England - Day 7, Charleston House
1:52 AMAfter a wonderful day of sharing ideas & best practices, Annie & David organized a late trip out to Charleston House, located in East Sussex. According to their website.
'Charleston was the home and country meeting place for the writers, painters and intellectuals known as the Bloomsbury group. The interior was painted by the artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell, and together with their collection forms a unique example of their decorative style.'
The personal story of the artists, their love, family, and friends was quite intriguing. On a side note, Vanessa Bell was the sister of Virginia Wolf, who lived up the road.
We were given a lovely tour by an incredibly knowledgeable and passionate Docent, the best kind!
Annie had shared her love of this house & the artistic examples earlier this year, so I had ordered to book to try to understand Annie's inspiration. The book has great images, but they fall short of the truly amazing art and painted pieces in this house.
This is just one example of a table with the tiles painted by Duncan Grant;
Every surface, bookshelf divider, wall paper, upholstered piece was painted. As you toured the house you could see the evolution of their style, the influence of their travels, the change of colors. No detail was too small, too insignificant. I fell in love with their large round dining table, painted about 10 colors, almost like a pretty tablecloth was permanently laid on the table.
Pictures were prohibited inside but I took pictures of the lovely gardens. This was the view outside of Vanessa's bedroom.
As I write this post, a day has passed & I realize how much I have already forgotten. I would do this tour again next time, it was very inspirational. The expressiveness & freedom of their painting. There were no perfect lines, taped off sections, they just painted. Or, as Annie says, 'Just get on with it!'.
Nite
0 comments