Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of West Wycombe as an architectural study is the fact that the classical theme of its exterior is greatly extended by the design of its lavish interiors. What becomes apparent from this activity is that, constructing a country house in the 18th century was a complex operation – determined not […]
I’ve been finding an awful lot of happiness lately in a collection of little things that, totted up, equate to the sum of a wonderful start to the Spring. For Mother’s Day (which coincides rather nicely with my mum’s birthday), I set our table at the flat for the season and invited my mum round […]
Objects figure prominently in Dada and Surrealism, starting with Marcel Duchamp’s (1887-1968) introduction of the assisted ‘Ready-Made’[1] and branching out into the ‘Surrealist Object’ which 34 took its cue from Duchamp’s conception and initial use of the ‘Found Object’. Attached to Dada as a disruptive art of ‘noise’[2], props and masks were used, incorporating objects […]
West Wycombe Park (1740 – 1800) is the ideal study of the ‘total’ nature of architecture in the 18th century – in itself conceived as a synthesis of the work of the architect, status of the patron and interior schemes. This country house functions as a piece of theatre; its interiors the sets to an […]
The early-mid century London art scene has always been of particular interest to me, given my love affair with the Bloomsbury Group and their circle as they fox-trotted across the literary, artistic, philosophical and intellectual worlds of the new millennia. The Omega Set, in particular and their liberal play with the decorative arts was especially […]
