Exploring Charleston House: An Expression of Early 20th-Century Art | Houses with History

my name is Lucy Hammond Giles I'm an interior decorator at civil Colfax and John Carla and we are here at Charleston the former home of the artist Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant [Music] to Nessa Bell and Duncan Grant lived here until Duncan died in 1978 although Vanessa had died at somewhat earlier in 1961 and they lived here for those nearly 60 years with their friends and their relatives most of whom were part of what was called the Bloomsbury Group which was a group of intellectuals who were United by the belief that art was essential [Music] this is the dining room at Charleston and probably my favorite of the rooms there are all these wonderful layers there's inherited formal furniture There are these glorious Red Omega Workshop chairs as Vanessa's beautifully painted table and there is the pottery that Vanessa's younger son Quinton made this wonderful lampshade with its piercing so when it's lit the light sprinkles like Starlight when when it's on the walls were painted by hand Duncan and Quentin did it together just at the start of the second world war Quentin said it was a way of coping with him pending Doom have this something to do they would have lined up the squares and stent through stencils which wouldn't have lost it because they just made them in paper and then this wonderful confidence to create these hand-painted chevrons feels like something we could all have a go at I first came to Charleston really long time ago and must have seen this curtain and completely forgotten about it this piece of fabric was designed by Duncan Grant in about 1931. they've used it as a door curtain to go from the dining room through to the kitchen and they've added pieces of this quilted fabric if you can buy an antique textile but it's not quite big enough we can add pieces to it to grow it to make it fit a space [Music] the lovely idea that the Bloomsbury group was sitting around this table having conversations about art theories economics about politics about sex all around Vanessa's beautiful table [Music] foreign Bell painted at Charleston was under the window these fantastic flowers bringing the outside in the rest of the windows also painted with forms that become like Windows and themselves although most of the walls were whitewashed these walls were later painted in this fantastic green which Duncan helped mix with his granddaughter this just was not normal in a Victorian house but we're no longer in the Victorian age you can see the movement you can see the informality and it's just lovely two marvelous things about this fireplace are the very unbeautiful unathetically pleasing fire brick creation by Roger Fry who was a friend of Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell with whom they had started the Omega workshop and then this beautiful painting of the mantelpiece which was done later by Vanessa Bell it looks so spontaneous and yet a lot of work would have been very carefully planned because not only were Vanessa and Duncan fine artists but they were also interior decorators while Vanessa had painted underneath the window Duncan painted the back of the door it's significantly more abstracted with more geometric forms reducing realism to more this idea of significant form which was something Clive Bell Vanessa's husband wrote about in his art criticism [Music] this is the Garden Room we've got Duncan's wonderful ladies it's a very good example of make good and mend in this circle would have been a mirror but it was broken by Vanessa's son Quinton when he was holding a candle and the heat smashed the glass in the same way they were using bits of old fabric to change plain chairs they were very good at making do and mending this lamp is fantastic apparently it was once Telegraph pole and it had been painted to be this fantastic geometric plant with a lot of literally wrongs shaped shade on the top of it these curtains are fantastic with the different pelmet it's lovely it's this idea of bringing together different pieces of fabric they don't necessarily have to go together but there is a sort of sympathy to them I love the idea of Vanessa sitting in her chair knitting falling asleep occasionally waking up chatting and opposite as this radiator case and she didn't like look at the radiator so she made a macrame cover for it foreign this is Vanessa's bedroom and the walls are actually quite plain often it's the woodwork that was painted so we have cabinet that Vanessa did and a cabinet that Angelica Vanessa and Duncan's daughter painted interestingly Vanessa's work is a little bit more organized and well laid out whereas Angelica's is incredible it's much darker and much slightly more claustrophobic there is a fantastic mirror over her Basin which was Duncan's design his mother Ethel did the needlepoint work on it and this collaboration of artists in this environment was always encouraged and and they're examples of it everywhere [Music] this room is Duncan studio and was designed a bit later in 1925 and built very cheaply on top of what was a chicken run you can see the marks of the rain and the dam that pattern are of age the north light is incredible here so they've got the high ceilings and as such they could fit in this old piece of furniture which had once belonged Thackery we are now very used to seeing a mixture of what's called high and low Furniture so very ornate valuable and formal pieces of furniture combined with junk shop finds I particularly love this piece of spotty fabric it's so different to everything else in its brightness it's rayon and it hasn't faded whereas everything else has gently mellowed and sort of remained in its 1950s incarnation Duncan also painted these wonderful carrotids holding up the mantelpiece and they almost feel like they're keeping you company so you could be very happily alone in this room for hours there are all sorts of wonderful Ceramics in Factory's cupboard Duncan and Vanessa were commissioned to design and paint a series of plates they chose as their subject matter famous women [Music] oh [Music] this room was originally Vanessa's bedroom and Duncan painted it for her he painted the Cockrell to wake her up in the morning and Henry the dog to protect her at night the walls in this room feel very contemporary in their block dark color a kind of a black but they've got so much red and blue in them such a wonderful place to have as a study which is what it ended up being when Clive Bell moved in here in 1939 [Music] this is Duncan's bedroom which Vanessa painted for him a lovely continuation of the artistic dialogue that was so important in their relationship there's a lovely sketch that Vanessa sent the letter to Roger Fry both this elevation with the doors painted with their flowers and the circles and borders symmetrically arranged around this fireplace as a decorator I'm always trying to bring this feeling of layering into clients houses this feeling of history and collecting John Fowler always said he should have something a little bit off in a room and I think thing that's a bit out of keeping a brilliant chairs they're all beadwork and even Clive belt said Duncan grunt you've gone too far this time [Music] when Vanessa and Duncan first moved here in 1916 was the end of the Victorian age by the time Duncan died there had been two world wars homosexuality was no longer illegal women had the vote and there was punk rock things had changed and in the course of any House's lifetime things change things evolve and we have to adapt and make them work for us [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: House & Garden

Views: 157,174

Keywords: apartment tour, charleston house, country house, decoration ideas, design notes, english manor house, historic home, historic house, home decor, home design ideas, home furniture, home tour, house & garden, house & garden design notes, house and garden, house garden, house tour, houses with history, how to interior design, interior design inspiration, interior designer tour, living room design, lounge design, manor house, period design

Id: B8JYBViouj0

Length: 11min 17sec (677 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 03 2023