Archibald Knox and Liberty of London are names inextricably linked, especially when we consider the up swell of indigenous British design at the beginning of the twentieth century.  “Advanced” design (as it was referred to at that time – we call it Modernism), stemming from the historical revivalist principles of William Morris, the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the Aesthetic Movement, was starting to appeal to a wider audience. Arts and Crafts Movement designers and the Guilds were happy to provide for them. Into the centre of this expansion stepped Arthur Lasenby Liberty, a far-sighted and hard-headed businessman with a flair for sniffing out new artistic trends and capitalising upon them. By 1875 his emporium on London’s Regent Street was already brimming with Oriental metalwork and lacquer, exotic Eastern fabrics and “mediaeval” German pewterware.

He was certain he could do better by manufacturing and designing at home, and cast around for suitable designers. In his net he caught Archibald Knox, and a great partnership was born, albeit one rarely acknowledged publicly. Business was business for Liberty, and his designers were not expected to have a profile themselves. This, however, suited Knox – a man of extreme self-effacement and with a dislike of public attention. Knox was a Manxman, born in 1864. His life on the Isle of Man, a stronghold of Celtic lore, was to have the most profound effect on his life as a designer.

Time, an enemy for us all by Archibald Knox

As a child, and a budding artist, Archibald Knox was powerfully impressed by the illustrative aspect of Celtic culture: the fine carved stone crosses scattered over the island; the intricate “lacing” and colour of illuminated manuscripts such as Ireland’s ninth century Book of Kells; the entrelac sinuous twistings of ancient Celtic metalwork like the famous Tara Brooch and the Ardagh Chalice, viewed on visits to Dublin.

Rare Liberty & Co Pendant by Archibald Knox

He was a solitary boy, but made friends with an artistic circle of much older local painters. At Douglas Grammar School, he was introduced to archaeology and the study of earlier cultures. Picking up sea-tumbled semi-precious stones on local beaches – jasper, greenstone, coral – led to his later inspiration to set these simple stones into his silverwork.

Despite its small size, the Isle of Man was fortunate to have a vigorous and “venturesomely modern” Art School in Douglas. Archibald attended from 1878, when he was 14, until 1884. He specialised in the study of the “Design of Historic Ornament”, and passed with such distinction that he remained as an Art Master until 1888.

For the next 11 years, Knox occupied himself with illustrations for articles, many written by himself, which expanded knowledge of the Isle of Man’s history and its Celtic ornament. He sketched and painted watercolour landscapes prolifically, although these charming paintings were for his eyes only. In an interesting early collaboration, Knox worked with Baillie-Scott, an English designer recently moved to Douglas, who was to gain a reputation as a major arts and crafts architect and furniture designer. This contact linked Knox to a much wider exposure to European design and, perhaps as a direct result, in 1897 he accepted a teaching post at Redhill School of Art in Surrey, on the mainland.

In the same year that he moved from his island home, Knox also began designing for the Silver Studio, run by the young Rex Silver in Hammersmith, West London. From the Silver Studio, Knox’s first designs for Cymric silverware were sold to Liberty’s.

By 1900, Knox had become the principal designer for all of  Liberty’s “Celtic Revival” metalwork and jewellery ranges. The Cymric line was for silver, and the Tudric stamp was reserved for pewter pieces, but both metals were treated by Knox in a similar manner. His characteristic knotted, entrelac, soft-edged designs (often embellished with enamels or polished stones) became one of Liberty’s mainstays. The fluidity and daring of some of these marvellous objects produces a strong, almost visceral response. These are not designs of the intellect, despite their careful and controlled planning.

It is the soul which responds, recognising the fundamental connection with Nature potently expressed through Knox’s stylised designs. His pieces become instantly recognisable after only a short association.

By 1909 it seemed that the prevailing Liberty style was on the wane, since cheap copies by other firms were detracting from its initial impact. In any case, Knox was by this time teaching full-time at Kingston School of Art. He resigned abruptly in 1912 after criticism of his teaching methods. His life then became a rather sad series of displacements – from Philadelphia, to other parts of Pennsylvania, and to New York, searching for suitable employment and never really settling.

The years of the Great War saw him back in his beloved Isle of Man, working as a censor in an Alien Detention Centre. He returned to his old school in Douglas to teach in 1920. Painting and travel to Italy consumed his spare time until his sudden death in 1933 at the age of 69. His tombstone, naturally, is of his own design – a glorious interweaving of flowing lines around a Celtic cross in the cemetery at Braddon.

© Frances Laverack 1994 – 2012

Related posts:

1. Modernism – Innovating Design Styles in the 20th Century
2. Preserving Liberty and Law during the Enlightenment @ London
3. What Is: Art Nouveau, more than a tendril in time?

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.

Related posts:

1. The Power of Art and Design in the Modern Age at Vienna
2. EVOLUTION OF ART, DESIGN & STYLE
   Course Outline
3. Archibald Knox, Liberty of London and Modernism

A portrait of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton (1790-1851) by Sir Henry Raeburn

London during the second half of the eighteenth century was a place where extremes met. It was full of things to do and see, of people, of excitement and, it was at the heart of affairs both great and small. By 1800 the population had passed the million mark, and provincial industrial cities, although growing fast, were all under a 100,000 people. The British Navy controlled the seaways; industry was flourishing; the new manufacturing class was prospering;  In London sensibility was flourishing, politeness was valued and there was a distinct elevation of interior sentiment, feelings of the heart and a value of intimacy. The city’s environment was being reshaped, new streets, new squares with open vistas and clear classical lines that were pleasing to the eye. As well there was a great variety of both public and private gardens.

England, Europe and America in the early years of the nineteenth century was entering a period of extraordinary political change, of reform and revolution, scientific and botanical discovery, dazzling artistry, literary excellence, military milestones and political and social scandal. London was now the largest city in western Europe. Not only more populous, it offered a different quality of life. Nowhere else in Britain was so urban; no other city so exciting or so shocking! This was an era dominated by men and also an age of paradox, one in which serious government reforms were achieved, including the abolition of black slavery with Amazing Grace through the extraordinary efforts of William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833)

A portrait of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton (1790-1851) by Sir Henry Raeburn was exhibited in a show the Royal Academy at London in 1821. It is full of concentrated energy, its intensity suggesting that while we are in the presence of a quieter hero, he is nevertheless acquainted with the reality of drama as the red lining of his cloak suggests. The subject is a man western history may not have celebrated very much, but one who contributed much to its growth, intellectually, socially and practically.

British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade William Wilberforce, who was convinced of the importance of religion, morality and education

Born in 1790 by the 1820’s, having completed his obligatory grand tour of Italy, Compton was a respected connoisseur of the arts and literature, particularly poetry. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. 1810, and was created Doctor of Law in 1835. The Member of Parliament for Northampton 1812-20 he involved himself in both politics and cultural life. He sat in the House of Commons where he held an ‘honest independence, and was often called impracticable and crotchety’ by his colleagues. He was connected with Sir James Mackintosh a criminal law reformer and also supported his parliamentary colleague William Wilberforce for the abolition of the slave trade. In his lifetime Compton campaigned vigorously for law reform because he believed in liberty and justice for all.

Our understanding of the meaning of both liberty and justice is at the very heart of the establishment of today’s modern western culture. Justice has many guises and in reality its theory is constantly challenged. It constantly changes its shape based on contemporary societies mores and concerns.

At its essence Justice embraces moral righteousness and truth. Its theories were originally based on ideas and values inherent in concepts of ethnicity, nationality and religion. It ardently believes in punishing those who breach the ethics of society.

Liberty, the freedom to think or act without being constrained by necessity or by force is about freedom from captivity or slavery and the political, social and economic rights belonging to citizens of a state. It is one of the most potent of all western democracies ideas.

Both concepts were honed and refined during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially when Spencer Compton was an active advocate for the law in England. This was when society demanded that everyone who had committed crimes against the people and the state be brought to trial and judged for their misdeeds by a jury of their peers.

For centuries Continental monarchs had ruled absolutely, whereas in England for both good, and not so good reasons, the King’s council had always attempted to circumscribe monarchical power by parliamentary institution.

Visiting Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure wrote of his experience at the court of St James’s early in the century where he found the first of the Hanoverian sovereigns, George 1 (1714 – 1727) was only acknowledged at his morning celebration the gentleman’s ‘levée’ by the inclination of the head rather than the sort of grovelling that went on at the French King’s morning rising ceremony.

Artist William Hogarth's London

The London Saussure encountered on his visit was one of great contrasts. With a population bordering on ¾ million he also found that many an English merchant was richer than the sovereign princes of Europe.

…malice, rapine, accident conspire.
And now a rabble rages, now a fire;
Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here a fell attorney prowls for prey;
Here falling houses thunder on your head,
And here a female Atheist talks you dead.

London was at this stage of its cultural development not a place to be ambushed by thugs or diddled by lawyers.

French author Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1694 – 1778) after a short spell in the Bastille for daring to challenge a French nobleman, lived in England from 1726 to 1729 where he was totally astonished by its people and their many freedoms. He found it completely amazing Englishmen were able to virtually say and publish what they liked without fear of prison or exile. He was further astounded there was no torture or arbitrary imprisonment and that noblemen and priests were not exempt from certain taxes.

Debate, a formal framework in which people, without violence, can discuss and determine their differences and disputes as part of a democratic system of government

In England he discovered it was the poor who enjoyed exemption from taxation whereas at the same time in France it was the rich.On top of all of that he discovered that different religious sects were allowed to flourish.

In France Louis IV in 1685 had revoked the Edict of Nantes, a document put in place by his predecessor Henry IV The Great (1553-1610) that granted religious toleration to Protestants living in Roman Catholic France.

Meanwhile in England the Toleration Act of 1689 allowed Protestant non-conformists their own places for worship and teachers etc. They were subject to swearing certain oaths and declarations that ensured they would not act against the crown or Parliament. Any further restrictions in place for Roman Catholics were finally removed in England in 1829.

Gaining enlightenment...

The so-called Enlightenment is one of those rare historical movements that managed to name itself. Certain thinkers and writers, primarily in London and Paris, believed they were far more enlightened than their compatriots. So armed with only self-confidence they set out to enlighten everyone else.

They believed that human reason, the power of intelligent and dispassionate thought, or of conduct influenced by such thought, should be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny in order to build a better world. Debate, to deliberate about differences and consider someone else’s point of view was honed in the parliament.

In the main they were very successful. Their principal targets were religion, embodied in France in the Roman Catholic Church, and the domination of society by a hereditary aristocracy in both Europe and England.

The wider expertise and experience that Voltaire gained while he was in England meant that his works and ideas became the embodiment of European ‘enlightenment’. Although he died some time before it was established, he irrevocably laid the foundations for the French revolution in the minds of his peers.

He wrote in his Travel Notes about England that it was ‘the freest country in the world’. He made no exception and called it free because the sovereign, whose person is controlled and limited was unable to inflict any harm on anyone.

George III was the third of the Hanoverian Kings and the first to speak English. He had a sense of duty to his country, moral family life, was sincere in his Christian faith, held a diverse range on interests, and was about charitable giving. His life was marred by mental illness.

During the reign of George III (1738-1820) in England the reign of the monarch was altered dramatically. In the second half of the seventeenth century the Whig junto, a self-appointed committee with political aims whose members constantly surrounded and supported the King. They had gradually assumed positions of power distributing the resources of the crown in the form of places, pensions and perquisites and further circumscribing the power of the monarch.

Ultimately the monarchy became about being skillful in managing delicate political and social situations, the embodiment of national morality and a role model for the people.

By the second half of the eighteenth century the King at London was being treated as a human being. Once that had happened something quite unique began to take place, high culture, an integral aspect of the court began to move out of its narrow confines to become an attribute of its people.

During the lifetime of Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2^nd Marquess of Northampton’s England’s so-called Westminster system of government honed through debate and experience became by the end of the nineteenth century, the envy and admiration of both European and American people, philosophers and thinkers. It was about dispensing justice and preserving liberty under the law.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

* Heraclitus, Greek philosopher (540 BC – 480 BC)

Related posts:

1. Remembering 9/11 – Liberty, enlightenment through knowledge
2. Archibald Knox, Liberty of London and Modernism
3. Trio of Boutique Style Museums – At Sydney, Paris and London

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….

Related posts:

1. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel
2. What is an Antique?
3. The Rococo Style – Sophisticated and Yet Enchantingly Pretty

The greatest artist of the Renaissance era in Italy, and perhaps the most famous painter the world has ever seen was Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Most people would understand today that he was truly a genius as believed by those in his own time including Francois 1 of France who provided him with work and a home in the last years of his life. Da Vinci was brilliant, curious and created a new idea of beauty, one that was all at once subtle, enigmatic and completely captivating. His skill and craftsmanship were without peer. Considering how few of his paintings remain, about fifteen in all scattered around the world, his reputation and fame has been established based on drawings and sketches made for details in his paintings, of nature and for his inventions, which were truly miraculous in his time. They prove both his vision and insight.

An exhibition at the National Gallery of London until February 5, 2012 concentrates on work produced during the period of his life spent in Milan when Ludovico Sforza sponsored him (1482 – 1499). This is the only time the majority of his finest painting works have been brought together to put on show, and probably the last time it will ever happen, because moving them is dangerous, difficult and costly. As would be expected the Mona Lisa at Paris and the original fresco of the Last Supper at Milan are not included. This is the first time his work has been on show with a focus on paintings supported by studies and sketches. They reveal his supreme ability to render in paint images that draw us in, hold us and never let us go.

The ‘Lady with an Ermine’ painted about 1489 – 1490, is very special and on loan from the National Museum of Cracow in Poland. The subject was 15 year old Cecilia Gallerani (1473-1536), mistress of Leonardo’s patron Ludovico Sforza. She is caught in a pose clutching to her breast an ermine, which was a symbol of purity and moderation and an emblem for pregnancy and childbirth.

Her lovely face is caught in an enigmatic gaze in a portrait about power and sex. Her beauty is unmistakable, flawless in many ways, while still subtle and completely alluring. The hands gently caressing the ermine are superbly rendered, their tiny veins, tendons, bones and muscles visible in close up. Painted in the all-new oil paints, the colours too are important. The blue is ultramarine, the most expensive pigment made from grinding up the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, which was shipped to Europe from Afghanistan.

Supreme among the works on show is the recently found and restored treasure Salvator Mundi, Christ as Saviour of the World.  Its story is amazing. Dianne Modestini an art restorer, together with dealer and art historian Robert Simon in New York, discovered it. They were given the job of bringing back to life what was thought to be a copy of a painting lost for centuries. You can imagine their excitement when it was finally authenticated as a Da Vinci.

These days a great deal of technology can be employed to examine a work such as this, to ensure that it is genuine. All the experts, having looked at the evidence gathered and the restored work itself are completely convinced. The work had been known about for a long time from drapery study sketches currently in the English Royal Collection. X rays have revealed that Leonardo changed the position of the thumb, one of the pieces of evidence that led to its being declared original. One can only imagine the reaction of the owners when the copy, which last sold for 45 pounds in 1958, suddenly became worth in the vicinity of 125 million pounds. It is an engaging and powerful image whose spiritual quality shines out, much like the enigmatic smile of Leonardo’s most famous work the Mona Lisa, whose slight hint of a smile has intrigued millions. The rendering of the rock crystal ball in Christ’s left hand is breathtaking.

Leonardo da Vinci was a true Renaissance man, one whose thirst for knowledge was only exceeded by his desire for more. He was a painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, inventor, and scientist and eloquently answered the question was painting a science in his treatise on Painting the Codex Urbinas Latinus published in 1270.

At the heart of his understanding of the material world art and science were joined. Man’s eyes were not only the windows to the soul but also to the universe beyond one in which the image became greater than the word; the visual joy of nature reflected exultantly through the painter’s joy of capturing it. He insisted on representing emotion, for him a painter had to note the real thing, real anger, real laughter, and real pain. Da Vinci believed emotions needed to reflect the nature of man’s inner impulses, while his attitude needed to demonstrate his real intent.

His famous Last Supper Fresco at Milan is today in poor condition with only 20% of its original paint showing.

Many however do not know that their is an exact contemporary copy on canvas, thought to be rendered by a pupil of Leonardo. It is attributed to Giovan Pietro Rizzoli, called Giampietrino ca 1495-1549 or, Marco D’Oggiono ca 1467 – 1524.

Thought to have been painted around 1515, it usually hangs in one of England’s sacred destinations, Magdalen College (pronounced “Maudlin)  at Oxford in the ante-chapel on loan from The Royal Academy.

Wonderfully, it provides us with a great sense of what the faded original looked like.

Also on display are pages from his notebooks that reveal the painstaking lengths he went to record the proportions of the arm, the exact make-up of the skull and studies of the human nervous system, all of which helped his work.

Leonardo was also foremost among the Italian flower illustrators, whose interest can genuinely be called scientific.

The earliest surviving plant studies record ‘many flowers copied from nature’ and mentioned in his list of works from c1482. As catalogues of medicinal plants were created in the sixteenth century a need arose for exacting drawings. Leonardo’s hand in these drawings becomes a vehicle for the energies embodied in the spiral forms and motions of nature. He dissected plants just like he did human bodies to observe how they were formed …his curiosity was insatiable, repeatedly writing in his notes ‘who will tell me if anything was ever finished?’.

His drawings were so accurate that his keen and informed eye helped show the way for future illustrators of botany and send a loud and clear message to us that for him direct observation was the only path to truth.

Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan
Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery of London
9th November 2011 – 5th February 2012
Timed Tickets – sold out – only limited tickets available on a daily basis
Expect to queue all night if you want one

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

Watch a Video about the Exhibition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9voMcIEV6I

*Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud

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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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Riveting reading, reading aloud to kids, cooking together, considered DVD watching and beautiful music listening experiences are all great can-do activities for the holiday season, as are long walks each day. All of these will be sure to keep you entertained and help recharge the body’s batteries,  refresh the spirit, the mind, the body and the soul.

2012 in Australia will be the National Year of Reading, promoting the positive benefits of literacy skills to the public at large. It is a collaborative project of Australia’s public libraries, government, community groups, media and commercial partners and the public. A staggering statistic revealed on their website is that 46% of Australians are unable to read a newspaper, follow a recipe or make sense of instructions of any kind. So the campaign next year is about promoting literacy, which we support wholeheartedly at The Culture Concept Circle.

Reading aloud to children is vital. The earlier children are exposed to the reading experience the greater the possibility they will enjoy it both at school and in life. Our list of children’s books contain choices from birth to young adult readers. All have been nominated, or have won awards through The Children’s Book Council of Australia. The family that cooks together seems to be a latest trend and it is good to know great chefs are producing cook books for families. We have included a few as well. Whether you read a book that is printed, or download ebooks to your computer, Kindle or iPad is not the issue. What is important is taking in the words.

For adults the Festive season is the time to enjoy some great escapist thrillers and entirely switch off. It is good to mix it up however and challenge ourselves, and our intellects. Reading current essays and journals, whose writers tackle sensitive issues about protecting the environment, ensuring sustainability and addressing societal concerns provides a balance. Pushing our own boundaries is good for all of us. Books suggested are available at www.bookoffers.com.au, an Australian on line searching tool you can use/bookmark to find the cheapest price on any book or ebook.  The DVD’s are available at the ABC Shop and Music choices can be downloaded from iTunes or purchased through www.fishrecords.com.au.

BOOKS 4 ADULTS

Notebooks by Betty Churcher

Discovering works of art with Betty Churcher is a positive, completely wonderful and transforming experience. Her favourite artists have that je ne sais quoi, or indescribable intangible quality that makes them both very attractive and enormously appealing, as they simulate the artists reality of their world in constant flux. Notebooks has proved so popular it has already been re-printed three times in 2011, the year it has been published.

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography – Walter Isaacson

An extraordinary book, which gives us a unique insight into the life and thinking of the man who single-handedly transformed and helped make the modern world.  From bestselling author Walter Isaacson the landmark biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is an amazing account of Jobs’ professional and personal life. Drawn from three years of exclusive and unprecedented interviews Isaacson conducted with Jobs, as well as extensive interviews with Jobs’ family members, key colleagues from Apple and its competitors, this is the definitive portrait of the greatest innovator of his generation

Women’s Stuff by Caz Cooke

The essential guide to life for women aged 18 to 108. With the best info, independent advice and great fun this is THE book every Australian woman truly needs if they want to know anything about everything from confidence, body image, eating, health, hormones, bosoms, hairy bits, love, heartbreak, to sex, mental health, wrinkle creams, cosmetic surgery, friends, sleep, home, false eyelashes and menopause. Best of all, there’s no fibs, fantasy or fakery. It also includes more than 2,000 illuminating, amazing, hilarious and heartbreaking quotes from real women who shared their own secrets and stories.

The Cello Suites by Eric Siblin

On last year’s list but one to revisit. This is an extraordinary tale, beautifully crafted and terrifically told of an epic quest undertaken by Canadian rock critic Eric Siblin. It is a great book about the search for a Baroque masterpiece, a score specifically written for the cello. Eric Siblin had an epiphany of sorts when he attended a recital of J S Bach’s six Cello Suites, falling completely under the spell of this classic musical masterpiece. He decided to go on his own journey to learn all about the works and their composer and to record his findings. By all accounts he certainly got more than he bargained for.

Smut by Alan Bennett

This contains two ‘unseemly stories’ that concern women in middle life; Mrs Donaldson, whom sex takes by surprise, and Mrs Forbes, who is not surprised at all. The stories are naughty, honest and very funny. British playwright Alan Bennett has been a leading dramatist since the 1960′s and this is the latest in his ‘small collection’ that last year included his other brilliant offering, The Uncommon Reader.

Hegarty on Advertising: Turning Intelligence into Magic

A book that no creative mind should be without – Hegarty on Advertising contains more than four decades of wisdom and insight from one of the world’s leading advertising men. The book is packed with anecdotes and insights, from advice on the elements of advertising, pitching and the effects of new technology, to the personal story of John Hegarty’s career from his early days at Saatchi and Saatchi and the global force that is Bartle Bogle Hegarty today.

Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England by Thomas Penn

Shifting alliances at home and abroad, ruthless accumulation of capital and endless court intrigues form the backdrop to a chilling and enticing portrait of Henry VII. He was the founder of the Tudor dynasty that created a centralised English state. Well written and well researched, the book helps us understand why Shakespeare decided to give this Henry a miss. It would have been difficult to prettify him. According to some English critics The Royal National Theatre should seek to remedy the omission rapidly: Winter King has a very contemporary feel.

The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht

Deeply engaging Téa Obreht, the youngest of The New Yorker’s twenty best American fiction writers under forty, has spun a timeless novel, weaving a brilliant latticework of family legend, loss, and love that will establish her as one of the most vibrant, original authors of her generation. In a Balkan country mending from years of conflict, Natalia, a young doctor, arrives on a mission of mercy at an orphanage by the sea. By the time she and her lifelong friend Zóra begin to inoculate the children there, she feels age-old superstitions and secrets gathering everywhere around her.

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Like many of the heroines of the Victorian novels she favors, Madeline Hanna, Brown University class of 1982 English major, must choose between men: the hungry wanderer Mitchell Grammaticus or the brilliant but troubled Leonard Bankhead. Madeline goes with the latter, sidelining her own intellectual pursuits in favor of riding a manic depressive’s roller-coaster through the dawn of semiotics, post-structuralism, identity politics, and psychopharmacology. A coming-of-age novel that’s as unapologetically erudite as it is funny, fun, and profound.

Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 by Rodric Braithwaite

Written largely from material obtained from Soviet archives, this account of a winter nightmare explains why the Afghans hate being occupied and each chapter offers a warning to the Nato occupiers of today.

Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens

As a political, cultural, and literary critic, Christopher Hitchens really stands alone. This is demonstrated by his major collection of mostly recent essays and reviews, covering a range of topics, from America’s founding fathers to the state of the English language. You don’t always have to agree with this fearless author and polemicist to appreciate his erudite mind. Last year, his prolific career was derailed by a grim cancer diagnosis. His Vanity Fair essay on losing his “writer’s voice” as cancer attacked his vocal chords is a must. The anthology collects some of his best recent work. It is unapologetically candid, wryly humorous and keenly insightful, the essays examines such cultural icons as Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Karl Marx, Thomas Jefferson, Ezra Pound, Abraham Lincoln, George Orwell, and even Harry Potter in the context of contemporary events, weaving history and present together as he reflects on the most pressing political and social issues of our time.

Death Comes To Pemberley by P.D. James

The year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years. There are now two handsome and healthy sons, the heir and the spare in the Pemberley nursery, Elizabeth’s beloved sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live within seventeen miles. The ordered and secure life of Pemberley seems unassailable, and Elizabeth’s happiness in her marriage is complete. But their peace is threatened and old sins and misunderstandings rekindled on the eve of the annual autumn ball. In a pitch-perfect recreation of the world of Pride and Prejudice, P.D. James elegantly fuses her lifelong passion for the work of Jane Austen with her talent for writing detective fiction. She weaves a compelling story, combining a sensitive insight into the happy but threatened marriage of the Darcy’s and the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly crafted detective story.

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My favourite book of 2011 stood head and shoulders above the rest, and there was many wonderful publications. Betty Churcher’s Notebooks are filled with the delightful and informative sketches that she has made and they appear alongside an image of the painting she’s describing. A former Director of the National Gallery of Australia (1990 – 1997) Betty Churcher (1931- ) holds an Order of Australia and is an Officer of the Order of Australia. What she has contributed to the world of art and culture in our country over her lifetime has been very well done.

A Masterpiece - Woman Bathing in a Stream, possibly Hendrickje Stoffels, by Rembrandt van Rijin (1606 - 1669)

Discovering works of art with Betty Churcher is a positive, completely wonderful and transforming experience. Her favourite artists have that je ne sais quoi, or indescribable intangible quality that makes them both very attractive and enormously appealing, as they simulate the artists reality of their world in constant flux. Notebooks has proved so popular it has already been re-printed three times in 2011, the year it has been published.  This divine publication is beautifully case-bound, its rugged handsome linen cover ensures that just holding it is a wondrous experience, which I personally respond to. The text is erudite, introspective, retrospective and, in so many ways puts life into perspective.

In the introduction Betty Churcher reflects on her life and times, those people who have shared it with her and, what they have meant to her. Being told she ‘tried too hard’ certainly rang a gong for me. You always enjoy something so much more when you emotionally plug into the experiences of the protagonist. But loving this book is so much more than all of that. It’s about a heightened sense of expectation and a true, eager delight as you turn each page. It is about the sense of being on the outside looking in at something completely rare and wonderful. It is about being the beneficiary of a unique insight so graciously formed. And, it is about a wealth of knowledge lovingly translated and encapsulated with meaningful words that will stay with you, just as the memories of the works she discusses will continue to aid her connection with them.

Purchase Notebooks

Betty Churcher: Photo by Andrew Meares

In 2003 following a stellar career Betty Churcher was told she was likely to lose her sight. By 2006 it had degenerated greatly and she lost the sight of one eye and the second was in trouble too. She took off on one last trip to sketch those works of art she had so loved and admired during her lifetime, because she couldn’t imagine a world in which she might never be able to see them again. By drawing their details she knew they would be indelibly etched into her memory. In the process, and by getting up close and personal, she discovered and recorded some of the special techniques that the artists had used in their creation.

Betty Churcher has surmounted most of the challenges thrown up at her since her very interesting childhood. This was when she discovered a capacity for drawing, one that would stand her career in a creative world in good stead. She left home at 21 and did not look back, only forward, as she went overseas in a passionate pursuit of art and life and to find her destiny. Notebooks is a highly intimate journey, one you feel privileged to be part of.

Betty was born pre-war at Brisbane and fled Brisbane for overseas until finally, she returned. She is a member of the Clan Cameron, as am I. We both admire and love St Paul’s passage from The Holy Bible Corinthians 1:13…”If I give all I possess to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing… love never fails”.

Betty no doubt saw Reg Livermore on stage in person chained to a kitchen sink in Betty Blockbuster, an affectionate title she inherited during her career because of her love of ‘blockbuster’ exhibitions and movies. I just love her keen eye and meticulous attention to detail; her lively observations, which are so lovingly recorded. They provide a unique insight into the colour preferences, style techniques and thought provoking processes of their artists.

I like the way she confesses that in some cases, she has revisited her favourite works again and again. This is a temptation I also find hard to resist when possible, because it allows another encounter so that yet another aspect of the work might shine through and strike you down.

The Death of Actaeon by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)

After you take on board all that she does have to say the notion occurs to you that next time you encounter something special you will be all the more determined to linger longer and look at it with completely fresh eyes.

Her visit to the National Gallery at London was particularly poignant, being able to access its great works alone ‘after hours’ must have been a powerful experience. Of all the galleries I have visited this remains my all time favourite, as all the works seem to have been embraced by a loving hand, in the way they have been chosen and displayed. There is such a mood of permanence about this place, which probably has as much to do with its style of architecture as it managing to not be bombed out of existence during World War II.

Betty Churcher reminds us of how, during the London blitz the works were removed to the safety underground of a Welsh mine, not Canada as some had proposed. Winston Churchill told the then director Kenneth Clark to ‘Bury them in caves or in cellars, but not a picture shall leave these islands‘. One can hear him say it loud and clear with that fabulous commanding voice that he had. He was so feisty and fierce about defending the ancient Isle of Albion to the end. For him to remove its most famous treasures would have been a defeat.

Feeling ‘starved’ from not being able to access regular doses of their art, Londoners demanded they have an opportunity to see at least one now and then. And so the “Picture of the Month” program was born, ensuring that at least one great work was sent home to London each month from the mine. What a wonderful message: one precious piece of past human history helping people of the present to be inspired to fight on.

Las Meninas by Velazquez - defining the art of illusion - there is so much going on here at times it is completely dizzying from the man whose 'managed to make black look blacker than black'

The Death of Actaeon by one of my fav painters Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) is a wonderful comment on the Greek myth, that has Artemis (Diana to the Romans) chasing the mortal hunter. He unwittingly looked upon her beauty, while she was bathing naked in a stream deep in the forest. She had him torn to death by her dogs who think he’s a stag as she has transformed him. Painted when Titian was in his 80′s this work was unfinished, according to some, but it is still full of intent, and startling in the dark mood it manages to purvey of how the dastardly deed was done.

Betty Churcher’s Notebooks are ‘heavy’ with intention, the illustrations reproduced gorgeously, and the personal notations and sketches truly delicious. It is an entirely engaging read and every single page is an adventure in the evolution of art, design and style. It is also about being a voyeur, seeking pleasure on the sea of art by trespassing silently into a world where the art of pleasure becomes a serious business.

I especially responded to her thoughts on the amazing work of Spanish artist Diego Rodríguez de Silva Y Velázquez and his most mysterious painting, Las Meninas in Madrid. Considered a masterpiece, it continues to raise many questions that will probably never be answered.

Then there is his imposing portrait of Pope Innocent X painted in 1650, that was described in 1966 by English artist Francis Bacon as ‘one of the greatest paintings in the world’.

In her Notebooks Betty Churcher travels from shadow to illumination as she completely susses out the subject matter of her most admired works brilliantly, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses and capturing their very essence with her wonderful prose.

Her descriptive passages are truly delightful; one fine example about Rembrandt von Rijn says “In his sagging flesh and ageing skin he can record the many disappointments and idignities that he has been obliged to stomach over the years – but the set of the mouth suggests that he regrets nothing”.

As I suspect she doesn’t either.

Notebooks by Betty (Elizabeth) Ann Churcher, AO (née Cameron) born 11 January 1931 – )
Available through www.bookoffers.com.au

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2011

NB: Betty Churcher dedicated Notebooks to her grandchildren, who are sure to gain an appreciation for art, and to learn what art is, from their grandmother.

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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
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