'Make Yourself Comfortable' Tour - Chatsworth - Derbyshire
I had already been to Chatsworth and enjoyed this excellent, and very unusual exhibition (see previous blog)but I felt there had to be more to it than I was experiencing, especially as the signs were so hard to read! Consequently I was delighted to discover that it was possible to go on a one-hour curator-led tour. Now that had to be something good!
The badge our young guide wore said 'Hannah Obee - Curator (Exhibitions and Special Projects) Chatsworth' and she was absolutely marvellous. She told us so much about the collaboration between the staff and the Duke and Duchess about setting up this exhibition, and it was fascinating. Of course we started in the wonderful Painted Hall with it's extraordinary swivelling, tipping chairs (see previous blog). I'd not appreciated before that this was the most perfect way to lay-back and appreciate the ceiling without straining your neck, and generally falling over!
Every area we stopped in was fascinating and brought so much more to the exhibition - like this amazing Canvas Sofa created by Innermost, which I know I had walked by before thinking how odd to just have an illustration of furniture in an exhibition! In fact they were created from synthetic material on a timber frame, but could be sat on! The idea was to confuse the boundaries between contemporary seats and the historic works of art around them - and it certainly did for me!
Another surprise was the Clay Dining Chairs by Maarten Baas. This was in the extraordinary ceramic gallery where Jacob van der Beugel's ceramic 'portraits' of the family, using hand-crafted ceramic blocks to represent strands from their DNA sequences, continue and combine over 300 years of ceramic collecting and family portraiture in the Devonshire Collection. What then could be more fitting in this space than synthetic clay modelled by hand round a metal skeleton then sealed with epoxy resin. They will form part of the permanent collection at Chatsworth.
However, what really blew me away was going into the Sculpture Gallery, which I had enjoyed before, but never appreciated like now. There was so much to learn about the design and lay-out it was utterly fascinating. What I hadn't appreciated was how carefully each stool had been placed, both in relation to the sculpture but also to give the viewer a different perspective of the space.
Something also I appreciated for the very first time, despite visiting Chatsworth dozens of times, was that the 6th Duke of Devonshire had gone to so much trouble in designing the sculpture bases. I know previously I had only glanced at the figures. Now I was captivated by the exquisite designs - and could have spent the rest of the afternoon studying them - but no time - we were off to the Stable Block for cream tea in a private room!
I got so much out of this tour - and really couldn't have enjoyed it more. How much expertise, planning and thought had gone into this exhibition, over many, many months.
Now I'm going to be on the look out for more tours with the the Chatsworth experts.
***Are you familiar with The Hardwick Love Story in this, the 400th anniversary of tragic Arbella's death? Why not take a look at my e-book
The badge our young guide wore said 'Hannah Obee - Curator (Exhibitions and Special Projects) Chatsworth' and she was absolutely marvellous. She told us so much about the collaboration between the staff and the Duke and Duchess about setting up this exhibition, and it was fascinating. Of course we started in the wonderful Painted Hall with it's extraordinary swivelling, tipping chairs (see previous blog). I'd not appreciated before that this was the most perfect way to lay-back and appreciate the ceiling without straining your neck, and generally falling over!
Every area we stopped in was fascinating and brought so much more to the exhibition - like this amazing Canvas Sofa created by Innermost, which I know I had walked by before thinking how odd to just have an illustration of furniture in an exhibition! In fact they were created from synthetic material on a timber frame, but could be sat on! The idea was to confuse the boundaries between contemporary seats and the historic works of art around them - and it certainly did for me!
Another surprise was the Clay Dining Chairs by Maarten Baas. This was in the extraordinary ceramic gallery where Jacob van der Beugel's ceramic 'portraits' of the family, using hand-crafted ceramic blocks to represent strands from their DNA sequences, continue and combine over 300 years of ceramic collecting and family portraiture in the Devonshire Collection. What then could be more fitting in this space than synthetic clay modelled by hand round a metal skeleton then sealed with epoxy resin. They will form part of the permanent collection at Chatsworth.
However, what really blew me away was going into the Sculpture Gallery, which I had enjoyed before, but never appreciated like now. There was so much to learn about the design and lay-out it was utterly fascinating. What I hadn't appreciated was how carefully each stool had been placed, both in relation to the sculpture but also to give the viewer a different perspective of the space.
Something also I appreciated for the very first time, despite visiting Chatsworth dozens of times, was that the 6th Duke of Devonshire had gone to so much trouble in designing the sculpture bases. I know previously I had only glanced at the figures. Now I was captivated by the exquisite designs - and could have spent the rest of the afternoon studying them - but no time - we were off to the Stable Block for cream tea in a private room!
I got so much out of this tour - and really couldn't have enjoyed it more. How much expertise, planning and thought had gone into this exhibition, over many, many months.Now I'm going to be on the look out for more tours with the the Chatsworth experts.
***Are you familiar with The Hardwick Love Story in this, the 400th anniversary of tragic Arbella's death? Why not take a look at my e-book
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