August 2012) will explore British design in the interim and the tension in England between tradition and modernity, conservatism and contemporary design and the economic, political and cultural forces that have shaped its evolution.

Vienna also has many plans for 2012, namely to inspire its guests from all over the world with harmonious diversity.

They have announced 2012 is their Gustav Klimt year and there are two exhibitions of his works opening in February.

Klimt´s key paintings will set the stylistic tone for his world-famous work from about 1900 onwards. They are at the center of a show “Gustav Klimt at the Kunsthistorisches Museum“.

“Klimt: Up Close and Personal. Images, Letters, Insights” at the Leopold Museum will focus on the artist´s numerous travels as well as the the fact that he incorporated his impressions and observations during his travels into his paintings.

The styles that made up the Modern Movement are known as:
Arts and Crafts 1875-1915
Art Nouveau (1880-1910)
Wiener Werkstatte (1903-1933) and Bauhaus (1919-1933)
Art Deco (1920-1940)

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

NB: The dates are but a guide as all styles, as they rise and fall, overlap each other.

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During the seventeenth century at France King Louis XIV ordered architect Louis le Vau and gardener Andre le Notre to produce a tiny pleasure pavilion in the grounds of Versailles near the artificial lake. Built to practice the arts of seduction, the so-called Trianon de Porcelaine was lavishly embellished with ceramics in the Chinese taste. It was pulled down when Louis’s mistress Mme de Montespan fell from favour. In its place the Grand Trianon was built for the King to entertain family and friends.

By the eighteenth century in Europe and England all things Chinese had assumed incredible proportions. Fashionable society sought to transmit their ideas about the magical land of Cathay through a multiplicity of imagery. It manifested itself in intimate interiors, where mirrored rooms reflected scenes of frivolity well. It draped itself delightfully with sumptuous silk textiles that recorded scenes of fashion and folly. The admiration of all things Chinese also led to the ultimate cross over of cultural influences. Fans were among the earliest imports of the English and Dutch East India Companies and perfectly reflected the femininity associated with this movement, which combined flirtation with fantasy and frivolity.

On the scale of things a very few people in England or Europe had ever seen someone who was Chinese, so their vivid imagination took over. When combined with a great layering of charm, Chinoiserie was a design style that was very fetching. It was the European evocation of the Chinese. Our divine teapot is from from the Saxon porcelain factory Meissen, who invented European porcelain. Their Chinoiserie designs were all at once fun, fantastical and frivolous, yet quite sophisticated and enchantingly pretty.

Chinoiserie had a complete lack of pomposity and used clear bright colours, which had both amusing and fantastic qualities and displayed a preference for asymmetrical design. This aspect offered everyone a rest from the formality and relentless perfection demanded by the classical legacy of ancient Greece and Rome. It was about having fun.

In a little Salon in the Chateau de Craon the scenes painted delicately on the interior walls and ceiling in a delightful circular chamber were typical of the work of the French designer Jean Baptiste Pillement (1728-1808). Many of his designs were used on the newly popular small-scale feminine furniture and placed the emphasis on Chinoiserie as a style of luxury and refinement.

A beautiful Prussian blue vernis martin writing desk with Chinoiserie decoration was made for King Louis XV’s mistress Madame de Pompadour’s for her Chateau at Bellevue. The artist she patronized Francis Boucher delighted in rendering designs for her, including a painting of the sophisticated pleasures of the beau monde who are disported in a park as members of a pleasure seeking Parisian society.

Chippendale Frame on Painted Mirror on Chinese Wallpaper at Saltram

In England Thomas Chippendale and John Linnell both master craftsmen, were inspired by Chinese symbolism and motifs in the development of styles of chairs.

Chippendale’s mirrors in the Chinese taste were also highly sought after, their delightful whimsical decoration was delicate and had great charm.

Fabrics were imported from the East, satins and embroideries from India; painted silks from China were treated like wallpaper and lined an alcove. They were costly, but popular with those who could afford them.

Toile de Jouy

Less expensive was Toile de Jouy a cotton fabric produced in France and decorated with engraved copperplates of little vignette Chinoiserie scenes. Shops were filled with all sorts of delights for men and women of fashion to choose from as the style was taken up all over Europe.

In the Green Salon at Drottingholm and in the Oranienbaum, the summer palace of the Czars of Russia Chinoiserie reigned supreme. Catherine the Great remodelled an enfilade of rooms so that her guests could stroll through a sequence of Chinoiserie interiors.

A love of things oriental fitted into both the French and English garden genres at this time. There is a Chinese Tent preserved at Boughton House, which is a unique example of a collapsible garden pavilion made of oilskin, produced in London in the mid eighteenth century. It was also used in the garden of the London house of the Montague Douglas Scott family and can be seen in that place in a painting by Venetian artist Canaletto entitled View of the Thames.

Surprise was the key to the success of Chinoiserie pavilions and follies. On your journey your pulse would quicken as you came across some delightful building in which, unlike the house you lived in that had to conform to a conventional life style and its demands, you could allow your imagination to run free and create a total fantasy. The love affair with the exotic orient with its tales of a Forbidden City and exotic splendour provided a focus for tales of the fantastic. In an ancient Chinese Garden one of the most important characteristics to observe was the laying out of paths in curves and counter curves with circular moon gates.

Rare example of Chinese enamelling on a Royal Worcester white blank plate by Chinese artist Po Hing, courtesy Martyn Cook Antiques, Redfern Sydney

The Chinese House at Harristown in County Kildare in Ireland was built before 1738 for the garden at Stowe in Buckinghamshire. It is one of the earliest such pavilions in Great Britain. It was taken away in 1751 to Wooton House nearby until the 1950’s when it was taken across the Irish Sea to County Kildare.

Chinese enameling on porcelain eventually became so desirable in 1870 the Royal Worcester factory brought to Britain a Chinese enameller called Po Hing to England so that he could complete an especially commissioned dinner service for them. Po Hing was Cantonese and painted the tableware in his native style.

Now and then a plate from this service turns up on the international antique market. They are a reminder of time when the east was still a mystery to many and confirmed the idea that it was not only exotic but also difficult to access.

Unlike other styles that deteriorated to be replaced by another, Chinoiserie has never really left us. The western fascination for the east and its abiding images has endured although it continues to change to suit fashionable trends and politically correct poses.

These days it is more about a focus on food and the merriment enjoyed as it is shared in a mingling of the various traditions of a peaceful western multicultural society.

Plant hunter Robert Fortune recorded in his 1847 publication Wanderings in China ‘but the curtain, which had been drawn around the celestial country for ages, has now been rent asunder; and instead of viewing an enchanted fairyland, we find, after all, that China is just like other countries…’

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011 – 2012

I went to dine
With a friend of mine
Who dined off porcelain plates
Of a kind so rare
That it stirred your hair
To think of their possible fates

For some were Ming
and others were Ch’ing
(Whatever those names may be)
And the food was divine
And the wine, the wine
Intoxicated me.

There were ices – those
Were of famille rose,
and coffee of famille noire,
and a choice dessert
of famille verte
Preceded a choice cigar.

But alas for the end
Of dinner and friend
For he happened his eyes to raise
As I started to rub
The burning stub
On a bit of his finest glaze.

He was perfectly nice,
But as cold as ice,
As he rang for my coat and hat,
For Ming is a thing,
And so is Ch’ing,
That mustn’t be used for that.

This delightful poem signed S.D.C. was found on a scrap of paper in a book on second hand glass….

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The Emperor Qianlong in his study (Before 1767) Artist: attributed to the Jesuit Priest Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) and Jin Tingbiao (active at Court 1757-1767)

Many know about Salem in Massachusetts in America, mainly because of its association with witches. However one of its greatest treasures is the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM). The roots of the museum date to 1799 and the founding of the East India Marine Society, an organization of Salem captains and supercargoes, who had achieved what once was impossible, sailing beyond either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. The society’s charter included a provision for the establishment of a “cabinet of natural and artificial curiosities,” which is what we today would call a museum.

Recently the PEM had a show that revealed the contents of the Emperor’s Qianlong’s private retreat deep within the Forbidden City. There were some ninety objects, including murals, paintings, wall coverings, furniture, architectural elements, jades and cloisonné.  The Emperor Qianlong  (r.1736-1796) was one of Chinese history’s most influential figures. He was among the richest and most powerful men in the world during his life time. A connoisseur, scholar and devout Buddhist, within the forbidden city Qianlong created a luxurious garden compound to serve throughout his retirement as a secluded place of contemplation, repose and entertainment.

I first learned about the PEM in an unlikely place, Brisbane, Australia during the last year of the twentieth century. At Milton in Brisbane, where I was working at the time in an Antique Shop, we held an exhibition of Chinese textiles and many people came not only to look and purchase rare pieces, but also to show us theirs. One family turned up with a sea chest full of fabulous textiles and objects, which had been brought out of China early in the twentieth century at the time of the Chinese Revolution by a merchant sailor member of their family. It included a fabulous uncut Chinese silk Imperial Yellow Robe, which was still on the roll where it had been placed after it had been woven.

Chinese Rank Badge of a Scholar

An elderly friend, Jim Forbes came to visit and advise. Jim was a member of the renowned American Forbes family, whose wealth had its origins in the China trade that took place between North America and China during the nineteenth century. He had an innate understanding of the culture that surrounded the Emperors in the Forbidden City. Throughout the exhibition he often called in to view and talk about the textiles and the time they had been woven.

He told us about the Boston trading firm Perkins & Company who had sent many young men, including his great grandfather to participate in their business activities abroad. Perkins & Co., like many other Boston trading firms in the early nineteenth century, had sent ships to China to obtain tea. They paid for it by exporting to China, from Boston, large quantities of silver, furs, manufactured goods, cloth, wood and the deadly opium along with any other items they thought the Chinese market would absorb.

The Forbes family founded and were involved in the running of the Museum of the American China Trade at Milton, Mass., on Boston’s South Shore. Until the 1980′s it was curated by a Forbes great-grandson, Dr. H. A. Crosby Forbes, who was an expert on Chinese porcelain and a relative of our Brisbane based expert.

He often went to visit him to discuss special finds and view the family collection. It was housed in one of the family members 1833 Greek Revival style house in ironically, Milton in Mass. In 1984 it merged with the The Peabody Essex Museum leaving the house in the management of the Forbes House Charitable Trust, which now operates it as the Captain Forbes House Museum.

The Forbes House Museum is located at: 215 Adams Street Milton, MA 02186

The PEM is about helping people to access and assess their relationship to creativity, or to help refine their ability to interpret art and culture.

The collection is diverse and cross cultural and includes African, American, Asian, maritime, Native American and Oceanic art. The focus is on enjoying a lively conversation through creativity across time, place and culture.

Their goal is not to hang art on the walls and then tell you what to think. Deep and far ranging, the collection is meant to open windows onto the world and other cultures to learn how people live, work and celebrate.

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM),
East India Square (161 Essex St Milton) Salem, Massachusetts
Contact: 01970 978-745-9500

Carolyn McDowall The Culture Concept Circle 2010 – 2012

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One of the enchanting figures on the Chinoiserie Style Pavilion in Sansouci Park at Potsdam. Johnn Gottfried Büring was the architect and it was built between 1755 and 1764 by Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1712-1786)

What is Art Deco
Art Deco (1920 – 1940) is a design style that reached the apex of its popularity between two global conflicts, World War I and II. It borrowed from virtually all the design styles of the past in order to fashion the future. It was the perfect expression of Paris during the 20’s to the 30’s and embraced every area of design and the decorative arts including architecture, interiors, furniture, jewellery, painting and graphics, bookbinding, costume, glass and ceramics. It was all about glamour. It was also about completing a deeply felt need for a style that would never be threatened by change. Its protagonists wanted to ward off the threat of a civilization dominated by either industry or technology, or both. The idea was to integrate contemporary living with art and turn life into art and for a while they succeeded.

Chinoiserie, More than Fantasy and Fashion
During the eighteenth century in Europe and England all things Chinese had assumed incredible proportions as fashionable society sought to transmit their ideas about the magical land of Cathay through a multiplicity of imagery. It manifested itself in intimate interiors where mirrored rooms reflected scenes of frivolity well. It draped itself delightfully with sumptuous silk textiles that recorded scenes of fashion and folly. The admiration of all things Chinese also led to the ultimate crossing over of cultural influences. On the scale of things a very few people in England and Europe had ever seen someone who was Chinese so their vivid imagination took over and, when combined with a great layering of charm, Chinoiserie was a style that was very fetching.

Jane Austen, more than the cultivation of the mind?
While her only known image may seem to reveal otherwise, there was nothing really plain about Jane Austen 1775 – 1817. Her novels, which have become classics in their own right, allow us today to share the memory of the robust society in which she lived and its privileges of rank. It was a colourful, turbulent and seemingly romantic world in the process of rapid evolution. The English provincial life, as led by Jane Austen and some of her heroines, was one of quality and modesty. A cultivated ambiance of politeness, with a keen though delicate sensibility was well balanced by common sense.

If you would like to watch more videos just bookmark our link http://www.youtube.com/user/carolynmcdowall

Carolyn McDowall, Writer in Residence, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

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He did this by ruthlessly executing a severe political agenda, which included abolishing feudal ranks and disarming private individuals who may oppose him. He standardized coinage, weights, measures and writing giving authority to a central government he dictated to. He violently imposed systems that kept everyone in their place and in a pecking order established through rank. He then ruled through fear, not unconditional love, which the present western system of democracy is founded on. What we do know from ancient texts and archaeological evidence is that there was no harmony at the first Emperor’s court. Everyone lived in fear of their lives and what would happen to them and importantly, to their descendants for eternity, if they did not obey their demonic despot’s wishes. This latter point goes to the very essence of Chinese culture and its beliefs. No one would want to offend their ancestors or to make life for their descendants unbearable, so they complied.

It is estimated some 700,000 conscripts were involved in the construction of a vast complex underground, which is thought to be as luxurious as any of the palaces the Qin Emperor maintained during his mortal life on top of it. A group of villagers uncovered the first of the terracotta figures that surround the complex to protect its occupant, when they were building a water-well in the Xian province of China in 1974. ‘We thought it was a temple statue – a Buddha perhaps. a spokesman for the group told a USA journalist ‘The women thought it might bring a curse down on the village.’

The terracotta army was originally found in hundreds of pieces. Not one was found intact. Before they could be displayed they had to be completely and painstakingly restored. Today the terracotta army he built for his afterlife have no battles to fight, but rather seek to win the war for China about culture as art.

As part of events highlighting an exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW entitled The First Emperor: China’s Entombed Warriors in 2010/2011 a group of learned academics, working in the field of Chinese art and archaeology around the world, lectured at a symposium held on the first weekend in December. During question time they gathered on stage to collectively remind participants how the west must be careful not to take a romantic view of the terracotta army on display or to seek to glorify it, or the first Emperor of China Qin Shihuang (259–210 BC) and his achievements in any way. They pointed out that while the first Emperor’s vision in constructing a vast universe for his afterlife was in many ways remarkable, that they couldn’t stress enough how it had come at a huge price to humanity.

At Sydney the exhibition featured ten complete ritual terracotta foot soldiers: some generals and a kneeling and a standing bowman. They were shown off alongside a variety of Chinese ritual ceremonial vessels, bronze bells and some ornamental gold and jade weapons, all of which have been crafted with great skill. There were also sets of amazing stone armour, which weigh about 20kg and consisted of approximately 1020 pieces. As archaeologists pointed out the workers making these could add six pieces a day. So that means each piece of armour took about 170 days to complete.

There were two complete bronze charioteers with bronze horses uncovered in 1980. The originals are always kept safe back in China and it is a replica that travels and was on display at Sydney. It still captured the imagination and commanded attention. Also included were the little known about bronze birds.

Discovered during the last decade, they were arranged disported on the banks of a notional river. This had been designed to flow around the symbolic haven created by the first Emperor of the Qin dynasty (221 to 206) for his journey into the afterlife. There are also other ceramics and palatial architectural remains. These included ritual items and bronzes that were crafted by individuals and considered and viewed as works of art.

Sydney was the first city in the world to host the terracotta army in 1983, only nine years after they were first found. I was there and remember the show and its atmosphere well. I also remember the figures were lauded as ‘art’ and as portraits of real people. This supposition is now very definitely retracted by those who first proclaimed it, the archaeologists.

It seems the more they excavate and uncover the remains of the first Emperor’s huge army the more it has been realized that the figures simply follow a hierarchical stereotype. They were mass produced using moulds and are really only objects of propaganda, whose designs are affected by traditions of ritual and symbolism.

To produce the figures in seven parts the hands were produced in the kilns of ceramic workers in one province, the feet in another, the torso, the head and so on. It is estimated 1000 people worked for three years to make the army of 8000 warriors and their horses. The ill-fated workers who assembled and applied their original various vibrant colours, including bright red, vermilion, burgundy, dark green, pastel green, sky blue and ‘Han purple’, more than likely perished along with the Emperor in his tomb, as per established custom. This would seem to be proved by the fact there was nothing like them before, or since the reign of the first Emperor.

The style of figure known as the Generals give the impression they were not men to be trifled with. Originally presented standing on a raised platform, a device that reflected their privileged place at the top of both the food and power chain, they become an even more imposing presence looking down on their subordinates. Robust both in body and facial features, which reflect their rank and that they had plenty to eat, the armour they wear is heavy and foreboding. It acts as a warning they are invincible and, at 2.2 metres tall, they are slightly larger than life.

By way of contrast there was the standing or a kneeling Archer who ranked way down the pecking order. They were much smaller and wore no protective armour, because they were required to be agile and fleet of foot when protecting their master. Their bodies and faces were noticeably thinner than that of the generals and the rest of the army in between. This indicates they were not as well off financially.  There were thousands of them taking the first line of defense surrounding the infantry and cavalry and, as such were expendable.

The Terracotta Army at Sydney 2010

The exhibition allowed Sydney people, visitors and tourists with an opportunity to view the terracotta army up close and personal without having to travel to Xian province. There they stood in a dark, dusky recreated tomb like setting evoking the atmosphere of the mausoleum underground in which they were found. Herein lay the problem for me. A burial ground is something everyone in the west respects so the way they were displayed both affected and informed what the majority of people took away from the exhibition with them. Professionally it was a great piece of staging. However the setting was deliberately designed to get the majority of people’s emotions going.

It demanded from the viewer an almost romantic emotional response the Academics and the Director of the Art Gallery of NSW were warning the informed group, that made up the audience at the Symposium, against. So it begged the question. If it’s not for a diplomatic reason, why didn’t the brief for display require of the designers they put the objects into a setting that allowed them to be viewed by the light of day? And, yes, there are lighting issues in terms of preservation and conservation. But this is only a challenge very clever designers would have surmounted. If the terracotta army were placed in such contemporary setting, rather than one evoking the gloom of the underworld, it would provide a very different and much more dispassionate forum for the community at large to assess them by.

Much of what is believed to be under the surface in China still remains buried and, we were told that if the archaeologists continue to excavate the site of the mausoleum fully it is estimated it will take up to a hundred years + to reveal the full extent of its contents, including what remains of its first Emperor and the setting in which he placed himself.

The terracotta army are fabulous objects. They are of great historical and cultural significance and achievement to the people of China, much like the finds from the tombs in Egypt are for their peoples and so on around the world. This is not something anyone would dispute. But the question needs to be asked. Is the terracotta army art or artifice ? Should they be displayed in an ‘art’ gallery, which is all about presenting fine international and Australian art, or rather in a Museum whose premise is about presenting stories of cultural development and history.

For the simple villagers who found the buried army and the ancient village they grew up in, the entombed warriors have seemingly proved more of a curse than a blessing. While they made history they lost their land, which was reclaimed. Some of the last remaining earn their living today signing books in a gift shop in the Museum of Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses, where they are paid for their trouble. The terracotta army is a billion dollar business for China and a great money earner for the galleries that display it.

As a final aside, Edmond Capon reminded Symposium participants that the man who discovered the first piece of a warrior, was only paid about A$5 for his find, although he was issued with a certificate from the government to confirm he was the first man to see the terracotta warriors again after 2000+ years.

Carolyn McDowall The Culture Concept Circle 2010, 2011

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View of Arles with Irises in foreground by Vincent Van Gogh

You could not ever accuse the French of being afraid of colour. In Provence you discover that it is a perfect expression of their love of nature, because it is from nature the colours of Provence evolve.

The painter Vincent Van Gogh took a room at the Hôtel-Restaurant Carrel in February 1888.  He made several painting excursions around the village of Arles producing images of the harvest, the wheat fields and other rural landmarks of the area. Van Gogh moved to Arles when he was ill and his works from this period of his life are richly draped in yellow, ultramarine and mauve. His portrayals of the landscape surrounding Arles are of fields and avenues and they excel in their intensity of colour.

The Yellow House at Arles by Vincent Van Gogh

Like Monet in Normandy, the light in Arles excited Van Gogh. However it was very different from the paler silvery iridescent sky that Monet knew.

At Arles from the Yellow House he rented, Van Gogh found the countryside of Provence full of vibrant light and his appreciation for its beauty is seen in the range and scope of the work he rendered while he was there.

Provencal interiors are always warm and welcoming reflecting the needs, desires and the spirit and style of the individuals of Provence in a particular time and in a particular place.

The early houses of the countryside in Provence were built of stone. They originally housed stock on the ground floor to protect them from the harsher elements, while the family dwelt above. Dormer windows set into the roof led to a loft, where fodder and food was stored so it kept fresh and clean. This enabled the family and the stock to survive the harshest of winters.

After a time the occupants found that the fodder acted effectively as insulation helping to keep the family warm below. And we thought insultation was a modern invention.

All the houses in Provence from pre Roman times until the twentieth century were constructed from local materials. These were sometimes in character with their neighbors, but always in harmony with the land. Wooden louvred shutters were kept closed in the sunny hours and only opened in the evening to let in the fresh, cool night air. A ubiquitous pair of French doors, led into a courtyard where a grape vine covered the trellis providing both fruit and shade.

Roofs were usually made of terra cotta tiles hand moulded and produced from local clays. The colours of the earth give the rooftops of its villages a rich mosaic look, full of texture and life.

Interiors all over Provence vary but usually all have the following features -

Staircases: these were simple affairs fashioned out of stone and terracotta tiles and in the last few hundred years had the added feature of a wrought iron handrail.

Hand Hewn Beams: Wood was always expensive and in short supply, because it was needed for the beams. These were hand made massive and sturdy, providing rustic charm while supporting the floors above.

Floors: Mainly tiled, the most popular being terracotta because local clay was always in abundance. Easy to maintain the floors were left natural or glazed and they came in all shapes and sizes. Being of the earth and nature they had the advantage of remaining cool in summer and retaining the heat in winter.

Fireplaces: As in all the regions of country France these were for hundreds and hundreds of years, at the heart of the home. They were used as the cooking centre and main source of heat. They symbolized security and well being, and often contained storage niches for condiments and pots.

An enormous fireplace in a farmhouse would have beehive shaped openings into which casseroles could be set with coals from the fireplace and cook slowly all day while the farmer, his family and workers tended the fields.

Ceramics: From the eighteenth century brightly coloured ceramic tiles adorned kitchen counters, bathrooms, walls and tables. The first Faience production house in Provence was founded at the town of Moustiers in 1679 by Pierre Clerissy, a faiencier.

Moustiers is an ancient village that clings to the cliffs in Northern Provence and it is one of the greatest centres historically. Clerissy was descended from an ancient Provencal family, who had been potting from the middle ages using hand throwing or hand modeling techniques and following artistic traditions.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries pottery produced in Provence was mostly blue and white, inspired by oriental porcelains coming in through the port of Marseilles.

It was during the eighteenth century that polychrome glazes were introduced revolutionising production. The abundant supply of clay in the region, which when covered with a white glaze, gave the faience a characteristic vibrant glow

Copper pots and pans: As in Normandy, they were an essential part of any Provencal kitchen.

Doorways: A special feature was a beaded curtain treatment for doorways, allowing air and some light in while keeping flies out. And here in Australia we thought this was an ‘Aussie invention’ – we just made it from whatever was to hand, including plastic strips, corks and bottle tops.

Petrin, or dough bin

Furniture: This evolved from the thirteenth century into a refined and distinctive style. The timbers used first were pine, then walnut, which dominated from the fifteenth century. With a warmth to its lovely patina, walnut responded well to the chisel and awl. Even though walnut trees were plentiful during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they were highly prized, and often given as part of a bride’s dowry.

Other fruitwoods included olivewood and pearwood, which was often darkened to replicate ebony. There are also cherry, chestnut and mulberry, with willow for the chairs. The English loved French walnut, but its supply was often disrupted by European wars, and they had to look to other markets for supply. English eighteenth century furniture made from French walnut is highly prized and very expensive.

Designs were filled with sensuous movement by way of exquisite carving evoking a play of light and shade, with expressive lines and soft angles and as always the function or purpose for which it was designed was the main factor.

A panetiere (or breadbox) above a Petrin or dough bin with its urn and fruit basket motifs, were a traditional paring.

Together with the Tamisadou they were an integral part of any country household. The Tamisadou was an unusual piece of furniture like a two door cabinet, created to refine and sift flour. Today originals are quite rare to find and unique to Provence

Chairs, were simply designed with rush seats and came in different designs suitable for different purposes. Some had high backs and low seats, some were especially designed for wet nurses or nursing mothers while others were amply proportioned intended for grandmothers.

They were also made into banquettes holding three or four people, designed for chatting, traditionally placed near the fireplace, and sometimes decorated with hand painted flowers, and cushions of the colourful Indienne cottons (Provence 3).

Tables were rustic, solid, and functional,  mostly rectangular with drawers or pull out slides, for feeding about twelve people in comfort, if not in style. Smaller utilitarian tables for writing, gaming, sewing, halls or night tables were essential this one with a central X support and stretchers reminiscent of the Louis XIV style

During the nineteenth century richer households commissioned canopy beds (lits a l’imperiale) with silk curtains suspended from a dome attached to the wall Mostly, beds in Provence were simple affairs bedrooms not ever having been a major design focus.

As in other regions of France the Amoire was a splendid piece of furniture, one of a families most cherished possessions,, whether in a humble or wealthy home.

The eighteenth century in Provence, as for the rest of Europe and Britain were glory years. The land rich, fertile and profitable, providing prosperity through active trade. More sophisticated pieces of furniture were influenced by Paris fashions, appearing, as the Provencal furniture makers responding to the sinuous curves of the rococo, and the lyrical elegance of furniture of the Louis XV style.

The Residents in Arles, Beucaire and Tarascon in the Rhone region, could afford to pay more for fine furniture, produced by the local craftsmen and two styles particularly distinguish this area known as Arles and Fourques.

Arlesian pieces have their emphasis is more elaborate and ornate carving, with curved lines and lavish floral detail on delicate, low relief, such as garlands of roses, flower buds and olive branches and called fleuri, or flowered.

Fourques was a smaller simpler town which produced furniture with deeply sculpted curves and undulating moldings with little or no decorative motifs, and with less carved detail and ornamentation.

Louis XV Bergere, comfortable for conversation with curvacious cabriole legs

Louis XVI Bergere, with its classical straight legs

Louis XV designs were simplified with perfect proportions, and today are highly prized. Comfort and convenience meant comfortable well stuffed Bergere chairs with a detailed carving on the front apron and on the knee of the cabriole legs.

Louis XVI designs reflect the change to the neo classical style with their straight fluted legs that take their form from a column.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, design became exaggerated, losing some of its elegance, harmony and balance. Then the turn of the twentieth century saw mass production of furniture in the north marking the decline of the Provencal regional style and the demise of French provincial design in general.

Unpretentious, warm and welcoming, the interiors of Provence today reflect the heritage of Provencal life and the Provenceur’s enjoyment of the simple pleasures of life; the sharing of good food, the local wine and the art of good conversation.

The style of Provence in every domain represents a view of French country style, which has been transmitted internationally. This earthy, fertile, sunbaked region of France for many is the very essence and at the heart of French Country style charming visitors and influencing decorators worldwide. This is something we can all share wherever we are in the world. Provence is all about celebrating la joie de vivre, or the joy of life.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011

*Vincent Van Gogh, Provence

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   Course Outline

Provence, Provence, just by saying your name many believe they can almost savour the piquant freshness of your renowned goat cheeses and taste the enticing soft bouquet of your delicious local wines. Your French country style is very much admired world wide. It has developed through the people, the produce of the land, and the practical elements necessary for everyday life.

Provence is a region in southern France that has clear and clean air when, from time to time it is swept from the north, or northwest by the Maestrale or mistral wind. It plays an important role in creating this cleansing climate. It is c’est magnifique when the mistral dies down and cloudless skies and luminous sunshine appear. Then we can enjoy viewing the suns rays reflecting off waving fields of golden wheat, or flowering crops of precious lavender while its soothing perfume wafts over us on a gentler breeze.

From a lofty vantage point high in its mountains you can view the beauty of a peaceful valley below where the river Aigue Brun (aigue being the Provencal word for water) winds its way through verdant valleys. Then you can journey along a gently winding road to the highest heights where you can stop at a small restaurant hidden away in a scenic spot. There you can join people from all walks of life savouring the delights of the local cuisine in an atmosphere of congeniality. It is a happy, relaxed atmosphere in a place where time seemingly stands still.

Every marauding army in history has more than likely passed through the same spot. While you are there you will become aware that you are really only but a small dot on the amazing history of this ancient place. The Franks, the Goths, the Visigoths, the Burgundians, the Saracens, the Normans and the Romans all came, saw and conquered.

Around 125 years after the birth of Jesus Christ the Romans gave this extraordinary territory its name, which came from the Latin word Provincia. Its rugged terrain provided safe passage between the city of Rome and its Iberian territories. Since the first century, it has been very Civilised – at the beginnings of art.

The Celts were a diverse group of tribal peoples from the Iron Age who inhabited much of Europe by four centuries before the Christ event. Together with the Liguriens, the original inhabitants of the Cote d’Azur, they melded together establishing more than thirty towns.

They traded vigorously both with the peoples who came from the sea, the Etruscans in the north of Italy as well as the Greeks at a trading post, which we now know as Marseilles.

The Romans wanted to be part of this thriving trade. Not liking unsavory religious practices, which included human sacrifice, through a series of wars they conquered the Celtic-Ligurien races to take Provence for themselves.

By the 1st century the Romans controlled most of Provence and with it, the people, the commerce and trade.

Aix en Provence had natural springs and the Romans established a system of aqueducts that carried water from natural springs into the town and their bath houses, bathing being such an important aspect of their daily health ritual.

Aix takes its name from Aquae Sextiae – the waters of Sextius, who was the subduer of the Celts. Many fountains encrusted with limestone and moss decorated with dolphins still remain as a symbol of empire departed.

When the Romans finally withdrew they left behind many rich architectural remains. The Fort de Bukes (Buoux) set in the south range of the Luberon mountains looks down over a precipitous valley like so many others in which the people of Provence fell prey to any tribe that happened to be passing.

Mist in the Morning in the Luberon

Provence is roughly divided into three areas, that of the mountainous areas towards Italy, which are poor, isolated and austere. Then there is the coastal and Maritime area along the Mediterranean, containing all of the important ports such as Marseilles, Nice, Cannes and Toulon. Then there is the area around the Rhone, where in its valleys tall slender cypress shade farmhouses with herb gardens that come from Roman heritage

The style of Provence represents a view of French country style, which has been transmitted internationally.

This earthy, fertile, sunbaked region of France for many is at the very essence and heart of French Country style. It continues to charm visitors and influence  designers and decorators worldwide. When climatic extremes, such as the notorious mistral wind strike they wisely retreat indoors and bolt their shutters.

This is a land where magnificent avenues of plane trees provide a link from the road to the Provencal garden. The height and length of their planting may impress the visitor with the extent of the owner’s dominions.

However the reason they are there was not that because the Renaissance nobles who planted them were not concerned with the Mediterranean climate, but in fact were more in need of wood for the gun carriages of cannons, ship masts, rifle butts, furniture and even matches. Whether public or private these great avenues today afford fabulous protection from the fierce summer sun. They create softly filtered light and provide a strong sense of a protective enclosure, producing a pleasurable effect.

Country roads throughout Provence are bordered in graceful trees, providing shelter on relentlessly hot Provencal summer days.  Many of these were planted during Napoleon’s reign as Emperor in France. On his order they were planted in great stands and set each side of a village on all the  main routes to and from Italy. This allowed his troops to lie down and rest in the shade and for the villagers to provide the food and sustenance they needed. Their mature beauty today enhances the look of the Provincial landscape.

The hill villagers in Vaison La Romaine fortified their town by using the terrain as their defense. Clustered around the summit of limestone hills it has been continuously occupied since mediaeval times, the houses in alleyways no wider than a pair of passing oxen. They were built when the need arose, and improved upon only when the pocket permitted. The builders paid less heed to architectural conventions of symmetry than to a pressing need to make the most of limited space.

During Spain’s occupation from the 12th century we could assume that the influence of leather work and metal work on furniture first started.

Provence until the end of the fifteenth century was a group of states entirely separate from France.  It had its own language, government and a sense of style, with deeply rooted ideas and philosophies first founded in strong traditions.  They kept goats and ate fish, grew herbs in abundance, as well as olives which were introduced by the Greeks. With the fabled vitis vinifera grape vine for stock they made wine and became great consumers of wild boar as well as truffles.

The oak forests of Provence would have been prime truffle territory then as now. The little slivers of this celestial fungus harbors many of the amusing stories of the region. They were often obtained by nefarious means or through a local truffle fair not listed in any tourist guide.

For three hundred years from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century Italy continued its influence of the area by negotiating binding commercial treaties linking Genoa, Florence and Venice with Provence. Oriental goods passed through its most important port Marseilles. East Indian merchant ships unloaded cargoes of exotic goods such as silks, spices, inlaid and lacquered furniture, and precious porcelain from Cathay. All of these had a very great influence on the designs of local craftsmen.

At Fontaine de Vaucluse the silver tones of olive trees contrast strikingly with the hues and rough texture of rocky outcrops that litter the mountains in the South Range of the Luberon.

As we approach the ancient village of Gordes in the Luberon Mountains we come across the old abbey of Senanque standing in an extraordinary setting. The harmony of the brown stone of the roofs, the white stone of the walls, and the violet of the flowering lavender, makes for a striking contrast with the plateau whose rocky outcrop was once littered with borie, or the dry stone huts used by shepherds and early Christian hermits.

Evidence of the traditions inherited from classical antiquity are still strong in Provence.

At the Jardin de la Fontaine in Nimes is one of the most famous and elegant shrines of the Roman world. It was resurrected by King Louis XV (1710-1774) who surrounded it with a great garden preserving its heritage for the glory of France, and the use of its people.

In this wonderful public space is a marvelous mixture of French and Italian influences, drawing the two cultures together in a dramatic feature that has a complex series of monumental steps and levels leading to the Roman baths where you can still today both soothe your spirit and refresh your soul.

Today the people of Provence continue to both nurture the land and harvest the sea treating each new arrival with the same resigned equanimity they do for the annual invasion of at least one and a half million holidaymakers.

In Provence a graceful flow of the earth’s natural elements is in evidence – human, geological, botanical and architectural. They emphasize the layers of its unique history in a place that is now one of peace, joy and contemplation.

It is a place where man and nature have seemingly come together in complete harmony.

The mistral may not howl down your chimney, but the exuberant spirit of Provence and innate style of France’s peoples can be yours if only you dare reach for it.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011

*Vincent Van Gogh, Provence

Related posts:

1. French Country Style – Provence and joi de vivre
2. French Country Style – Provence tres chic ‘indiennes’
3. EVOLUTION OF ART, DESIGN & STYLE
   Course Outline

Selection of fine antiques courtesy Martyn Cook Antiques, Redfern Australia

According to antique dealers, their associations and the tax man however, it is not really that simple at all. For nearly half a century, following World War II, many believed an antique had to be 100 years old to be of any value. The 100 rule idea came about because in the early 1950’s the newly formed international Customs Co-operation Council at Brussels defined an antique as 100 years of age to exempt old furniture and objects over that age from tax when they were being exported and imported. The Description and Coding System they established was widely adopted across the western world, including America and Australia. Gradually as it became standard practice to exempt furniture and objects over 100 years old from tax, a general perception emerged that for anything (even architecture) to be considered of any merit or value it had to be more than a 100 years old.

In England however it remained very different. Up until the beginning of the last decade of the twentieth century, the term antique meant those goods made prior to 1830. This is because 1830, the death of George IV was the date in England that producing a piece of furniture, or a lovely object by hand, was considered to have ended at London.

Simply superb eighteenth century Meissen Porcelain teapot from Saxony

Hand manufacturing meant quality materials, wonderful workmanship, unique and custom made features, with special attention to detailing and techniques like marquetry, parquetry, inlay and stringing. Then the industrial age took over producing furniture and objects by machine so that a greater number of people in the rapidly expanding middle classes across the western world could enjoy the same designs, which were now made affordable. However the major English antiques and art trade association exhibitions and fairs upheld the date 1830 as defining an antique rigidly for over a 100 years. Many dealers, collectors and connoisseurs fought valiantly to keep the date and reason in play for as long as feasibly possible.

Watch our You Tube Video What is An Antique

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVn__dWxx9w

Lyre back chair by master craftsman Thomas Chippendale - a quality piece of fine furniture, of fine proportion, beautifully rendered and amazingly, designed to sit on

However, in the last 20 years of the 20th century it all broke down, as examples of fine furniture, paintings, sculpture and beautiful objects made prior to 1830 began the move into museums or major collections supported by sponsors.

Trade associations also were placed in a position where they needed to also recognize dealers who were trading in fine art deco furniture of the 20′s and 30′s, which was certainly not 100 years old, but certainly of brilliant design and craftsmanship. A great example of the reason why is highlighted by wonderful furniture produced by eighteenth century master English craftsman and cabinetmaker extraordinaire Thomas Chippendale.

Today he has become internationally renowned. Originally an eighteenth century village master craftsman, who designed and made furniture for his clients in his own workshop at Otley in rural Yorkshire, Chippendale was a progressive and ambitious chap. Clever too. He moved into the town (London) opposite a place where successful men of business, and lords and ladies met, to enjoy a daily outing, some business and the rage new fashionable drink coffee.  Sound familiar?

He hung a chair, of his own design, outside the shop, which was in a fashionable part of the town. He wanted to be noticed and was soon successful. But did he last longer than fashion dictates? Yes, he did. He gained a great client list, because he offered a quality product, of excellent design, made from the latest and best materials, including the new rage timber mahogany. And, he also understood about servicing his clients. He called himself an ‘upholder’ and, as well as furniture of his own design, he provided everything they needed for the art of living.

He sold beautiful textiles and soft furnishings that complimented his own passionately produced product. He was flexible too, as a progressive chap should be. He often produced furniture to designs by his  successful colleague neoclassical Scottish architect Robert Adam, who was for a time, ‘all the rage’ as well. Today many owners of great English country houses are thrilled their ancestors had the foresight to hang onto pieces originally made by Thomas Chippendale, rather than consign them to the ashes for the sake of fashion. They were so well built too they just wouldn’t wear out!

Thomas Chippendale, it seems, wanted to be remembered for his innovative creative ideas. So in 1754 he published The Gentleman & Cabinet Maker’s Director, a book full of all his designs for all sorts of furniture and furnishings, including some simply fabulous mirrors. With it he proved he was adaptable to all sorts of stylistic trends. His designs accommodated the frivolous Rococo and its love of asymmetry, the delightfully whimsical Chinoiserie – the European evocation of the Chinese taste and, the Neo Classical style whose symmetrical perfection was very pleasing. You name it, he could design it and make it. And, it was always fabulous. But now the really clever part. He allowed others who subscribed to his Director to use his designs copyright free.

Mirror, in the Chinese taste, by Thomas Chippendale

Clever bed in a closet by eighteenth century neo-classical Scottish architect Robert Adam

Today the designs of Thomas Chippendale have been copied and adapted for over 200 years. Lots of manufacturers and cabinetmakers have purchased his book, which has had, since his death many editions. Literally hundreds of thousands of pieces of furniture have been made using his patterns and today they still grace homes around the world, especially in America. In places like Washington, Boston and New York for a hundred years after his death they absolutely loved his designs and adapted them for local use, such as the fabulous bed in a wardrobe he made for Robert Adam. What a sensible piece of furniture in any age.

By the late nineteenth century the Chinese were also manufacturing pieces designed by Chippendale, as well as the two other English drawing masters who had followed his lead and published Directors. They were Thomas Sheraton and George Hepplewhite. They then shipped them to England, to America and to Australia as part of the China Trade.

Now here’s the thing. All these pieces, according to the tax man and the 100 year rule, are now antique too! But are they as valuable as the pieces made by Chippendale in his workshop or others in workshops during his lifetime?

I have a thing for early eighteenth century porcelain, like this delightful modernist teapot with a silver spout protector

Well no is the answer. Seems Thomas Chippendale, either wittingly or unwillingly, turned out to be a wise old chap as well. With original documentation attached many of his pieces today are worth into the millions of dollars in economic terms. The rest are graded down from that, according to quality, age, timber used, condition etc, all those things that add up to make an antique valuable. They can also only be said to be made ‘in the style of Thomas Chippendale’.

The works of Thomas Chippendale reflect the evolution of humankind spiritually, socially and culturally. For the country houses and museums around the world who own them today their value is in many ways priceless. Each year they, together with the other wonderful pieces by individual artists and designers from each generation, attract hundreds of thousands of visitors world wide. Chippendale’s story certainly proves the theory about the power of one! And then there is all the people over the years who have benefited from his skill, ingenuity, innovation, creativity and above all generosity.

A collection of antiques in a stone cottage designed for living

So what happened next. Well again its really simple. In England, where the whole concept of antiques had been invented, in the last 10 years of the 20th and first 10 years of this century they fell back on the ’100 year rule’, because most of the baby boomer and x generation customers coming along already believed an antique was 100 years old. It is only recently that the lines have become blurred again as much memory is lost during major generational change.

So how do you, or would you classify an antique in 2010? Well the British Antiques Dealers Association, according to their website, still requires its members to adhere to the 100 year rule. They call it the ‘centenary date’. However if you are checking the websites of other major International Antiques Associations you will probably search hard and not find a date mentioned. You can take what you will from that. Hypothetically at least, let’s forget the tax man. Perhaps he needs to update his own system based on best advice.

Is it time a new word for goods being recycled from another era was invented? What about ‘classic’. That means of renowned excellence in any era and culture. Well I am one who doesn’t believe it would work in the long term. This is because a lot of people seem to perceive classic as being boring. Its original ideals are based on the perceived perfection achieved by the ancient Greeks in art and architecture. And after a time for many, living up to perfection can seem very wearying.

But wait, perhaps it’s already happened. InLondon some of its best known dealers stepped outside of their association fair and exhibited their best antiques alongside modern iconic fashion items the growing number of celebrities love. The exhibition was  Masterpiece, London and it is now an annual event.

All the goods on display are certainly fabulous and many are design icons. They were available to be collected by anyone at all really, as long as they had the ready necessary. These days that’s a great many more people than ever before. And, it was so successful it is now an annual event.

Beautiful Bugatti, the boys at Top Gear would love this!

Collecting is, and has become an amazing phenomenon. Yet it is still often misrepresented by out of date journalists as being the hobby of only a select few or the rich and famous. Now that is rubbish. Collecting is a pleasure indulged in by a vast number of people from different backgrounds and all walks of life. It just takes place on many different scales of economy.

The good thing for collectors is that today there is an ever expanding number of categories to collect in. It can be a beautiful Bugatti – love to see the Top Gear boys do a London to Brighton race (like in the old Dirk Bogarde movie Genevieve) in some old beauties such as this one

It can also be a simple fashion item: recently a Ferragamo handbag made out of timber and beautifully finished like a piece of fine furniture, which I purchased when traveling in the early 80′s was whisked away by a family member who has caught the collecting disease.

From this, and from watching the many thousands of people who appear on the Australian ABC Collectors or the BBC’ and America’s various shows for collectors, I have deduced the most important aspect of collecting is, for the majority of people, an emotional connection. This is almost impossible for anyone to define, let alone explain or understand.

Courtesy Martyn Cook Antiques, Redfern at Sydney

We are all fascinated, it seems, by the stories attached to the incredible world of antiques and art, which reflect the growth of humankind.

So, what’s next? Collecting things from the past and keeping them, like us moving forward, makes good sense and good business in a world that needs to recycle goods to aid its sustainability.

An Antique, a Classic, a Masterpiece or a Collectible, whatever you want to call it, something worth restoring, conserving, preserving and collecting should have an aesthetic that pleases the eye, engages the spirit and connects with the soul. It also needs to be made from quality materials and finely and lovingly finished. On top of all the rest if it challenges the mind, like a great work of sculptural art, then for me that is the icing on the cake.

Antiques are definitely more than a load of old tat. Carolyn McDowall, 2010, 2011

PS. Want to know more?

I have attached a PDF: INTRODUCTION TO ANTIQUES for you to download. Cheers!

Related posts:

1. Antique & Art Dealers Association Show at Sydney in Spring
2. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel
3. EVOLUTION OF ART, DESIGN & STYLE
   Course Outline

The advantage of this type of Museum is that you can get up close and personal with very classy collections. Each also have shops with unique gifts you would not ever find anywhere else. And, the bonus is they all offer a unique perspective on, and of, the art and history of man.

AT SYDNEY
NICHOLSON MUSEUM

The Nicholson Museum celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2010 at Sydney. The museum offers free to the public,  a diverse, intelligently displayed set of wonderful objects dating from many different eras and places in antiquity. They come from Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Egypt and the Near and Middle East.

As well as more notable items, such as a select and fabulous group of painted Greek vases, there are also many interesting artefacts, bronze implements, bronze and terracotta statuettes and figurines, terracotta lamps, as well as early Greek and Roman glass.

Of particular importance is the fine collection of New Kingdom sculpture, featuring the monumental head of Rameses II and a diorite upper torso of Horemheb, who was Tutankhamun’s regent and general. They also have an Egyptian mummy that is completely intact, with the inner painted coffin on view inside its original sarcophagus. The museum staff are helpful and the special publications they sell are superb if antiquity is your interest.

WHERE AND CONTACT DETAILS
Sydney University, Parramatta Road, Sydney

Situated in the southern entrance to the Quadrangle
T +61 2 9351 2812  E nicholson.museum@sydney.edu.au

CURRENT EXHIBITION/s
“The Etruscans: a classical fantasy”

In popular imagination the Etruscans are the very stuff of fantasy, myth and legend. Who are they, where did they come from, what does their language mean? In reality, although wiped out or assimilated by Rome, they have left us an extraordinarily rich heritage of art, jewellery, metal working, terracotta sculpture, urban planning, walls, and roads. Indeed, in the sixth century before the Christ event, the Etruscans were the most powerful people in the Mediterranean. So what went wrong?

ONGOING EXHIBITION/s

Classical Fantasies: Pompeii and the Art of South Italy
Egyptians, gods and mummies: Travels with Herodotus
Charles Nicholson: Man and Museum

DAYS AND HOURS OF OPERATION
Monday to Friday 10.00 – 4.30 Sunday 12 noon – 4.00 Closed on Public Holidays

AT PARIS
MUSEE DU MOYEN AGE

At Paris the Musée du Moyen Age is perhaps the most outstanding example still extant of civic architecture in medieval Paris or, as the Romans called it, Lutetia (derived from an ancient Parisii word for marsh or swamp). Formerly the town house (hôtel) of the Abbots of Cluny and built from 1334 the building was rebuilt by Jacques d’Amboise, Abbot in commendam of Cluny between 1485-1510.

With its intriguing combination of Gothic and Italian Renaissance architectural elements in 1833 Alexandre du Sommerard moved into this old Bishop’s palace and installed his large collection of medieval and Renaissance objects. When he died in 1842 the state purchased the collection and opened it in 1843 with his son Edmond as its first curator.

Among the outstanding collection of textiles from the Middle Ages are the The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries, which were purchased for the Museum in 1882 by Edmond Du Sommerard. They illustrate the five senses and the sixth “To My Only Desire”, stands alone.

This delightful place is constructed over the remains of Gallo-Roman baths, which are famous in their own right.  Rediscovered in the 12th century large sections of the frigidarium or cold rooms were fed by a subterranean aqueduct. The massive walls and vaulted openings provided a direct model for medieval architects building cathedrals, bridges, and other large structures in the so-called ‘Romanesque’ style.

Since the year 2000 visitors can gain access to the Museum by strolling from the Saint-Michel and Saint-Germain boulevards through a succession of glorious garden spaces, which are inspired by the representations of gardens and flowers of growing in the Medieval period on the Museum’s textile collection.

WHERE AND CONTACT DETAILS
Musée du Moyen Age – National Museum of the Middle Ages
The Baths and Hôtel de Cluny, 6, place Paul Painlevé 75005 Paris
T +33 (0) 1 53 73 78 00 and +33 (0) 1 53 73 78 16 (Reception) E contact.musee-moyenage@culture.gouv.fr

CURRENT EXHIBITION/s
Le Trésor de Guarrazar (The Treasure of Guarrazar): a magnificent collection of votive Visigoth crowns dating back to the 16th century.

DAYS AND HOURS OF OPERATION
Every day except Tuesday, from 9:15 to 5:45 Desk closes at 5:15 Closed 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.

AT LONDON
SIR JOHN SOANE’S MUSEUM

At London is my favourite of the three the Sir John Soane’s Museum, which is situated in an inner suburb Lincoln Inn Fields, nearby to Holborn tube station. I suspect it is because as an interior designer, I just enjoy the whole experience here. An exceptional architect of the Regency period in London, John Soane was mainly ignored by the Prince of Wales, despite being the esteemed architect of the Bank of England. Born in 1753, he was the son of a bricklayer and following a long and distinguished career determined to establish the house as a museum to which ‘amateurs and students’ should have access.

A brilliant Professor of architecture, Soane used models of the great sites of Ancient Greece and Rome to familiarize his students with the principles of architectural design. A member also of the Royal Society his own home in the styling of its facade is 100 years ahead of its time. It has more in common with terrace homes of the Art Deco period than his own era and proves that he was a visionary.

While Soane championed the classical style, he also pared it down and reduced many of its elements to simple lines and elegant forms, very different from the more robust classical lines of the Prince of Wales’s architect John Nash.

The young men who came to study at his house were very privileged to work in a drawing office surrounded by a cascade of beautifully detailed plaster casts and models that he made and were taken from the iconic treasures of classical antiquity. There are masks, rosettes and garlands, capitals, columns, urns, snakes and trophies, a pair of leopards and a panoply of vestal virgins dripping down the walls, poking through doorways and cluttering a catacomb below that contains an Egyptian sarcophagus in this London home-cum-museum, which lay untouched for almost two centuries.

For many years the house was considered London’s most bizarre attraction. That is until Margaret Richardson, its now legendary curator arrived to transform it in 1984 and, the public gained some knowledge about what it had to offer. My first visit had been in 1978 when it was still in a state of romantic decay. Entirely captivated over the years I revisited a number of times and watched its progress recommending that it was a must visit when in London to a great many people. Those who did visit it came back having had a great experience and eagerly passed the knowledge on.

It was for a long time what appeared to be an Alladin’s cave, although many rooms remained shut as they were reorganized and restored. Some like Soane’s drawing office have never been opened except to a few as there are just too many precious relics and not much room to manoeuvre. Visiting with a decorative arts and design tour group in tow in 2001 meant us gaining a private viewing (the house was shut to the public) and access to many of its magical spaces. So if you have a group to go then contact the Curator for a special visit.

We were also able to view the greatest collection of paintings by eighteenth century artist and social commentator William Hogarth first hand and close up. As well as the survival of Soane’s own collection of over 8,000 drawings he collected the original drawings, and neoclassical masterpieces of Scottish architect Robert and James Adam, which you can make an appointment to view.

It is all quite simply remarkable.

WHERE AND CONTACT DETAILS
Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3BP  For information about group visits, or to make a booking contact Claire Lucky +44 (0) 20 7440 4263

CURRENT EXHIBITION/s
Henry Hudson, A Rake’s Progress: The Levée, plasticine on canvas, 2011

A selection of Henry Hudson’s large-scale 2011 ‘paintings’ in plasticine of eighteenth century artist William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress will be exhibited at Sir John Soane’s Museum. Henry Hudson explains on the website: “Hogarth’s work defined the decadence and moral decay of his age, revelling in the grotesque and the absurd, but his narratives remain compelling today… My work seeks to continue this rebellious gesture but with an underlying anxiety.”

Friday 2 December 2011 until Saturday 28 January 2012.

DAYS AND HOURS OF OPERATION
Tuesday to Saturday, 10-5pm when admission is free.

The Museum holds a special candlelit opening on the first Tuesday evening of each month, 6-9pm. No advance booking. Please expect long queues. Check the Christmas/New Year and Summer Opening Times before your visit.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010,, 2011

Related posts:

1. EVOLUTION OF ART, DESIGN & STYLE
   Course Outline
2. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel
3. CIVILISED: At the Beginnings of Art