Since the beginning of civilization humans have sought to adorn and decorate themselves, and the Chinese were no exception. Inspired by the beauty and variety of the birds and animals around them they sought, from the very earliest times to emulate these seemingly perfect creatures by first adorning themselves with their pelts and plumes. Then with increasing sophistication to embellish the clothes and accessories they wore, finally establishing by the time of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) a highly-stylised and visible social and political hierarchy. This was based upon their perception of the intrinsic characteristics of these creatures and famously epitomized by the bird and animal rank badges of that era.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, headgear and hairstyles evolved in the most spectacular manner, and the crests and head plumes of the birds the Chinese encountered provided inspiration over the centuries for an astonishing variety of hats, crowns, tiaras, hairstyles and hair ornaments. Drawn by their iridescent beauty, many races and peoples have used feathers as adornment or accessory, and the earliest humans, including the Chinese, probably initially sought to decorate themselves using entire feathers from the bird; we are all familiar with pictures of races right up until modern times such as the Papua New Guinean tribes, which continue to do so.

It is only the Chinese however who evolved beyond this to discover a way to incorporate the colour and sheen, which they so admired in the beautiful feathers, into something far more wearable, sophisticated and elegant (Hartman, R., 1980, p80). The most highly-prized of all as seen in the short poem above were the flashing iridescent turquoise and blue feathers of the little halcyon, or kingfisher bird, at that stage plentiful in China and in fact, in most of Asia. As can be deduced from the date of Ch’en Tzu-ang’s poem, the use of kingfisher feathers appears well-established at that stage and they were clearly already highly valued as much, if not more, than gold.

Excavations of T’ang dynasty (A.D. 618-906) tombs have revealed tiny kingfisher jewellery pieces which were probably used more in the manner of gems or decorative items, and there are descriptions of a dying king from the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) detailing his private chamber in which there were “kingfisher hangings on jasper hooks” and “bedspreads of kingfisher all seeded with pearls”(Hartman, R., 1980, p76), apparently from the manner of their description not necessarily unusual objects for the time.

Beverley Jackson in her extensive book on the subject of the use of kingfisher feathers recounts a marvelous episode where the indefatigable English author Oswald Sitwell is musing upon the glory that was Angkor Wat, and concludes, somewhat amazed, that such glories in a country with few resources such as ancient Cambodia must have been provided by one thing only – the enormous trade in kingfisher feathers for the insatiable Chinese market (Jackson, B., 2001, p5). This rather startling observation provides some insight into the ubiquity and popularity of the exquisite objects, and certainly no museum collection of Chinese dress is without at least one or two examples of this art

Indeed kingfisher feathers were employed with dazzling effect in a large variety of items for personal adornment including not only hair ornaments but crowns, wedding head-dresses, bracelets, nail guards, brooches, earrings, pendants and occasionally even larger objets d’art such as screens and tableaux. Although it is evident that kingfisher decorative items had existed for many centuries, they were at their most spectacular when used to decorate women’s hair ornaments, and this was an art form whose artistic culmination was reached in the Qing dynasty when the Manchus took control of Imperial power.

Although they sought to enforce Manchu customs and language from the beginning of their reign in 1644, by the time of the Qianlong Emperor (c 1736-95) the ruling Manchus were increasingly concerned that not only were the ethnic Han Chinese continuing with their own style of dress, they were also influencing Manchu style. Subsequently in 1759, the “Illustrated Precedents for the Ritual Paraphernalia of the Court” (Huangchao liqi tushi) was published, ostensibly in an effort to unify the country but in reality of course to control and impose their rule upon the Han(Garrett, V., p10). Under this system, clothing was divided into official and non-official wear, seasonal wear, styles, and colours, all based on rank. As women held no official role in the court (other than occasionally acting as regent, most notably the Empress Dowager Cixi) their rank was determined by their husband’s⁴.

Subsequently their dress, hairstyles and even their hair ornaments were very formalised so combined with the immense wealth and leisure time these women enjoyed, the art of dressing the hair and ornamenting the subsequent confection reached new heights – literally in the case of Manchu women, who sought to develop increasingly towering styles. Combined with her extra physical height, floor-length robes and 4-6” platform shoes, the Manchu court female was an imposing figure, and made the shorter-statured, bound-footed Han Chinese woman look girlish and doll-like by comparison(Johnson, B., 2001, p61).

Naturally in this era no woman of rank or wealth, Manchu or Han, did her own hair; in the case of the Manchu woman if a hat was not being worn for an official occasion, the preparations for this coiffure could take some hours, especially with the higher ranking princesses and empresses of the court(Princess Der Ling, 1911, p67). In order to keep the elaborate structure in place, a gel-like substance was used called pao bua, derived from soaking fine wood-shavings from a special tree in hot water until a sticky jelly was obtained. This was then combed through the hair which was then styled. In the case of Han women, unless their husband was a mandarin at the Imperial court this style would have simply been in the fashion of the day, often a simple coil or two braids at the nape of the neck; very few ornaments were used, often just fresh flowers or a couple of small pins.

In the case of Manchu women however it was a much more complex process and the gelled and combed hair was then wound around elaborate frames made of horsehair; according to the dictates of her rank a number of different types of styling followed, the best known of which is the liangpa tou “two handle ends” seen in many portraits of the day including the Empress Dowager. Against this towering backdrop (further augmented in the late Qing by a similar structure made of black satin), numerous beautiful objects such as sheng (combs), zan (hair slides), chai (hair pins) and buyao (hair ornaments) could be displayed, along with fresh and artificial flowers, pompoms and tassels (Garrett, V, 1997, p76, Hartman, R, 1980, p90, Jackson, B, 2001, pp61-63)

The hair ornaments themselves could be functional or decorative, serving to either help hold the hair in place in the case of the very large hair slide known as bianfang which essentially supported the two side buns and was often decorated on one side with a large hanging tassel which swung as the wearer walked, or in the case of smaller pins and ornaments be displayed entirely for their beauty and workmanship. The variety of materials used along with the kingfisher feathers included gold or silver (depending on wealth and rank), pearls, precious and semi-precious stones notably unfaceted rubies and sapphires, tourmalines and carnelians, the highly-valued Peking glass, coral, jade or jadeite, mother of pearl, and sometimes in the case of dangling hair ornaments (liusu) brass figures such as fish.

The ornaments themselves came in a huge variety of shapes including birds, animals, insects, flowers and other plant life including fruit and gourds, children or small figures, auspicious symbols including the shou “long life” and shuangxi “double happiness” symbols, shapes such as the Eight Precious Objects and even in the case of larger crowns and tiaras, small still life scenes depicting court life or famous scenes, however the most popular themes were butterflies, bats, dragonflies, grasshoppers, fish and gourds(Garrett, V, p19-35, Hartman, R, 1980, pp76-80, Jackson, B, 2001, p97) The reason for these choices was several-fold, for apart from their intrinsic charm and beauty these motifs held another type of significance. The Chinese language is rich with homophones, words that sound like one another but have different meanings, with the result that saying one thing can evoke something entirely different, sometimes humorous or for the superstitious Chinese, auspicious.

Well-known examples of this include “happiness” fu and “bat” bianfu, “prosperity” yu and “fish” yu, or interesting combinations such as “butterfly” and “gourd” guadie mianmian creating a rebus meaning “offspring for eternity”. Other motifs had their own inherent meanings, such as peaches and pomegranates (fertility), paired ducks (marital happiness) cranes (immortality) and lingzhi mushrooms (longevity). Because of this there resulted a strong visual vocabulary, almost a type of ‘visual shorthand’, so that the use of certain animals, insects or symbols would result in a piece that was not only able to be admired for its exquisite workmanship, but also had great meaning for the wearer and all those around her and usually connoted her wish for a happy and fulfilled life, preferably with many sons (Hartman, R, 1980, pp76-80).

It can be understood in the light of this that the Chinese of this era wore jewellery for different reasons to us today, usually more for aesthetic reasons or the enjoyment of the wearer, or as a practical means of storing their assets, rather than actually showing off wealth. In addition, the choice of background metal was again stipulated by formal decree, and gold was generally only permitted for ornaments for the ladies of the Imperial court or the very wealthy.

Whatever the metal it was wrought into an astonishing variety of shapes, often three-dimensional, and was frequently worked as filigree; quite frequently design elements such as stems, branches and leaves were fashioned with a springy copper ball so that they trembled when the wearer moved or walked, adding to the charm and beauty of the final picture(Jackson, B, 2001, p85).

While it is certainly acknowledged that the art of working with kingfisher feathers is one of China’s traditional handcrafts (Yuan, H, 2006, p97), the actual construction of the pieces themselves has been the subject of some conjecture. What is known is that thin sheets of gold or silver were formed into the desired shape with the appropriate ridges in the design being fashioned with a tiny hammer and a surrounding lip then being attached, much in the fashion of cloisonné(Hartmann, R, 1980, p76). The pieces of feather were then painstakingly laid in place and then affixed with adhesive or glue.

The method of fixation may have been variable depending on the way the piece was constructed and has been variously describedas eithercovering the entire finished product with a glue-like substance(Jackson, B, 2001, p53-54) or affixing each piece individually, as in a fascinating eye-witness account of the timedescribing how individual feather filaments were dredged through the glue before being laid flat upon the metal surface(Jackson, B, 2001, p50) What is agreed upon is that the glue must be invisible, and not discolour the feathers at all.

The exact composition of this glue is not precisely known although it was most likely a combination of adhesives derived from both animal (hide) and plant (seaweed) sourceswhich would have been plentiful and readily available at the time. The feathers themselves also appear to have been used in a couple of different ways to create the jewellery. One technique, by far the slowest and most painstaking and most likely that used for the Court jewellery, involved the method described above whereby individual feather filaments were laboriously attached side by side until the piece was covered and a solid lacquer-like effect was achieved.

Alternately and possibly as demand for these objects grew, a different and no doubt slightly more efficient technique was employed with larger sections of actual feather being attached. This may also have been used for larger pieces. What is certain is that with the inevitable intermingling of the ruling Manchus and the Han Chinese women, demand for these pieces grew as every women in China wanted one of these covetable and fashionable items. In addition the increasing influx of Western visitors combined with the aesthetic of the Art Nouveau movement in Europe made these pieces desirous beyond Chinese shores, and demand eventually outstripped supply with the eventual hunting to extinction of the little kingfisher bird in China.

Fashions then changed and with the advent of the sweeping social changes that were to befall China, this art, like so many others, was lost. The last factory producing these items commercially closed in Canton in 1930(Hartman, R, 1980, p78), and although reproduction items are still produced in China and the Philippines today, the items are generally inferior and do not use genuine kingfisher feathersbut rather dyed feathers from other birds(Jackson, B, 2001, p53).

What is so remarkable then is that the appreciation of, and delight in these beautiful little objects endures in both China and the West, and even in such a changed world as ours the fact that we can still admire and desire these little gems, and the very fact that so many pieces of this extraordinary art form still survive today is a tribute to both the skill of the artisans and the timeless beauty of the pieces themselves.

Guest Author: © Dr Sheena Burnell Shanghai 2009 – 2012 **Ch’en Tzu-ang (661-702)

Translation by Paul W. Kroll Dr Sheena Burnell is an anaesthetist currently living in the East. She began collecting Chinese objet d’art and Japanese ukiyoe (wood block prints) in the 1980s. Her shift in focus to Chinese dress accessories dates from her first visits to Hong Kong in the early ‘90s. This led to an expanding interest in women’s and children’s dress accessories in general and more recently kingfisher hair ornaments. Sheena appeared on the Australian ABC program ‘Collectors’ in 2007, with her collection of bound feet shoes and related objects.

Related posts:

1. Collecting Chinese Snuff Containers
2. Chinese Ceramics – ‘Knowledge Comes from Seeing Much’
3. The Mistress and the Consort, Paying the Wages of Beauty

New Style Steel Casements Crosby Street Hotel - photo by Suzanne deChillo

Windows are not something we really think about on a daily basis. They are just there and we take them for granted. They let the light in, reveal the sun shining, reflect relentless rain when it is falling and the ever changing colour of the sky as well as the multitude of events continually happening on the street or the water outside. Evolving from a slit in the wall of a formidable defensive stone Keep to shoot arrows at enemies, ‘wind eyes’ as they were known in ancient times, have evolved through a series of interesting varieties to offering us an eye to the whole world within our vision, and all that lies beyond.

It was with interest that I read an article in the New York Times claiming that casement windows have now become a classic. And, that they are being installed in many new and renovated New York apartments as part of a contemporary architectural revival, which pays tribute to pre-war World War II buildings. NYTimes journalist Jonathan Vatner reported ‘that it was mostly down to one guy, Cary Tamarkin an architect and developer sometimes referred to as “the window guy,” because of use of distinctive casement windows in the apartments he develops’.

Although typically more expensive than conventional windows Tamarkin also said casement windows are ‘rooted in traditions of authenticity.’, which is a most intriguing statement or is it simply spin? It seems most of the window guy’s projects are in neighborhoods filled with warehouse buildings, that he converts into apartments and sells for over two million a pop so that people can “live comfortably amid their settings.” We all have choice and if what he is providing fits your dream and needs then it is certainly about the art of fine living. The fact remains however it happens, or why, the fact that someone is bravely reverting to quality opening windows must surely be good news. And if they are casements, then they are an attractive option.

Typical early English Tudor casement windows - great handmade red brickwork too

Casements are a window that allows the flow of air to be regulated easily and are a very pleasing feature, if well made. Casement windows that opened out were the norm in Europe and England for centuries, that is until the up and down style of sash window was invented around 1670.

They usually contained leaded glass in small panes at first, which became larger as time went on and glass making techniques allowed for larger panes to be produced. They were more usually hinged on the side, and opened inward allowing the occupant an uninterrupted view of the world.  The windows were also covered by functional exterior shutters, which opened outward.

This productive pair was a winning combination for centuries allowing air to circulate easily while keeping the heat of the sun out on a stinking hot day.  Casement windows made a come back in the late 20′s and 30′s in Art Deco pleasure palaces and skyscrapers but then they went out of contention following World War II with the re-emergence of the sash and all new fixed ‘picture’ (plate glass) windows.

Just the fact they are putting windows that open into any new multi storied building structure again anywhere must be a plus. For those living in apartments, or working in buildings where windows are fixed and rely only on air conditioning, it must be a liberating thought. I don’t know personally how they stand it.

French style casements and window boxes in Bleecker Street at New York where they have traditional curved 'stone headers'. Photo by Benjamin Norman

Sleeping or living with fresh air circulating for me is an absolute, but then here in Australia we are blessed with a good quality of air, even in out largest cities, which many other countries of the world don’t enjoy. And, for that we should always give thanks.

If we are to cut down on our use of energy so that it is effectual, in terms of the environment, then surely windows that open, like casement windows, must come back into contention with contemporary developers and fixed windows and air conditioners phased out.

Sara Lopergolo, a partner at Selldorf Architects in New York remarked to Vatner  at the New York Times ‘that the casement window was of interest today because “it breaks down the scale of a window opening. It frames views.” “It has a resonance with people, a character that people retain as something that belongs to an old world,”

Architects need to take responsibility by considering the way a view faces, the trajectory of the sun, winter and summer, as well as study the prevailing winds a little more before they make a decision on what windows to include in any buildings, not just high rise. There are many gurus of design blithely guiding all our futures so we must not be complacent but vigilant and, give them hell if they stuff up.

Stegbar Casement Windows Australia

Part of the reason for the resurgence that has made casements a classic (of acknowledged excellence) is obviously a romantic view, as well as the fact that once again in the last five years especially, window technology has improved yet again and, significantly.

Quality steel casements are now being manufactured with the label ‘energy efficient’, which means they stand up to rigorous tests relating to building codes.

New French style casements, that were historically wooden,  grace a building in Bleecker Street, New York and are made from quality steel. The design origins of the building are based in European classical architecture and so the casement windows suit it well architecturally, with its detailed curved stone headers, deep overhanging classical cornice and, the French essential projecting attic rooms.

But manufactures warn windows are complicated devices, made ever the more complicated by the fact recommended window types vary by climate.

Prior to ordering any sort of window, a classic or otherwise, you need to inform yourself about what kind of window is right for both your climate and your needs. It is no use having a fashionable French number that you cannot open simply because it faces the way gale force winds blow in your part of the world.

Claude Monet's Window at Giverny, courtesy Elizabeth Murray

If they face the more gentle breezes and the ideal north east in the southern hemisphere and south west in the northern, then a casement window, which goes from ceiling to floor, that is hinged on the outside, has no center mullion and when open allows an unobstructed view is certainly a very attractive option. Especially when you can open them up and easily attend to your herbs planted in a window box outside.

Casements + fresh herbs + French cuisine will obviously improve quality of life.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010 – 2012

Related posts:

1. Peabody Essex Museum at Salem – Opening Windows on the World
2. CLASSIC: Artists & Artisans – Renaissance to Restoration
3. Classic Architecture, is it more than a Column?

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)

Related posts:

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

Dimity Hodge, Head of Women in Leadership at Westpac said recently “Jo is not only the fashion elixir – she is an elixir of life. She is like a breath of fresh air guiding us all in fashion and style. Her passion is contagious – she wants us all to feel and look the best we can. She is stylish and creative and she just knows what works – for everyone and every body. She’s the best!” Dimity says

Jo Bayley is a Sydney girl, born and bred and we first met when she was in her early teens. With a keen eye for fashion from a young age, Jo could be found making clothes for her dolls in every spare moment. She began hairdressing at that time, developing her career in this field now spanning 25 years.

Travelling through Europe extensively has ignited the passion for fashion, style and exotic locations, and she particularly enjoyed working with menswear at London in the late 90′s. Jo also devotes much time and energy to volunteering for Look Good Feel Better, which is a social profit institution that runs workshops in hospitals nationwide. Look Good Feel Better helps women going through cancer treatment to learn about skin care, makeup, and how to best use hats, scarves and wigs.

Jo believes fashion can be the elixir we all need to take the boredom out of everyday life. And anyone can be fabulous armed with the right tools (shoes, hot dress and iconic handbag!)

Jo will be providing tantalizing tales of style, travel and fashion, here in Australia, and the rest of the globe. She says ‘Life would be so boring without a bit of escapism. Lusting over the perfect shoe, an idyllic island holiday or, that fabulous little black dress can make the day seem so much brighter’. It’s good to have her on board. I am sure that like me, you will look forward to her many musings.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

Related posts:

1. The Culture Concept Circle – You Tube Channel
2. The Culture Concept Circle
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   Join us and the world will never look quite the same again

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. What Is: Art Nouveau, more than a tendril in time?

Modern manners, codes of behaviour, decorum and rules of etiquette matter in every culture and society – they illuminate and respect the human experience. Observing manners when out and about in society is ‘cool’, even in a casual setting. It is all about established conventions of morality and about developing, and being sensitive to, a fine sense of decorum. Whether you agree or not the guidelines are there. They have been honed over a very long period of time as society has met morphed from being bullying brash, uncouth and uncaring to being bold, beautiful, courteous and concerned.

A common concern in the past and present is avoiding the embarrassment of social stigma. Obsessions about how we look, what we weigh, what we eat, what we are wearing, what others are wearing, how our hair is arranged, what restaurant we eat at and the modes of transport we choose would suggest that we have, as yet, not been released from such burdensome worries. The tradition of honouring and respecting others socially, or culturally, is a matter of good form. While not immediately obvious, there are many forms manners take and simple ways of offering respect to each other; most especially to those younger or older than us. Etiquette implies an observance of formal requirements governing many types of behaviour in all societies and all cultures. Considering others should be simple, right and proper behaviour in any society, and under all circumstances.

Many people are asking what has happened in the last decade or so to good sense and courtesy? Why is it that so many people seem to flounder about offering continual offense to others? Why is it that some parents and teachers are not reinforcing good behaviour patterns in their children that make life pleasant for all?

One thing I do know is that if children haven’t learned the common courtesies of life prior to becoming a teenager, then it becomes increasingly difficult for them to acquire them as they grow older. They need to learn how to be in-society, because it is important for their success and happiness throughout their life.

How we conduct ourselves in any arena should align. Hiding false behaviour behind a veneer of ‘being professional’ is never acceptable. What and who you are at home, in the workplace or when you are out and about should be seamless and naturally effortless, because it is an aspect of who you are. And that is as true for an executive as it is for a tradesman, a man in a mine a woman in a dress shop. It is about respect of self – codes of behaviour and manners matter.

It is good to see that so many sporting bodies are fiercely maintaining and reinforcing young players respect for each other. It helps children to learn how to accept difference. Organized sport provides valuable team building experiences, that are important for any child as it means considering and respecting others and their point of view.

Reinforcing Codes of Best Practice in Youth Sport is very important

By value adding manners into the milieu such as remembering simply to say please or thank you, to stand on public transport for someone older or in more need than you and yes, even opening the door for someone else. Whether it is a man or a woman who performs this simple task is all about courtesy, and nothing to do with gender issues.

A habit that offends many in public is when people yawn or sneeze all over everyone else without covering their mouth. This reflects their blatant disregard for others but most especially, it is about halting the spread of airborne diseases.

Picking your nose, spitting, urinating or farting in public, or being crass and coarse when you are out and about is always ugly. There is no two ways about it. This might sound ‘nit picking’, which is another practice among humans that was outlawed eons ago, and in many ways it is. But underpinning the details add up to society being in harmony.

Then there is acceptable etiquette designed for contemporary use, such as that surrounding mobile phone use, which is still in its evolving process.  Technology has produced many tools for making our professional and personal lives easier, but they are just that tools that we can and should control.

Breaking societies rules can command respect, but only if there is a genuine belief you are doing the right thing and not offending others. Having a mobile phone go off in the middle of a funeral service, under any conditions is quite simply inexcusable.

Society is not easy today because there are more and more people on the planet. Considering others has become a reality part of the here and now, as well as the future. For those unsure of what the rules are it can seem daunting. The higher up the scale you go too they often seem to be part of a secret code understood by only a select few.

This is in many respects true. As leaders in society move in ever-ascending spirals up the ladder of success they constantly re-invent the rules to test the mettle of those wanting to ride along with them, to join them or, above all to keep undesirable elements out.

Rising above one’s station in life may be encouraged in community, but in high society it is still not admired. In the 21st century unless you can bring along impeccable credentials and a fine reputation with you then you will find that admission is not easy.

This is true in the corporate life of executives, managers and office workers, all of whom form ‘cliques’ within cliques. Those who have reached the top of the spiral don’t really relish the idea of going back down.

Accessing them once they are up there ‘where the air is rarefied’ in reality will often prove difficult. Those at the top put in place mechanisms that help to keep them safe. Trying to break in can be a mighty task.

For those people who survived the Great Depression and World War II fear became integral to their lifestyle and their code was ‘survival’. However their children were brought up when confidence was returning and ‘self expression’ encouraged. It became a necessary skill to acquire to aid career success.

The Christian ethic that had held sway for nearly 2000 years had long demanded obedience of the Law of Moses. The main tenets of faith-included ten rules that said we should honour our father and mother, not do murder, commit adultery, steal or bear false witness against our neighbour.

The really big one was ‘you shall not covet your neighbour’s house, your neighbour’s wife, his servants, his ox, his donkey, in fact anything that is your neighbour’s. This was serious stuff.

An ox and a donkey at the time were among a man’s most prized possessions. The first was a beast for burden to help him earn his living, the second had strong legs and a stoic heart to carry him far. So if we transpose that into something we understand today, like someone stealing our identity, lives and possessions, then we might begin to understand how serious it was, and still is.

The law system governing western society were based on these first rules of society and its ideas and they remain relevant.

Following World War II when man’s inhumanity to man reached a zenith the aftermath saw enormous change in basic values as the rules governing politics, work, religion, family and sexual behaviour were re-interpreted and re-invented for a whole new age.  Many Christian laws and rules of behaviour from the 1960’s onward disappeared to re-emerge as part of a new code for a society that considered itself non-religious or sceptical.

During the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s the ‘baby boomer’ generation led change. The period saw the rise of a so-called creative class, which contained thinkers, scientists, architects, engineers, artists and artisans. All over the world they combined to transform every day life and the economies of our cities. They cast off their religious affiliations, set out to raise community spirits, attract investment in commodities, consumerism and economies and in just fifty short years changed the world.

According to leading American public intellectual Richard Florida, the cities that appeal to a ‘creative vanguard prospers best in an economy driven by inventiveness’. Talent, technology and tolerance became the new black for the new age.

Having an ability to make choices redefined how people behaved, made love and went to war. With wealth came a desire to enjoy other aspects of life, including ease of travel. Being able to fly around the world in a day meant that parts of the world, about which little was known, were suddenly opened up not only to an influx of visitors, but also to public scrutiny on both a local community and global community scale.

Coming up close and personal with other cultures people had only read about in books, was in many ways a confronting experience. Especially if they didn’t understand its language, specific rules or codes of behaviour.

When my family was traveling in Egypt in 1989 our guide informed us about how confused her people were. They were crowding around a television set at night in their energy efficient mud houses along the Nile, topped with a new fangled television antennae watching glamorous Hollywood star Joan Collins, with her co-stars in the soap opera ‘Dynasty’.

Joan, bless her, was often clothed in a skin tight glittering sequin dress, with her face made up heavily, her hair carefully coiffured and her ears drenched in diamonds. As she stepped into a chauffeur driven car as long as a city block, with people opening and shutting doors for her along the way they sat wide-eyed in wonder.

While in the west, being used to such spectacles we may have taken this all in our stride, the people watching in Egypt included women with a veil covering their faces whose lives had been, at least up until that time, very simple and protected from such worldly influences.

Our guide, whose father was a minister in the government had been educated in Europe and was alarmed at what observing typical western ‘behaviour’ might mean for an Egyptian family in the long term and how it might change their centuries old culture.

Change in a progressive society is always constant, yet it is something we all endeavour to resists because it is also something that first and foremost, always invokes fear. If there is to be change, then it must be about improving society for all, not about change for changes sake.

In the 80′s and 90′s advances in efficiency for the growing technology market meant that people all around the world who had never seen a computer, a telephone or home appliances before were now involved in making them for everyone else. So they began to question why such technology was not available to their culture and society. They wondered how they could acquire the trappings and things that would make their life easier too.

Sharing information on the Internet, especially in the last two decades has rapidly changed the ideologies of world cultures and codes of acceptable behaviour. It has also changed views on how society deals with great and sudden changes.

An example: in our time is that many people have still not come to terms with England’s Prince Charles having an affair with another woman, when he was married to the public’s favourite, and most popular Princess Diana. That it impacted on his relationship with the woman who was in the eyes of God and the law his wife, seemed not to have fazed him at all, until there was a public outcry.

The behaviour of taking a mistress was one prevalent among aristocrats in Europe for over three centuries. For a man to secure a mistress in seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe there was an unwritten rule that she must be married and cuckolding a husband looked upon as a person of nobility’s right.

By the time of Edwardian England, and post World War 1 in Australia this type of behaviour had filtered down to wealthy merchants and upper middle class people. World War II would change many attitudes towards acceptable codes of behaviour in many societies and cultures after it was over.

While he has had many accomplishments in his life Prince Charles will one day have to face up to swearing to uphold the laws of the Anglican church if he wants to be King of England. This has been a done deal for centuries.

In the past however he has said he will only swear to be a defender of ‘all faiths’, which many people would see as admirable. Interestingly however many faiths I know about frown upon, or condemn adulterers. Some even relieve them of their lives. As England is today a rapidly expanding multi racial society the Prince might face more opposition than he is counting on.

When the time does come it will be about how he has caused a huge shift in the succession, as well as the high regard and respect for the English monarchy so excellently forged by his mother over the past 60 years. In her Diamond Jubilee year she must be busy reflecting on the future.

While the public may have seemed to have ‘forgiven’ her son’s indiscretions and seemingly moved on, crunch time will come if he wants to make his former mistress Queen. While forgiveness for people’s failures or indiscretions should be at the top of all our agendas, surely such a decision, if allowed would seem to make a mockery of whole idea of what ‘royalty’ is and should be about; setting the example of a code of honour for people in society to live by. Everyone expects their leaders, whether in a palace, country, corporation or community to rule by example.

Royalty and its offshoots, including Governor Generals, Governors and their like, all have an ultimate responsibility to society, whether its members like it or not. If it forgets them then the danger is that society may judge them very harshly. They may even decide that they are no longer relevant or needed, as they did at the time of the French revolution or more recently in some countries around the world, where despot rulers have been torn down off their pedestals.

It has become very evident, at least over the last two decades, that society does not like either a prince or a priest who breaks their trust. Society also does not like a man who abuses his children or beats his wife and, vice versa. Yet these were behaviours, hidden for years behind a veil of silence, only became appalling and unacceptable to society once they were known.

Everyone wants to see happy couples and families who trust and respect each other.  Taking those we love for granted, or treating our families or workplace colleagues badly will never be acceptable in any society, culture or company. It is simply not acceptable for a woman to knowingly sleep with another woman’s husband or vice versa, whatever the circumstances. Unless the person has freed themselves of their vows, sacred or secular, misconduct is just simply that.

As our world becomes more and more overcrowded conduct, manners and behaviours will be and remain huge issues of concern. In Australia, as in America modern society was originally founded on the tenets of the Christian faith. Today, having pursued ambitions more in line with society during pagan times, when the art of pleasure, self aggrandisement and greed is good were popular themes, points of reference such as ‘do unto others as you would do unto you’ seem in the main to have been forgotten. This was a simple credo my grandmother’s generation lived by.

There are many official observances, performed by government officials for and on behalf of the many. A code of ‘ethical’ behaviour regarding professional practice, or action among members of the medical and law arenas are bound up in trust between client and patient just as between priest and confessor. This behaviour is similar to what should happen between a mother, father and child; but so very often this seems to be the first intimate trust broken with sometimes-dreadful consequences.

Sharing family decisions is important. No matter how small your children are if you are making a decision that will affect all the members of the family, then a good idea is to hold a ‘family conference’ and ensure that everyone knows the facts that led to the decision taken. This valuable method is one children can learn through from an early age. It teaches them about how a democratic, considerate, caring and well mannered society works.

Respect for self and others starts within the family fold and grows. Whether that family is a private or professional one, like a modern prince and his children or a giant corporation. Children and adults of all ages need to understand that when they make significant decisions, that it is not just about them as individuals, but about family and friends – all those in their circle who will be affected by that decision now and in the future.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

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Interior details in a Workers Cottage- for me an interior should invite you to come in. The huge delft style plate on the wall was very large and very rare

Today there are many publications people can look to if they are planning inspired and original interior decoration. And, with a dash of savoir-faire you can push the boundaries of design and composition in many different ways and employ all types of styles. Fabrics like Toiles de Jouy; French printed cottons are once again coming back into vogue. When they were first the rage in 1770 Jean Francois Bimont wrote that they ‘serve to make furnishings of taste convenient and pleasant to the eye’. Such a lovely phrase.

When I went into business for myself as a practicing interior designer in the 80′s in Australia, it was the culmination of a dream that began as a child. At Authentic Decor what was available to purchase on the Australian market was significant in being able to render interiors that were both comfortable and convenient. The world was expanding, the dollar doing well against other currencies, and Europe and England a mecca for making cost effective purchases.

Long will I remember the time that I was in London and Europe when an Australian dollar = an English pound. It enabled me to purchase, some very special pieces including a lovely small antique Edwardian lounge, to be used to great effect in a bay window of a Paddington terrace I was renovating at the time. Then there was a handsome pair of late Regency early Victorian Chesterfields with a serpentine shaped front. They were found in an old barn at Tring, a small market town in Hertfordshire. The dealer was John Bly, one of the original presenters of the Antiques Roadshow. Covered in a heavy black faille, which is a finely ribbed woven fabric made from cotton and silk or manufactured fibres, they were shipped to Australia for the same price as an equivalent quality modern lounge suite would cost here at the time. Another purchase was a fine antique tea table of satinwood from Martyn Cook Antiques, which was superb in both its colour and patina aa was a superb gilded French clock. All such lovely things.

A great wall of knowledge is always inspiring, especially as here in a renovated worker's cottage interior. The superb woven contemporary textile has a delightful design of musical instruments together with flora.

Attention to detail, quality and imagination are good starting points if you are passionate about where you live and work and want your space to reflect who you are, and what you are on about. My interiors must be design convenient and aesthetically enriching. How to plan a living environment has certainly been integral to my life’s journey. Books are an important aspect of any room that I personally work or live in. Without them my life’s journey would have been very different indeed. There is nothing more inspiring than a great wall of knowledge, especially when it is combined with wonderful textiles chosen for their varying tactile and graphic qualities.

I particularly love unexpected colour combinations and beautifully woven fabrics. Weavers during the Middle Ages, early Renaissance in Italy and seventeenth century France and England imbued their work skilfully with crispness and abundant detail. Tapestries particularly have a wonderful depth of tone, richness of colour and exquisite gradations of tint and as such can add richness to a room whether its architectural style is traditional or contemporary.

Detail of corner of a client's living room

As my mother liked to recollect in later years, re-arranging the Federation flat our family lived in during my childhood was about trying to create more space and give everything and everybody living in it a little boost. This happened often during my teenage years. It was always about the shapes, the atmosphere and how the main living area could be changed dramatically by arranging different layouts with the existing furniture and furnishings. Change for the family was as good as a holiday.

Resources were always limited as there was seven children with twenty years between first and last and all brought up on one salary, at least until I was in my teens. When I commenced working for a building firm during the early sixties at Sydney the architect/estimator became a very special mentor and teacher. The firm sent me to complete a diploma in interior decoration, the only qualification possible at the time because in 1962 university courses were still a way off.

Three  years of on the job practical experience helped me to put my best foot forward, increasing my colour sense and technical knowledge. The firm was renovating a great many turn of the twentieth century grand old houses on the eastern suburbs waterfront at the time and visits to job sites were daily occurrences, a practice I kept up throughout my own working life.

Superb textiles...for a caring client

They were fabulous architectural spaces, which were all receiving a much need face lift and having bathrooms and ‘family rooms’ added, to bring them up to date with overseas trends. At the time my role included typing up the specifications for the fit out and helping with the costings. I was the personal assistant to the architect, who estimated the cost of jobs right down to the nails and battens used in every wall in every room. He took each room apart bit by bit to ensure that he didn’t forget to cost anything.

The firm prided themselves on never charging clients for one extra thing once the job had been quoted. This was invaluable experience for me in later years when renovating houses for my own family, and others. The budget was the budget, accurate and complete. And, we did not start until it was complete. A 15% contingency was always a must, to allow for unforeseen calamities. When the firm could return that to the client unused, well we knew we were doing our job properly.

Gaining a wide-ranging group of experiences by working with, and coordinating many different trades on the job, was of enormous help. Having two brothers-in-law in the industry was also an advantage. One was a plasterer and the other worked for one of the biggest textile distributor firms in Australia. Learning about different types of cement render and how long they needed to cure was valuable information, especially as I was on job sites on a daily basis with the architect/estimator. He also helped to grow my knowledge about how each trade needed to be managed, to save both time and costs.

When I did take on my first professional client, during the initial consultation a huge saving made to the layout was only possible because of the invaluable experience gained by working with the trades for over ten years on many different types of development sites. Once I started taking on projects of my own, working on renovations for an investment consortium meant happy times.

Most of these were period blocks of flats in and around the eastern suburbs beach area where I grew up. We would tidy them up, fix missing architectural details (lost picture rails and the like) and upgrade the facilities (kitchens and bathrooms) then paint and sell them on. In the 70′s it was possible to make good profits doing this, and the results were always pleasing for all involved.

Layering different types of textiles, such as faille and damask worked well in a Paddington terrace at Sydney during the early 90's. The chimney board reflects my love of books and was commissioned from John Quirk, a gifted trompe le'oil artist. The clock is antique French, early nineteenth century purchased through Martyn Cook Antiques, as was the glorious satinwood tea table and neoclassical silver teapot on its original stand. The lounge in the Bay is a restored Edwardian piece and there was a pair of Chesterfields, handsomely buttoned and covered in black faille

Space saving was always high on my agenda, having lived in a flat for my whole life. Creating a lot out of nothing was another skill, developed through years of helping my mother find ways of scrimping and saving to purchase a few yards of material to brighten our flat.

Just love a flat, which is very different to an apartment in that it has a back door, just like a house. So it was easy for my brother and I to fantasize as kids that we lived in one. The back door usually led to a fire escape, or if you were on the ground floor as we were, to a service yard of some description. Today renovated heritage flats are high on many people’s lists because of their high ceilings, architectural detail and those lovely back doors.

Attending a brush up course for old decorators in the late eighties at London’s Inchbald School of Design was illuminating, as so many new technologies were upgrading their standards. Massive changes in types of lighting and allowances for computers in the home were now important. The history of design, which I was teaching at home in Australia was also an invaluable tool to aid designers working on buildings based on heritage styles.

The Inchbald School of Design in the 21st century has become one of the most influential interior design schools in the world. Being taught by, then meeting and dining with legendary designer founding Director Michael Inchbald at his home was a rare treat. He had long been high on one of my most admired designers.

Summer interior with an 'impressionist' style chintz covering a pair of lounges. They had spare covers to add in winter, that provided a richer, warmer look to a room that was well lived in

He had worked on the Houses of Parliament and QEII when she was launched, so was an expert at space saving, which always was, and has remained, a special interest of mine.

At his charming home in London a tiny octagonal library with books to the ceiling had been fashioned from an old laundry, cupboard and toilet being re-located. He used mirrors very cleverly too, with great subtlety and charm. Reflections that went off into infinity. The dinner there with some of the teachers from the Inchbald, and a few of his friends. was one of the special experiences of my life.

It has always been important for me to attain a fine balance between traditional and contemporary design, especially when clients request that service. However many clients insisted on attaching secrecy clauses to the contracts, so showcasing any of those I was working on was often difficult. They did however enjoy the fact that I didn’t sweep in and want to clear everything away and start again.

In the interests of the environment, dispersing quality pieces or objects goes against my grain, especially if they can be recycled to another purpose. When buying furniture and the other necessary accoutrement’s of life, flexibility of use is important.

Having a personal passion for antiques and art led to my gaining further qualifications in the decorative arts and design history, which added another dimension to my interior design and lecturing experiences.

Working within the antiques industry as a dealer added yet another layer of information and expertise.

Detail Chinese lacquer screen

A one year course in the archaeology of ancient Greece and Rome at Sydney University was an indulgence I treasured. This came about because I had always loved the whole idea of going on a dig from extensive reading in childhood. I was also on a committee for years raising funds for the university treasure, The Nicholson Museum. This is where I met a friend who encouraged and supported my later efforts to found an academy teaching, among other things the history of design in architecture, interiors and gardens and how to design and complete interiors.

When we were adding furnishings to any house for a client I used to love hunting about for, and finding old ‘case’ furniture that would serve as a wardrobe in one house, a container for cups and saucers in another, or clothes in yet another. It was a friend who called me a second hand rose, a lovely term of endearment. This was because, apart from towels and fitted bottom sheets for the bed (what a wonderful invention they were) nearly everything else I ever purchased for my home during my adult life was second-hand.

Choosing quality, so it that could be sold if not required any more or when times were tough, was always a goal. That mindset comes from living through and experiencing first hand the rationing to riches phase following World War II. A lovely example is a folding screen.

Now screens are generally not something used by designers or decorators much in Australian interiors. In my lifetime I have owned two, one an early nineteenth century antique Chinese screen beautifully decorated on both sides with quite fine enameled work which is now sold. The other was a dusky old English Victorian model with painted decoration. Interestingly, this was the one other people around me always coveted the most and the one I love and have kept close, despite it weighing a ton. They didn’t skimp on wood in those days.

To my mind its simple really, nothing too flash about it and it didn’t cost more than a hundred dollars at the time. Painted with a black background it has five leaves, hinged to go both ways. It is evident to me however that someone poured their heart and soul into rendering the painted flowers upon it, all of which were popular plants in gardens at the time.

The flowers are beautifully rendered by hand and scattered and strewn delightfully across the top third of its surface. They provide an air of gentleness and relaxed harmony to any room, whether modern or traditional.

In the time I have owned this screen it has been a room divider, disposed in a corner to hide storage boxes, used as a dressing room screen and at present, with two leaves folded back, it has become a delightful bed head. For me it is one of the special ‘things’ I hope that I will enjoy until the end of my days.

Just love the way experienced architects, prior to World War II endeavoured to have main rooms facing north east in Australia, to catch the breezes, to minimize the sun in summer and to maximize it in winter.

The Turret Apartment, St Martin's House Brisbane

When I lived in ‘The Turret’ of St  Martin’s House at Brisbane, nearby St John’s Cathedral, the apartment faced north east and had casement windows. It was a truly delightful place to be, full of light and fresh breezes and in the five and a half years I lived there I never needed to use a heater once in winter. The afternoon sun was just low enough in the sky to penetrate the main living areas and warm up the thick walls so that it was warm all night.

A corner of my office...the framed textile is an antique sleeve from a nineteenth century Chinese robe and the books, well they are the essence of any interior I live or work in, as is that tapestry

Planning living spaces should be about enhancing the joy of life. As it should, the architecture of any space will dictate some of the terms when deciding how to complete your interior. It is always good to remember to be bold and to take risks. Large pieces of furniture can work well in small spaces as do rows of bookcases. Many people would shy away from using a large tapestry in a small space. Not me, I just love covering a whole wall with one, as I have in my current daily working environment.

There are no boundaries and no rules really when it comes to designing interiors, only guidelines that should always remain both flexible and practical. And, if it is for yourself, then its decoration must come from the heart.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle January 2012

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   Course Outline
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The InForum Group, run by key lifestyle Sydney based professional industry figures Jenny Garber and Fiona Coogan, will present special guest speaker, fashion and travel journalist Marion Hume, as the business community gets back into gear to start the 2012 year. At Sydney over lunch in the elegant Ivy Room on January 31st, and at Melbourne over champagne and canapés at the stylish Mossgreen Gallery on February 1st, Ms Hume will offer InForum Group members and guests an insightful talk about the constantly changing world of fashion. She will share her understanding of how currently the rise of e-commerce is transforming the industry, the retail environment, the future for the fashionista, as well as all our shopping habits.

Since graduating from Exeter University at London Marion Hume, from 1985 – 2012, has been involved in writing, lecturing, consulting, editing, producing and presenting seminal programs about key fashion industry figures, sporting identities and glamorous celebrities. She has a renowned reputation for being a straight shooter, insightful, honest, with great integrity and independence. She is an advocate for many social profit organizations, including co-founding in the UK a social profit organization known as Fashion Acts, which raises awareness and millions of pounds for the fight against Aids. She also consults to The Ethical Fashion Forum, an industry social profit body that helps some of the world’s poorest people.

Louboutin lovelies, for stepping out on the red carpet

Judging when to speak or stay silent in her industry must be a fine balancing act. And being honest would have people either mad at you, or marveling at your courage. Knowing how to keep your enemies close, just like Miranda Priestly (Meryl Street) in the now 2006 ‘classic’ The Devil Wears Prada’, would be important. You would also need to keep your stilettos sharp. No doubt wearing shoe designer Christian Louboutin’s fabulous red-soled shoes would prove an advantage, especially if you found yourself stepping through blood on a ‘red’ carpet.

Ms Hume is no stranger to controversy and has interviewed in her professional lifetime many amazing characters. She was reported in The Age in 2005 as saying about the book she had taken time out to write, The Fashion Pack, which was published that same year, that it was all “about friendship in a world of fakes”.

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous*

Harper's Bazaar presents highlights of Australia's sartorial past at the opening night of the 2009 Melbourne Fashion Festival. Photo: Penny Stephens

Born into the world of art, design and style with a father who was a designer and a mother who was an art teacher, Marion Hume is an English literature major, who after going back and forth for years fell so much in love with Australia that she became a citizen in 2002.

She is currently International Editor for The Australian Financial Review and Travel Editor (London) for Harper’s Bazaar, Australia. Ms Hume also writes for The Financial Times, The Daily Telegraph and the Saturday Telegraph Magazine in the UK.

From 1989 – 1992 she was a consultant to the BBC on their landmark six part television series about the world of fashion entitled ‘The Look’, which included documentaries on industry luminaries such as Gianni and Donatella Versace, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan and Christian Lacroix.

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening*

The InForum Group are about educating, enlightening and expanding the knowledge of women in the workplace.

InForum Group Executives Fiona Coogan and Jenny Garber

With extensive qualifications, industry knowledge and experiences that are complimentary, Jenny Garber and Fiona Coogan are both very well placed to help their members gain personal and professional satisfaction.  If you would like to become a member consult the InForum website.

Marion Hume has gained a broad range of experiences in the world of fashion and journalism, and as such would have many captivating, and controversial stories to tell. Building a reputation in any field is hard enough, but in the glamorous, and sometimes nail biting and backstabbing world of fashion, it is no mean feat. It takes dedication, commitment, a good work ethic, plain talking, and above all a passion for the industry.

The fashion and arts industry certainly makes or breaks many people, especially those with only a thin veneer to hold back the blows. Fortunately Ms Hume comes from strong stoic Scottish stock. They are made of much sterner stuff, and renowned for their ability to tell a good tale.

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2012

Meet Marion Hume

Melbourne
Champagne & Canapés 6 – 8:30 pm 1^st February, 2012
Mossgreen Gallery, Toorak Road, South Yarra 3141

Sydney
Lunch 12 noon – 2pm 31^st January 2012
The Ivy Room, George Street Sydney. Tables 10

Click this Link for Bookings

* Quotes attributed to Coco Chanel

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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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Crafting words together Theodore Sorensen and JFK in the Oval Office

On October 31 2010 The New York Times reported the death of Theodore C. Sorensen, close adviser and counselor to John F. Kennedy (JFK) for eleven years. In the scheme of things in Australia that may not mean very much to a large majority of people. However Ted Sorensen was the man who assisted JFK give form to his ideas, helped him to shape his personality and image and to forge a powerful legacy through the logic, sense and empowerment of his words. They followed a tradition started by America’s first president, Abraham Lincoln when he pledged in his Gettysburg Address that ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth’.

While it may be tempting for us today to think of Mr Sorensen as just a speech writer, that would a very wrong interpretation, or inference for us to make. And, it would also overshadow just how great his influence was. For him to have written in a style that suited what the Senator, and then President would say, he had to enter into a relationship with JFK, one that was based on mutual trust and respect because he also, over time,  became JFK’s political strategist and trusted adviser on everything from election tactics to foreign policy.

We choose to go to the moon...

For Australians of my era it was John F Kennedy who inspired us, not our own Prime Minister Robert Menzies. Although a great wit of the English school, who gave some rattling good speeches himself, for young people in the rock and roll era ‘Pig Iron Bob’ was just far too imperious. It was the young, virile American President JFK who loomed larger than life on the world stage. During our formative years as young adults Kennedy was the man who seemingly talked in a way that everyone of our generation could understand. Sorensen got inside JFK”s head to help him say “…and we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier… But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises—it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them”.

JFK took on the western world’s enemies with his words and won. Then he took all our hearts by giving us the most dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked, the race to the moon. ‘We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too’. His words delivered that very hot late summer’s day in 1962, when he visited Rice University in Houston and, outdoors in the football stadium not in a great hall of power, emboldened the people of the world and of his generation to be as great as they could be.

Sorensen with Barack Obama, words are back in contention...

While many people have written and delivered fine speeches since JFK it really felt, that five years after his untimely and terrible death with the assassination of Martin Luther King, as if the lights of an era of fine words and wonderful rhetoric had gone out for a time and that not until perhaps its current President Barack Obama stepped onto the world stage did they come on again.

Sorensen and Kennedy reputedly drew on words from the Bible, from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and the intelligent words of the craftsman of the American Constitution,  former President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) to craft the 1961 inspiring inaugural address for its newly elected president.

Together Kennedy and Sorensen honed and polished that speech to its state of perfection producing that passionate passage of soaring rhetoric “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Sorensen had in his lifetime said, “I still believe that the mildest and most obscure of Americans can be rescued from oblivion by good luck, sudden changes in fortune, sudden encounters with heroes,” he concluded. “I believe it because I lived it.”

So does Sorensen’s loss mean the end of a legacy of enlightened words in an era defined by fine ideas is over? Well, no it doesn’t because what all great recorded speeches have in common, from antiquity through until today, was that their protagonists were all champions of liberty, justice, freedom and civil rights for all and were able to express their thoughts and inspire others through their motivating words.

There are many famous speeches in history. The list is long and many are momentous and memorable. 

Lady Liberty, the rights of man - to the end of days

In its report about the death of Theodore Sorensen the New York Times Reporter recorded…‘President Kennedy had plenty of yes-men. He needed a no-man from time to time. The president trusted Mr. Sorensen to play that role in crises foreign and domestic, and he played it well, in the judgment of Robert F. Kennedy, his brother’s attorney general. “If it was difficult,” Robert Kennedy said, “Ted Sorensen was brought in.” Mr. Sorensen was proudest of a work written in haste, under crushing pressure. In October 1962, when he was 34 years old, he drafted a letter from President Kennedy to the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, which helped end the Cuban missile crisis. After the Kennedy administration’s failed coup against Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs, the Soviets had sent nuclear weapons to Cuba. They were capable of striking most American cities, including New York and Washington. “Time was short,” Mr. Sorensen remembered in his interview with The Times, videotaped to accompany this obituary. “The hawks were rising. Kennedy could keep control of his own government, but one never knew whether the advocates of bombing and invasion might somehow gain the upper hand.” Mr. Sorensen said, “I knew that any mistakes in my letter — anything that angered or soured Khrushchev — could result in the end of America, maybe the end of the world.” The letter pressed for a peaceful solution. The Soviets withdrew the missiles. The world went on’.

That we ‘can do’ anything is a powerful idea but we all need to be motivated to take action. Inspiration, passion and purpose move us all forward towards fulfillment and through the art, or science of rhetoric, which includes speech. It is people like Theodore C Sorensen and JFK who help us all to succeed. During his journey in the public spotlight JFK must certainly have been pleased to have Sorensen by his side. His was a talent and contribution to the advancement of humankind that deserves to be applauded.

‘We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people’…JFK

Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle 2010 – 2012

Watch JFK Announce the Moon Race at Rice University in Houston

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g25G1M4EXrQ

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