Oscar Wilde sculpture update, together with other Paolizzi artistic interpretations …

In December I posted about three sculptures, in particular the Wilde one by Eduardo Paolozzi … but didn't mention the reason why it looked like it does …

Paolozzi's sculpture

Paolozzi creatively designed the sculpture as three segments referring to dominant times in Wilde's life …

… the distress of his life as he suffered …

… the loss of respect, symbolised by his fallen head being sculpted as such …

… the segmentation representing his troubled life and his ultimate death …

The art work has been condemned by many … as it would be near impossible for a non-specialised viewer to understand it.

However it remains ... for our interpretation – such as it is … but many would prefer a statue that welcomes us to come and have a talk with the great conversationalist and playwright …

Here we have his triptych
tapestry - in the ICA

Paolozzi was a Scottish artist, known for his sculptures and graphic works … while being widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art.

Next I came across Paolozzi's triptych tapestry 'A perspective on innovation' (1981) commissioned by the Institute of Chartered Accountants to hang in their Great Hall – it has now been moved to another part of the building.

One of the mosaic panels that was
moved during the construction of the 
Elizabeth line 

The triptych is easier to understand … and I find it really interesting … we can see his interest in post-war developments in science and technology ... also applied here in the mosaics ...

… then there are the mosaics at Tottenham Court Road tube station … again reflecting his interpretation of the local area and his wider interest in mechanisation, urbanisation, popular culture and everyday life.

Skilled workmen carefully removing
part of a panel before restoration

Due to the huge expansion of the new Elizabeth (tube) line in recent years … the art works were carefully relocated to their new place … the link with its documentary tells this story …

Paolozzi's Pop art collage

Pop! goes the end of this two-part series – brief … but Pop is to the point – Paolozzi was the first to display the word “pop” on his collage in 1952.

December's blog post ... 

Institute of Chartered Accountants - Paolozzi's tapestry ...  

Restoration works at Tottenham Road Underground station ... 

First post on Wilde's sculpture ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Barbers and/or Surgeons ... Guilds of ...

 

The wonder of putting finger to keyboard … i.e. to connect brain to producing something fanciful, or perhaps even informative …

Achievement of Arms of the Worshipful
Company of Barber-Surgeons;
Gouache on Cloth.
(possibly early in 1300AD)

This brain does work … but rather more often than not it wanders off … I have so much to write up about – note to self: settle down and get on with them …

Recently I heard a talk from a retired doctor about the work he has been doing out in poverty ridden communities in various places around the world … this particular one was on Ethiopia … working with a team of eye surgeons.

Master John Banister - Anatomical
Tables with figures: c 1580AD

He's worked in in Canada, in, what I term Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa … where there are war-torn communities - refugee camps etc …

He was fascinating … so more to follow – but he's giving a talk to the Worshipful Company of Barbers on his work … which got me thinking about haircuts … I've just had one!

F A Maulbertschs 'The Quack' 1785

… Barbers, in the 1300s, originally aided monks, who, at the time, were the medical men, because Papal decrees prohibited members of religious orders from spilling blood.

Interesting … barbers in addition to hair cutting, hairdressing, and shaving … performed surgery: neck manipulation; cleansing of ears and scalp; draining/lancing of boils, fistulae, and cysts with wicks; bloodletting and leeching, fire cupping; enemas; and the extraction of teeth.

Crumbs – am I not glad I live in today's age!

Royal College of Surgeons - 
Court of Examiners (1894)
by Henry Jamyn Brooks

The Worshipful Company of Barbers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London, and ranks 17^th in precedence.

However if we row back in the mind to Roman times c/o Websters Dictionary of Phrase and Fable … the barber's shop has been a centre for the dissemination of scandal, and the talk of the town … I guess no snares appearing in this blogosphere …

Thankfully over time the Royal College of Surgeons promoted and advanced standards of surgical care for patients – both in surgery and dentistry … being established in 1800 …

1st century wall painting from Pompeii
(a family banquet)

While the Barbers Company now principally acts as a charitable institution for medical and surgical causes …

Well that's good my fingers haven't been cut off … and I can apparently still type – thank goodness for modern inventions … such as computers with their keyboards … I won't add instruments of surgical torment … just a few 'pretty' pictures …

Thanks for waiting for me … WEP's Thriller this week is a-coming …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

We are the World Blogfest # 41: Flock Together …

 

Covid strikes, businesses wonder if they can keep going, people are anxious … how to destress …

Ollie Olanipekun's green
woodpecker that inspired him

 

… one man was using nature, then started taking photos of birds and putting them onto his Instagram page … to his surprise one commenter identified each bird …

 

… communication started – they were of the same age (mid-twenties), both from London … then set out for a walk together … and not long after that “Flock Together” began …

 

"Flock Together" - c/o Zaineb Abelque

Ollie Olanipekun, heads up a creative agency … his new friend Nadeem Perera, a sports coach, had taken to birdwatching as a teenager to help himself through a turbulent teenage period …

 

The collective is a sharing ‘flock’ for people of colour … Perera is the bird specialist – always on hand to identify and add to knowledge about each species; Ollie encourages openness – where they share their thoughts on life and talk frankly about experiences … as he says:

 

“Black people, in particular can be pretty bad at talking about their emotions … so the main thing I want to achieve is to support people of colour who have been going through such a rough time” …

 

It’s a cross section of creative-people … who can share, join in, generate ideas … or just find tranquillity – which being in nature gives you …

“You don’t have to be anything more than what you are” – quote by Nadeem Perera …

 

The collective has only been going since April and I hope they’ve had a happy summer … they are certainly helping many …

 

… with plans to visit schools and appropriate organisations … they will be expanding their reach … with trips out, always keeping the local walks going, while making sure there are no barriers to disadvantaged backgrounds.

That's a Blackcap ...  

They seem to be having fun and to have established firm, supportive friendships … which I think is just wonderful … going above and beyond for others … the word is spreading – other (people of colour) birding, walking or hiking groups are coming about …

 

Ollie and Nadeem enjoying themselves - as a 
promotional photo by Zaineb Abelque

… as they say in due time – no doubt their ‘open-air-bird-doors’ will spread … but for now they’re happy with their ‘Flock Together’ of gaggling humans.

 

This is a perfect example for a We are the World post … helping people ease out of the Covid darkness and gather mental strength ready for the light release (that surely has to come) in 2021 …

 

We are the World Blogfest

In Darkness, Be Light

 

Flock Together: Urban Birdwatching in London - c/o Hype Beast - and I would like to acknowledge Zaineb Abelque's photos from the Hype Beast article ... thank you ... 

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

The King’s Observatory, Old Deer Park, Richmond …

This was just an amazing outing … to what is now a private residence ... 

The King's Observatory southern entrance
(on a coolish autumn day)

Richmond Palace of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I’s days (16^th century) had been demolished … 




... but the hunting grounds were still in existence surrounding the remains of the Carthusian Monastery, built on the orders of Henry V in 1414.

A model of Richmond Palace ... only vestigial
traces remain - notably the Gate House, which I walked
through on my way home

King George III (1738 – 1820), who had always been fascinated with the science of his time, used to visit Richmond Lodge, his country retreat ... 

The telescope cupola
seen from the roof

... it was here that he would construct an observatory … to view the heavens and, in particular, the 1769 Transit of Venus. 

An image of the sun captured in the last
Transit of Venus 2012 ...
Venus is the black dot upper right

This rare astronomical event permitted scientists to gain the first realistic estimates of the size of the Solar System and the distance between Earth and Sun. 

Account of George III's observations

King George, his wife, Queen Charlotte and guests were in attendance, thenceforth the King regularly used the Observatory for various purposes, storing of his instruments, educating his children … while staying at the Lodge.

The River Thames loops round
Richmond Park

The architect, Sir William Chambers (1723 - 1796), completed the building, raising it above the floodplain, with its first entrance from the north side near the River Thames … the waterway connecting early royal residences - Greenwich, the Tower of London, Whitehall, Richmond and on to Windsor.

the grounds are now part of
a golf course - so have
significantly changed.

Sir William also loved Chinese landscape and had on a few occasions travelled to Canton to study it more thoroughly … which he then incorporated into the more formal Italianate style of the parkland at that time.  He was responsible for the recently renovated famous ten storey Kew Pagoda in Kew Gardens nearby …

… this put him at odds with Lancelot Brown, the ‘great English 18^th century gardener’ known as ‘Capability Brown’ who favoured open parkland.

The magnetic huts, seen here across the lawn,
have been moved and are now together

The Observatory passed from royal hands in 1840, via the Royal Society, to the Meteorological Office, and eventually handed back in to the Crown Estate Commissioners … reverting to its name of The King’s Observatory.

Looking down from the roof

It was then leased as a commercial office building in 1981 … the lessees didn’t give the building much respect … but thankfully in 2011 permission was requested to change the use of the building to residential, which was granted in 2014.

Not the original telescope

The present owner has restored and renovated this incredible building to Grade 1 building standards, including its telescope cupola, which opened for private tours in 2019 when I was able to visit.  Thank goodness I went … I so enjoyed it. 

Also getting the tube across from Victoria Station, rather than travelling by barge, or taking a horse and cart from central London is considerably easier and quicker!

Custom built library table,
with this beautiful carpet

The interior has been restored to exceptionally high standards … the present owners having connections with Hong Kong and Canton.

The building contains pairs of connected octagonal rooms … this has been painstakenly highlighted using this superb carpet under the equally special library table.

Looking through from the library
to the dining room

The glass cabinets in the original construction were used to house the king’s ‘treasures’ – which are now safely stored in appropriate scientific institutions in London.

The restored glass cabinets

When the cabinets (they are also Grade 1 listed status) were stripped back for restoration and repainting – it was found there were 18 layers of paint … the first colour has been faithfully reproduced (the duck egg blue as seen looking through from the library to the dining room in the photo above).

The drawing room

The early Prime Meridian at Kew goes through the drawing room … and then was used to co-ordinate triangulation points for the official meridian (0 degrees Longitude) at Greenwich (Greenwich Mean Time - the mean solar time at the Observatory in east London at Greenwich).

The “magnetic huts” erected in 1854 and 1912 contain no metallic nails and were used for scientific experiments … while in WWII weather balloons were dispatched from them to check the winds in the upper stratosphere. 

One wall - the rest of the walls
are covered in a series of
panoramic views

Fromental Company of London and Hong Kong designed and created the exquisite wallpaper in the dining room, working closely with the owners on this unique project.

The traditional hand painted silk wallpaper of a Canton River Scene, depicted the foreign factories in China, c 1772, being roughly the same age as the Observatory.

Fromental make these hand painted silk wallcoverings in the long-established Chinese painting style using traditional materials.

Another Fromental scene,
incorporating the porthole
window of the original building

This delicate wallpaper took over 4,300 hours (getting on for six months) of hand painting the fine details in Chinese water colours onto silk, that is then mounted onto traditional rice paper backing before the final more European elements, such as the clouds and western figures, were add by  a UK based artist.

I still cannot believe I was able to walk and wander around this amazing home – led by the owner, who was a fount of knowledge with impeccable style.  I could have spent hours talking to him.

Walking back to the tube and home ... 

It was a wonderful outing and then I had an autumnal walk back to the river before finding my way to the station and eventually home.

The King’s Observatory official site – with full details, photos and its history …

Fromental Company’s web site explaining how they work … and showing other projects …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Hanging wall-façade of Claremont Hotel, Eastbourne …

One of my constitutionals along the sea-front ‘rewarded’ me by showing the hanging wall outline of the poor old conflagrated Claremont Hotel – now almost down to its bare footprint.

Claremont wall - next to adjoining to Burlington Hotel
- fortunately not burnt

 As you can see – the co-joining wall, between the fire at the Claremont and the Burlington Hotel (fortunately not burnt too much) ...

Slippage caused from the fire and in process of
demolition of Claremont wall 

... is now handily hangily exposed – meaning some form of reparation can be done, after which the Grand Parade can be re-opened to traffic …

What also interested me was the exposure of the lower ground floor … 

Demolition in progress ... but showing the
lower basement levels in the hotel -
the sea cannot be far away

... because at one stage (even today) the ‘tide could work’ its way into the town … swamping basements – so I was surprised to find these lower levels so near the sea here.

Summer 2016 - carpet gardens on Grand Parade -
Queens Hotel at an angle, before the run
of the two hotels: Burlington and Claremont

A photo I took in 2016 ... to show you the partial extended run of buildings along the Grand Parade seafront.

Back to hanging façades – this one jauntily left sadly suspended at the first floor level of the junction wall to the Burlington Hotel … reminded me of one that is exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum …

Jettied frontage as exhibited
in the Victoria and Albert Musuem

… the jettied wooden frontage of Sir Paul Pindar's house exhibited at first floor level, as it would have been in Bishopsgate Street Without (just outside the City walls) in the 1600s …

The article below is really interesting … giving insights into London in the 1600s, its development, trade routes, meeting places et al …

Sir Paul Pindar and his brother, Ralph -
engravings by Thomas Trotter based on
a work of 1614

The frontage survived the Great Fire of London in 1666, and in the article there are some images from those times, showing its situation … before the house was demolished in the 1890s when the expansion of Liverpool Street station took place.

Fortunately it was realised the façade had architectural value … hence its presentation to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Chrysanthemum on seafront

Funny (strange) how subjects can appear to provide an extra dimension to my posts …

Ceanothus

While ‘wandering’ around on my walks – I spotted these two beautiful plants in full April lock-down glory – a bright canary yellow Chrystanthemum indicum … I believe … while I’ve always loved Ceanothus – that blue is just gorgeous …

Two skeletal remains … one very sad, one in perfect health, suspended in perpetuity, at a museum of delight.

Victoria and Albert – Sir Paul Pindar’s house …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories