After Pollard, 2016 Strange & Romantic took place at Exeter Phoenix in 2017. A solo show of paintings inspired by the works within and history of the National Trusts Killerton House. Now that the show has ended its a good time to reflect on the work and its origins. As the posts here on Limerence indicate I have spent a fair bit of time visiting National Trust properties while soaking in the paintings, buildings and stories of the past and as I collected all of these images and experiences of visiting them, it seemed that to make a project directly related to one of the visits would be ineviteble but i was always unsure as to what form it would take. Portrait Of A Lady at Nottingham Castle 2015/16 had gone some way to bring the unknown woman in a historical setting to the centre of my work but could have benefitted from a more specific thread through the piece. Strange And Romantic was an example of a specific story from a specific time and place in history that as a visitor to Killerton House I could learn more about and integrate into some other areas of concern within my work.
Lady Fox Strangeways (after reynolds), 2017 The title, Strange And Romantic, refers to Anne Acland’s description of the life of Harriet Fox Strangeways (1750-1815) a portrait of whom hangs at Killerton House, painted by Joshua Reynolds at the time of her marriage to John Dyke Acland. Lady Acland was known for accompanying her husband and then caring for him while captured during the American war of independence. I was interested in the adventure of the story, though romanticised in hindsight, Lady Acland kept a diary of the events, some entries written by her, others perhaps not and on the whole sparse in emotion. There is something slightly sterile about it. The weather conditions are recorded, the diary feels like a list. The painting depicting part of her journey is far more evocative than the diary. The painting by Pollard can be found at Killerton House. My version is at the top of this post.
Within Strange & Romantic were key paintings regarding the story as well as paintings inspired by the larger collection at Killerton House and, almost as a 'Part 2' to the show, portraits of 1000 imaginary women as a counterbalance to the stories which are known, these paintings represent those which are not. This theme has carried through from Nottingham Museums Portrait Of A Lady.
Within Strange & Romantic were key paintings regarding the story as well as paintings inspired by the larger collection at Killerton House and, almost as a 'Part 2' to the show, portraits of 1000 imaginary women as a counterbalance to the stories which are known, these paintings represent those which are not. This theme has carried through from Nottingham Museums Portrait Of A Lady.
Killerton House, Exeter
Empty Frames, 2017
Paintings from the 1000 Portraits purposefully sat opposite the painting 'Empty Frames' as a not so subtle, reminder of the faceless women from the past, from Killerton House, but all of the NT properties I have visited. It is this looking back into the past, particularly at womens faces, which has been driving my work of late. The title Portrait Of A Lady often used in my work is a reference to the unknown sitter and staple painting found in old houses and museums. Of course it is also suitably vague and we can project our own imaginations onto these open faces.
Some of the 1000 portraits made for Strange & Romantic at Exeter Phoenix
The Lady, 2017 Bringing out the strangeness: Beyond Strange & Romantic I'm interested in allowing the historical elements of my work to continue to muddle themselves with other concerns (loves and deaths, mourning and loss) let the specific stories get a little lost within the work as all of the themes come together. And make, a little more seamlessly, the strangeness of experiencing history (when, a bit like amusement parks, we queue in our hundreds). But while keeping the female images central I'd like to make the historical parts of my work find themselves to be neither here nor there, of not contemporary or historical but some otherness. And this post has been my notes on how to go about finding that balance with historical strangeness.
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