Tuesday 8 December 2009
Portobello Road
Portobello road is an iconic London destination. The name comes from the farm that used to occupy this area. The landscape wasn’t urbanized until Victorian times, when shops and markets grew up to service the wealthy Londoners of the West End, in the elegant crescents and terraces nearby. Working class people would have lived here and made a living either serving or working for their upper class neighbours.
It is still the market that defines the area and draws the tourists but Portobello road does not rely on it for its distinctiveness. The architecture, the cosmopolitan air and the uniqueness of the independant traders are what stand out.
The road meanders for a couple miles in a north/south direction. Starting at the southern end, you often arrive as part of a possie of people walking from Notting Hill Tube station. The architecture is distinctly Victorian with beautiful terraced houses. Many are painted in bright colours, which provide a characteristic image of the road. There is an intimacy about the closeness of the buildings which sets the tone for the character of the place. Amongst this you see a range of different communities, diverse in culture and economy, and an energetic buzz from the market, the shops and the pubs, cafes and meeting places.
A particular feature of Portobello road is its lack of chain stores and big brand shops.
The market is famous for antiques, bric a brac/second hand stalls and vintage clothes, particularly on a saturday. There are also food stalls, and fruit and vegetables, located more to the north end, that are there all week.
The road is not straight, but meanders and is punctuated by crossroads and flyovers at its north end, which typifies its eclectic nature.
Travelling north, the character of the road gradually changes. The south end has more of a gentrified, quaint feel. By the time you reach the north end there are some concrete tower blocks, with urban graffiti adourning the walls.
On one of the market stalls I found a collection of buttons stored in a big rusty old tin; lots of them all of different shapes colours and sizes; different also in age, although none of them looked very new. The buttons were shiny in appearance, mainly circular, very colourful, and enticing to touch. They all seemed to be made from plastic. When I think of buttons I conjour up images of clothing,sewing,decoration and jewelry. They also have the practical use of fastening garments.
In the setting of the market the buttons seemed to represent Portobello road perfectly, with its many different cultures, eclectic shops and colourful houses; all different, like the buttons, in age and appearance.
These buttons would not look out of place in the setting of an art gallery. Displayed in a big glass jar, for example, the various colours and textures of the buttons would be the focus of interest.
They could also be used to produce artwork, especially textile art, such as the piece by Kathryn Celliers-Louw shown above.
From WH Smiths I bought a packet of stamps for £1.99. These too were colourful but regular in shape-square or oblong. They were artistic in design, often graphic drawings or paintings. They made me think of letters, travel, collectors items, and strangely enough the Queen. They could therefore represent the cosmopolitan nature of Portobello road with people from many countries and ethnic backgrounds. The images on many of the stamps were works of art in themselves, but stamps are every day items that are often taken for granted. I was amazed at how beautiful the stamps were and I used them to create some pieces of art.
My overall impression of Portobello Road is of a really interesting place. I liked its eclectic nature and cosmopolitan feel.
The gallery I chose was The Serpentine, to see Gustav Metzgers collection from decades 1959-2009. On display was a plastic bag filled with scrap paper, and pieces of cloth collected over a long piece of time.
Of course you could imagine seeing this anywhere. It would certainly not look out of place sat next to a market stall waiting for the street cleaners to dispose of it or for the same reason by the back door of a department store. I think that is what makes it more powerful as an artwork; a seemingly valueless collection of material that we see thrown away everyday that actually may contain samples collected over a long period of time that could be of use and value in all sorts of settings
References:
Wikipedia; online encyclopedia available from world wide web; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portobello_Road (ONLINE)
Katherine Celliers-Louw; textile artist, image found at www.overberginfo.com (ONLINE)
Gustav Metzgers;Decades 1959-2009; Serpentine Gallery, Hyde Park, London, October 2009. (Exhibition)
The Soames Museum
This weekend my husband took me for a couple of days in london so I repaid him by taking him to the John Soames museum. Like most people we knew the name without knowing much about him or anything about his museum. Therefore, we encountered the place fresh and without preconceived ideas. We even ignored the doorman’s advise not to put the written guide that we had just bought into our back pocket. On reflection I am glad we didn’t read it until the following day, so it didn’t influence our discussion as we reviewed our visit.
To start with we joined a queue, just as we had been led to expect. We fancied, judging by their accents that many of those in the queue were italian. We looked at the house and jimmy proclaimed that the facade of the middle house was Italianate-was this coincidence?
Anyway, having to queue was no bad thing. It built up an air of suspense and made us wonder what lay in store for us. When we finally reached the front gate, the doorman explained why I had to confine my bag within a plastic one that was provided and carry it in front of me. Apparently, the house was filled with so much treasure and the passage ways were so narrow that a bag carried normally could easily send any number of priceless artifacts smashing to the ground. He seemed so concerned about the preservation of his museum that we felt quite honored to be allowed in and just a little concerned about our clumsiness. I left my bag by the front door instead.
Our first view of the inside of the house did not disappoint us.The hall way and stairs looked both querky and grand at the same time. We immediately got that feeling of not wanting to miss a thing.
We went on into the dining room/library, which was dark and austere. There were a lot of mirrors, which we guessed were meant to make the room look bigger. Of course its difficult to judge such a thing without seeing the room without mirrors for comparison, but the mirrors behind the book cabinets gave a rather odd effect. We read later that at night time the flickering lights of candels reflected in the mirrors would have been very atmospheric. I certainly think it must have looked very spooky.
We were disappointed by Soames’ study. So small for such an important room. The dressing room was also so small and unusually appointed. Had Soames not considered functionality in his design?
Everything seemed to come at once at this point; The monument court, the Monk’s Yard, The picture room, ornaments, paintings, sky-lights. So much in such a small area. The Hoggarth paintings in the picture room made a big impression. The scenes gave the museum a reference in time and the fact that they were originals emphasised Soame’s importance.
Walking through the crypt and then the colonnade and dome, we found that the space was even more crammed full of ornaments. To be honest, it was all a bit too much for us to take in, and the clutter even distracted us from the architecture. On reflection, the artefacts on display would probably have been fascinating to most people of that time. We have been spoilt by foreign travel, television and seeing similar ornaments in many other museums.
We noticed the bust of Soames displayed in the Dome opposite the plaster cast of Apollo. We couldn’t help feel a sense of vanity at this.
Still on the ground floor, the breakfast room looked a bit sad, probably just because there was a lack of natural light. Upstairs the drawing room was also too dark. There was a much better feel to the corresponding room of no.12, even though there was no furniture and the walls were whitewashed. It was the only bright room in the house.
As we left the museum, our feelings about it were mixed. Our initial excitement had given way to a depressing feel about the place. Subsequently, we read that he became quite isolated and lonely in later life. Apparently he also fell out with his two sons. Our impression was that that this would have been a sad house to live in. It made us feel critical about the design of the house. The complicated over design afforded lots of opportunity to show off querky features, and architectural skill but left the house dark and claustrophobic. I am not sure if this made it a victim of his vanity or a noble sacrifice to inspire others in architecture.
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