Tuesday, March 24, 2015

A last chapter, a fresh take on artful, modern classics and Tumblr, OMG, Ah'm Luvn' This


Fittingly, Gillian Newberry's excellent book about Geoffrey Bennison closes with a chapter touching on the interiors he began for Isobel Goldsmith. Bennison was halfway through this work when he died of a stroke, leaving his team of craftsmen to create what they, from long experience, knew he wanted to achieve. And, judging by these photographs of the library, they succeeded superbly.


Occasionally, I mention misgivings I have, (beliefs or prejudices, depending on your point of view) about the ability for the modern generation to deal with complexity in design, beyond what, risibly, is called layering. Buying specially-made trinkets usually dignified with the name Home Decor by famous personages whose seasonal "new arrivals" purportedly are "fresh takes of artful, modern classics" and scattering them – oh, excuse me! punctuating an interior with them – ain't layering a room any more than draping codswallop across a chandelier would be. But, let me not get carried away, for I have my prejudices.


Complexity in the way that Geoffrey Bennison dealt with it, for me, and I hesitate to use this analogy, is like the complexity of a well-made fruitcake. For those of you who only know the commercial variety, or only know of it, and merely subscribe to the perennial joke about fruitcake, the real thing made from the best ingredients, following a recipe from the early twentieth-century, well-matured, offering multiple yet unified layers of texture, color, and flavor, should come as a very pleasant surprise – much, in fact, as Bennison's rooms should after the celebrity-ridden, undiscerning mid-century-fetishism, and disagreeable flash of the last few years.

I am by no means advocating a return to late-ninetheenth century eclecticism, even if Bennison's style were such – there's enough last-century historicism being peddled right now, with more to come, without that – but what I will say is that I question whether anyone knows anything any longer or, worse, cares to. Where are the people who will write the next generation of scholarship? Where are the Israel Sacks of this generation? The Margaret Jourdains; the Geoffrey Beards; the John Cornforths or the Peter Thorntons? Where, as important, are those that will read the books yet to be published? These aren't rhetorical questions, at least not to me, because I have a distinct and sinking feeling that no longer is it true, culturally speaking, that no man is an island.

A strange idea, that residential design teaching is at a low point, given the number of so-called design schools there are in this country but, based on my experience as Chair of a CIDA-accredited interior design department at the time undergoing an, ultimately successful, reaccreditation process, and what I have subsequently heard about local schools, I am sure that residential design teaching is at its lowest standing ever. Surprising, or not, given what one sees in the magazines and most of the so-called designer monographs. I'll return to this.

The more Tumblr takes over from the OMG, Ah'm Luvn' This blogs (the literary kind) the more saturated and bored one becomes for, seemingly, everybody is "reblogging" from each other. It is as if posting a reblogged image alone is sufficient and obviates the need for further commentary. The really good thing is that one can see how bad the state of the industry is and how good of the really bad stuff is thought to be.

Did I just write "The really good thing is … "? OMG*


*OMG According to Scott, no-one over fifty should be using OMG when texting. Emojis are still allowed. Phew!

Photos are from the book which I stress is really worth having in your library, on your coffee table and in your hands to read.

24 comments:

  1. Scholarship does not seem to be valued, let alone respected, as it once was. On Tumblr, one often sees a lovely painting, object, or room posted with identifying information and/or context, only to be re-blogged again and again until it loses its identifying information. It saddens and infuriates me when it is clear where the original image was posted and that someone along the line purposely deleted identifying information in order to...what?...may it appear to be their own? I have no idea, but it is tragic that we now live in a world that allows endless exposure to beautiful and important images, but fewer people find it important to truly know and understand them. Understanding art or design adds so much to our experience.
    I am so pleased you have decided to return to blogging. Thank you for your time and effort, dear. Mrs. S.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous, thank you. I really do appreciate being welcomed back in such a way! The most worrying aspect of all this file sharing is what it implies for copyright – something I'm going to touch on in a subsequent post, I think.

      Delete
  2. Love the look, but few can pull it off. I'm all for people trying, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Devoted Classicist, thank you. I'm not sure who nowadays has the background, intellectual and social, to pull it off. Mark Hampton could have as your last post shows but he, to our loss, is long gone. I see many an interior that is filled with richness but that is not quite the same thing as what Geoffrey Bennison achieved.

      Delete
  3. Your second paragraph made me giggle!

    The points you mention are spot on and I hope you explore them further in future posts.

    I am afraid that opinion rules as of late when audo-didacticism should be at its peak with all the resources available. It is unfortunate that this is reflected not only in interiors but others branches of design - fashion is also suffering as the OMG fashion bloggers who wouldn't recognise a bias cut if it hit them in the face seem to wield huge influence with their carefully coordinated laissez-faire outfits.

    Dont mean to embarrass you but i hope you write a book ( but please continue the blog too ! ;) )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Coulda shoulda woulda, thank you. I'm not sure people know what codswallop actually is but if you do .... A bias cut? Let me think .... a bias cut? I'll get back to you on that one, but in the meantime, there's this pretty little thing I'm crushing on ... let me show you that.

      Delete
  4. OMG (just kidding!) thank you, thank you so much. Your opinion means a great deal to me. I'm just glad to have been able to propel Geoffrey's work into the 21st Century and am happy that he is now getting the respect he deserves. Welcome back!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gillian Newberry, now I'm recovered I can say thank you properly. Thank you!

      I really do love having the book and you did a beautiful job with it.

      Delete
    2. Isn't "Gobsmacked" the English equivalent of "OMG"?!

      Delete
    3. columnist, thank you. That was the point!

      Delete
    4. Oh good. I should have realised that, and it did occur to me after I had posted my comment. It is a word that makes me snarl!

      Delete
  5. OMG (just kidding!) thank you, thank you so much. Your opinion means a great deal to me. I'm just glad to have been able to propel Geoffrey's work into the 21st Century and happy that he is now getting the respect he deserves.

    Welcome back!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well nothing I can say can measure up to Gillian Newberry leaving a comment so I'll just reiterate that I'm glad your'e back in blog land, taking up space from one more of the re-omg-bloggers. I just ordered the book and am anxiously waiting it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. ArchitectDesign, thank you. I'd be interested to see your method of lighting a space in one of Bennison's interiors – seriously. You mentioned how your place glowed so imagine the combination.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Design today is formulaic , prescriptive , derivative [ with no mention nor homage paid to original source ] because designers and clients alike are obsessed with being seen as ' relevant ' and ' of the moment ' . Basic insecurity leads them to trends and fashion , both of which are transient and require no scholarship nor intellectual input . The past masters like Fowler , Bennison , Baldwin , Hicks etc had no fear because the work they created had a grounding / foundation in what had gone before - Palladio to Jean Michel Frank . The result is that those who care [ like Gillian Newberry ] are still in awe of what they accomplished and created and continue to remind the design world of what it is sadly missing .
    Anthony Ferrie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous (Mr Ferrie) thank you. I really cannot disagree with a word you have written thus am stumped to add anything more to my reply – except, perhaps to enquire how life is in Glasgow these days.

      Delete
  9. Oh I just loved this! Thank you for saying it all out loud, and yes, Brava Ms. Newberry! How safe so many things, and people, and interiors have become...the red carpet where everyone looks the same, because they all use the same stylist, the same plastic surgeon, and borrow their jewels from the same places...and the interiors, so boring. Where is the individuality and yes, the sense of humour? An understanding of design that came before, the rules, and how to break them? Wit? Fearlessness? Sometimes I think I would maybe even settle for a pulse? But most of the time, one ends up feeling nothing. Hard to feel emotional over books someone purchased by the yard, with a hurry up I need a entire life's collection yesterday "Amazon Prime" approach to life. Anyway, welcome back! Lastly, I was thrilled to see the Watts painting Hope in the first photograph. I spent much of the 80's at the Tate, amongst the Pre Raphelites, (which I pretty much had to myself at that time) At first I thought "A copy? Surely not" And confess to needing to look it up. And lo and behold, there were indeed two copies made by Mr. Watts...the one in the Tate was the favourite of Mr Watts, as it is "softer", but this one, the one in "private hands" has a small star in the sky, signifying "hope". Seems appropriate, n'est-ce pas? You're back...and I have hope again! Onwards!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La Comtesse Lola, thank you. "... Sometimes I think I would maybe even settle for a pulse" – I couldn't have said it better; its the perfect response to most of what is on show in the magazines. On the subject of magazines, I wonder why they survive – even WoI is tired and formulaic it seems to me, and Elle Decor is laughable.

      The Watts painting is a delight and when next in London I shall visit the Tate. I remember the old Tate which was much beloved as were the Pre-Raphaelites. In fact, they still are.

      Delete
  10. It's difficult to find a real designer anymore. People are deciding to skip school and pay $1500 bucks to a lady in Canada who deigns them a "color specialist". Or they pay the same amount to a lady in Nashville who makes them a "psychological stager". What in the world is that?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Blue
    I moved to the Georgian New Town in Edinburgh years ago [ Jennifer Boles has pics of my present apartment ] which is where my family came from , and love it here - a beautiful city steeped in history ... thanks for asking and if ever you and the Celt [ Irish, Scottish ? ] find yourself on these shores, do visit .
    You wrote a wonderful post and I had just picked up my copy of the Bennison book so I felt the need to write and agree with what you had written . I was fortunate to be invited to David Hicks set in Albany and it really was something to behold - I open up shelter magazines hoping to experience the same sense of amazement as I did that day .... but it ain't happened yet !
    I clicked ' anonymous ' because I don't have a Google account etc so was unsure which category I fall into .
    Regards Anthony

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anthony, thank you. The Celt is indeed from Edinburgh New Town though his family is originally from Dundee. I, like Geoffrey Bennison, am a Lancashireman.

      The Hicks Albany set in either its red or brown versions must have been a true pleasure to see. There aren't many like Hicks anymore.

      We should be in the UK later in the year.

      Delete
  12. You devil you, Blue. Those "pink" walls are making my heart ache. Gotta get this book. Damn. And I was being so, so good.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dsniel, thank you. Being good has done no-one any good ever so buy the book end enjoy!

      Delete