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Showing posts with label Rex Whistler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rex Whistler. Show all posts
sweet
.
the Past is the only dead thing that smells sweet.
-edward thomas
in the wilderness-rex whistler
.
.
the rest of the story, Beverley Nichols
.
soon after moving into MERRY HALL, the Master of the house (that would be Nichols, the owner) sauntered into the kitchen to speak with Gaskin (that would be Nichol's Man-who ran the house). The Master was off to find URNS.
G- Urns? Whatever for?
N- For the pillars outside
G- There's a hundred and one things we want more than urns. We've hardly got two tea-cups left to match. There's only one coffee pot that isn't cracked. The Hoover's on its last legs. You ought to e putting first things first.
(Nichols tries to pacify Gaskin and takes off rather in a hurry. As he drives out to shop Urns, Gaskin's words drew him in."Most people would have agreed with him, particularly if they had seen Merry Hall. There were a thousand and one essentials clamouring for attention...walls falling down and cellars flooding and windows sticking, and there was a most peculiar smell in the woodshed. This latter,alone,was a first thing of major importance."
(He's coming around. No?)
No.
"But then, I have never believed in Gaskin's philosophy. Surely-in all matters appertaining to elegance-the most important thing to do first is the last thing? "
As Nichols continues speeding down the road, ruminating on Gaskin's
No- for Nichols rants on- "that is the meanest, drabbest little axiom that ever poisoned the mind of youth..."
determinedly, defiantly,
"These profound but anti-social reflections were suddenly interrupted by a loud hiss and a sharp jerk of the steering wheel. "
"I had a puncture. It seemed a rather cold comment on my philosophy, for if the first thing you have to do is to change a tyre... well, the first thing you have to do is to change a tyre, and that is all there is to it."
Did that sharp reality jolt Beverley into a change of heart, a turn round back to Merry Hall to see to that woodshed.
What do you think?
of all the Beverley Nichols books MERRY HALL is my favorite.
Yes, that encompasses many books, and You could change my mind; I'm Open.
Perhaps it's because it was the first Nichols & You know what they say about your first.
Perhaps it's because it is a love affair with a house.
Nichols threw caution to the wind stepping into a house he loved- with rows of lilies he fell head over heels for. There were lean times-Nichols admits as much to his biographer & friend Bryan Connon in Beverley Nichols: A Life.
There are so many glorious Nichols passages in this book, You just have to read it.
.
Rex Whistler
soon after moving into MERRY HALL, the Master of the house (that would be Nichols, the owner) sauntered into the kitchen to speak with Gaskin (that would be Nichol's Man-who ran the house). The Master was off to find URNS.
G- Urns? Whatever for?
N- For the pillars outside
G- There's a hundred and one things we want more than urns. We've hardly got two tea-cups left to match. There's only one coffee pot that isn't cracked. The Hoover's on its last legs. You ought to e putting first things first.
(Nichols tries to pacify Gaskin and takes off rather in a hurry. As he drives out to shop Urns, Gaskin's words drew him in."Most people would have agreed with him, particularly if they had seen Merry Hall. There were a thousand and one essentials clamouring for attention...walls falling down and cellars flooding and windows sticking, and there was a most peculiar smell in the woodshed. This latter,alone,was a first thing of major importance."
(He's coming around. No?)
No.
"But then, I have never believed in Gaskin's philosophy. Surely-in all matters appertaining to elegance-the most important thing to do first is the last thing? "
As Nichols continues speeding down the road, ruminating on Gaskin's
'Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves'
determinedly, defiantly,
"These profound but anti-social reflections were suddenly interrupted by a loud hiss and a sharp jerk of the steering wheel. "
"I had a puncture. It seemed a rather cold comment on my philosophy, for if the first thing you have to do is to change a tyre... well, the first thing you have to do is to change a tyre, and that is all there is to it."
Did that sharp reality jolt Beverley into a change of heart, a turn round back to Merry Hall to see to that woodshed.
What do you think?
at Merry Hall
of all the Beverley Nichols books MERRY HALL is my favorite.
Yes, that encompasses many books, and You could change my mind; I'm Open.
Perhaps it's because it was the first Nichols & You know what they say about your first.
Perhaps it's because it is a love affair with a house.
Nichols threw caution to the wind stepping into a house he loved- with rows of lilies he fell head over heels for. There were lean times-Nichols admits as much to his biographer & friend Bryan Connon in Beverley Nichols: A Life.
There are so many glorious Nichols passages in this book, You just have to read it.
Beaton, et al.
.
Some stories never get written. Perhaps that is why so many of us crowd the internet with our own stories-what are we leaving behind? Pouring through books, shelving them, having them settle inexorably in our minds. The authors have written their stories, what do we take from them? Cecil Beaton's story of his beloved country home Ashcombe is one book that recurs in my mind's eye. What did the bon vivant say about...? This? That?
His stories are always about the people in his life-characters-real characters: Rex Whistler, Edith Olivier- two that inhabit the story & seem to form the spine of the Ashecombe narrative. His constants-as it were.
The ever knowledgeable Toby Worthington tells me- they are Lord David Cecil, Olivier, Ottoline Morrell and Rex Whistler- (where was Beaton? behind the camera, perhaps.)
Edith Olivier- charming mayoress of Wilton, Rex Whistler and Beaton took off on a joy ride while the two men were staying with Edith at her Dayehouse in Wiltshire-only to find themselves amongst the pages that would be Cecil Beaton's beautiful tale of Ashcombe- The Story of a Fifteen Year Lease.
Though a stream of players would enter: Morrells, Sitwells, Cecils, Johns, and exit-an Olivier and a Whistler-and their friendship with Beaton were Ashcombe's brightest stars. Beaton dedicates the book- "to the memory of EDITH OLIVIER who brought me to Wiltshire:
The Garden from the Terrace
"Of the neighbors on whom I grew to rely more and more, Edith Olivier was perhaps always the most cherished...& so largely responsible for my having blossomed into a happy adult life." Her close proximity deprived Cecil from her company as his weekend guest- "I would refrain from asking other guests, for selfishly I wanted to keep to myself the benefit of her company. Edith was always at her greatest advantage when a deux."
As the pages of Ashecombe receded in my mind, one day-this appeared.
A delicately painted notecard from a dear friend. Who was responsible for the magical garden watercolour? It struck me- a Cecil Beaton watercolour of Ashecombe? Was this another?
Not so.
The artist is the vibrant daughter of the note's sender.
Where was Ashecombe? To the shelves with other of my Beaton books- & off it came.
Ah ha! Yes. There was the same distinctly atmospheric handling of a scene. Just enough detail to make it memorable. Both watercolour scenes of, as Beaton put it so well, where he blossomed into happy adult life. For Beaton, Ashecombe, for Laura-Chatam Hall. Her continued rite of passage from there to college and now a graduate-returning to Chatam Hall this autumn to start a career. I marvel at this daughter of my childhood friend and her siblings-as they travel through so many passages- marriage, motherhood and the loss we must all suffer inevitably as adults.
Rex Whistler stood by Beaton as constant friend within the many pages of Ashecombe. The friendship of the two- Rex and Edith- was a part of the story as well. Rex "made Edith's Dayehouse his second home. He often told me that he was happier there than anywhere else." He confided in Cecil his fears that he could not survive the sudden loss of Edith-were something happen to her. An Ashcombe Sketching Competition between the two friends was judged by Olivier. "Rex reflected an extraordinary atmosphere of serenity and quite continuum. It was a sweet Auburn sense of life that he liked and always seemed to create."
The eighteenth century was his inspiration" and his work said Beaton, "contributed much to the taste of the twentieth century." What might be a labour for other artists-Rex "flicked off expertly in a few twists of his pen."
Parties and tableau were so much a part of the Ashcombe set, characters floating in and out, moving off stage and with the onset of the war, Ashcombe's idylls waned. Rex enlisted, Edith threw herself into the war efforts in Wilton. She chronicled her experiences beautifully in Night Thoughts of A Country Landlady & presided as Mayor of Wilton.
Cecil's return from his travels during the war found Edith much the same, somehow though her dark black hair, such a part of her gipsy persona, had turned pure white. Beaton feared Edith had become a staid spinster. After a few minutes of talk, he saw no other marked changes. His fears that their cherished Rex would not return from the war were realized when news came-Rex had been killed in Normandy. "I have never ceased to mourn his death... I am continually wishing for his delightful company, his views on character and people, and his suggestions on a thousand details of taste and decoration."
It is often the case as we see our own stories go off course- characters exit suddenly without saying goodbye- Our loss palatable. We cherish the illusion that we might go on for ever. (from Beaton Ashecombe)
"Love , marriage, death, the passing of a house-these things are the milestones of life and they point a finger to the clock. The expiration of my lease was as a milestone which indicated that a lump of my life had passed in a timeless flash." It can not go on forever.
all Quotations are from ASHCOMBE- Cecil Beaton
ASHCOMBE, all house images-unless noted
STYLE TRADITIONS RECREATING PERIOD INTERIORS, by Stephen Calloway and Stephen Jones-Whistler image of Daye House.
.
Rex Whistler's own- Ashcombe
His stories are always about the people in his life-characters-real characters: Rex Whistler, Edith Olivier- two that inhabit the story & seem to form the spine of the Ashecombe narrative. His constants-as it were.
Conversation-piece at The Day House
1937, by Rex Whistler
Edith Oliver perched on her daybed- though the other Players are unidentified- they are likely Beaton, seated with Olivier, Ottoline Morrell, opposite, and perhaps the painter himself.1937, by Rex Whistler
The ever knowledgeable Toby Worthington tells me- they are Lord David Cecil, Olivier, Ottoline Morrell and Rex Whistler- (where was Beaton? behind the camera, perhaps.)
Edith Olivier- charming mayoress of Wilton, Rex Whistler and Beaton took off on a joy ride while the two men were staying with Edith at her Dayehouse in Wiltshire-only to find themselves amongst the pages that would be Cecil Beaton's beautiful tale of Ashcombe- The Story of a Fifteen Year Lease.
Olivier strolling about Ashecombe just after Beaton arrived.
Though a stream of players would enter: Morrells, Sitwells, Cecils, Johns, and exit-an Olivier and a Whistler-and their friendship with Beaton were Ashcombe's brightest stars. Beaton dedicates the book- "to the memory of EDITH OLIVIER who brought me to Wiltshire:
from the 1949 Ashecombe The Story of A Fifteen-Year Lease
The Garden from the Terrace
by Cecil Beaton
"Of the neighbors on whom I grew to rely more and more, Edith Olivier was perhaps always the most cherished...& so largely responsible for my having blossomed into a happy adult life." Her close proximity deprived Cecil from her company as his weekend guest- "I would refrain from asking other guests, for selfishly I wanted to keep to myself the benefit of her company. Edith was always at her greatest advantage when a deux."
As the pages of Ashecombe receded in my mind, one day-this appeared.
Chatam Hall
by Laura
A delicately painted notecard from a dear friend. Who was responsible for the magical garden watercolour? It struck me- a Cecil Beaton watercolour of Ashecombe? Was this another?
Not so.
The artist is the vibrant daughter of the note's sender.
Where was Ashecombe? To the shelves with other of my Beaton books- & off it came.
Ah ha! Yes. There was the same distinctly atmospheric handling of a scene. Just enough detail to make it memorable. Both watercolour scenes of, as Beaton put it so well, where he blossomed into happy adult life. For Beaton, Ashecombe, for Laura-Chatam Hall. Her continued rite of passage from there to college and now a graduate-returning to Chatam Hall this autumn to start a career. I marvel at this daughter of my childhood friend and her siblings-as they travel through so many passages- marriage, motherhood and the loss we must all suffer inevitably as adults.
Beaton in the Circus room,posing in an 18th-century-style jacket, with surreal touches,
for a fete champetre, hosted at his country house, Ashcombe.
for a fete champetre, hosted at his country house, Ashcombe.
Rex Whistler stood by Beaton as constant friend within the many pages of Ashecombe. The friendship of the two- Rex and Edith- was a part of the story as well. Rex "made Edith's Dayehouse his second home. He often told me that he was happier there than anywhere else." He confided in Cecil his fears that he could not survive the sudden loss of Edith-were something happen to her. An Ashcombe Sketching Competition between the two friends was judged by Olivier. "Rex reflected an extraordinary atmosphere of serenity and quite continuum. It was a sweet Auburn sense of life that he liked and always seemed to create."
The eighteenth century was his inspiration" and his work said Beaton, "contributed much to the taste of the twentieth century." What might be a labour for other artists-Rex "flicked off expertly in a few twists of his pen."
Whistler's distinctive style
Parties and tableau were so much a part of the Ashcombe set, characters floating in and out, moving off stage and with the onset of the war, Ashcombe's idylls waned. Rex enlisted, Edith threw herself into the war efforts in Wilton. She chronicled her experiences beautifully in Night Thoughts of A Country Landlady & presided as Mayor of Wilton.
Edith Olivier as Mayor of Wilton
Cecil's return from his travels during the war found Edith much the same, somehow though her dark black hair, such a part of her gipsy persona, had turned pure white. Beaton feared Edith had become a staid spinster. After a few minutes of talk, he saw no other marked changes. His fears that their cherished Rex would not return from the war were realized when news came-Rex had been killed in Normandy. "I have never ceased to mourn his death... I am continually wishing for his delightful company, his views on character and people, and his suggestions on a thousand details of taste and decoration."
It is often the case as we see our own stories go off course- characters exit suddenly without saying goodbye- Our loss palatable. We cherish the illusion that we might go on for ever. (from Beaton Ashecombe)
"Love , marriage, death, the passing of a house-these things are the milestones of life and they point a finger to the clock. The expiration of my lease was as a milestone which indicated that a lump of my life had passed in a timeless flash." It can not go on forever.
all Quotations are from ASHCOMBE- Cecil Beaton
ASHCOMBE, all house images-unless noted
STYLE TRADITIONS RECREATING PERIOD INTERIORS, by Stephen Calloway and Stephen Jones-Whistler image of Daye House.
.
...down the Beaton path - Beverley Nichols & Cecil Beaton
photograph of Cecil Beaton's great friend and artist Rex Whistler
by Cecil Beaton
(read more about Rex Whistler here)BEATON v. NICHOLS
...continuing FLEUR COWLES FLOWER GAME with detours along the way
Gwili Andre by Cecil Beatonfrom Chris Beetles (here)
I can not imagine the sparks that flew when the young aesthete Cecil Beaton met the older aesthete Beverley Nichols. It seems Nichols was trying to coax the 24 year old innocent into an affair. Nichols boasted of bedding a number of famous fellows, dropping Names in hopes of impressing Beaton. In the biography- Beverley Nichols A Life by Bryan Connon, Nichols recalls Beaton as being "startled".
( I bet.)
Artists Gilbert and George
by Cecil Beaton
Cecil Beaton photographs from CHRIS BEETLES (here)By 1928, Nichols was a best selling author and had audaciously written an autobiography Twenty-Five, he boasted one should have accomplished enough to write such a book at the age of 25. Cecil Beaton was well on his way to his own fame- and ultimately one could say-'outfamed' Nichols.
Nichols by Beaton
In 1929, Nichols wrote Beaton that he must go to New York to be a big success and promised him a commission of 10 photographs for the American Sketch- a new publication where Nichols was to be editor. Nichols had been set up in New York with the job and brought "little pieces of England" to the city- ultimately selling his French furniture in exchange for sturdy "English" Victorian mahogany. Nichols' sophisticated manservant Gaskin was imported as well to oversee it all.
BN
photograph courtesy of Timber PressCB
by CB
from Chris Beetles (here)Beaton did take on the city, but the commission BN promised never came through. I can't help but wonder- was it the Sketch publishers who vetoed the Beaton commission or was it Beverley's own snub? Perhaps- a would be lover scorned- at what might have been Beaton's demure to Nichols overtures. I'll never know- neither to my knowledge recorded the reasons. Beaton was in New York and of course angry about the whole thing.
A Happy Ending though: It turns out Beaton didn't need Beverley's help and ultimately landed in what was to be- his own- always -sweet pot of jam.
I can't leave these two erudite aesthetes without knowing they patched things up and fortunately the truth of the tale is that they did. They exchanged genuinely affectionate letters as they got older, admiring each others work and lamenting the onset of old age.
Beverley
The photograph of Beverley done much in the style of Beaton and likely is one of his portraits- no doubt there was a bit of provocative chatter at the sitting.
Beaton, Gladys Cooper, NicholsExcerpts from the FLOWER GAME
Beaton's Japanese Paper Blossoms
Nichols- not known for brevity exclaimed:
"What a lovely idea!... With the exception of the bougainvillaea, it is firmly British. The only thing that may make it unusual is that I do NOT put roses first. I think that the average garden is greatly 'over rosed'. The whole Idea, of course, is only a dream because one couldn't grow snowdrops and bougainvillaea together. Or Perhaps YOU could!
Nichols with his garden Lilies
... In order of priority is as follows:
Beaton's scattered Roses fabric creation
Nichols with his garden Lilies
... In order of priority is as follows:
Lilium regale, bougainvillea (common magenta variety); Double purple Lilac (Souvenir de Louis Spaeth); Camellia (Donation); Rose (Fragrant Cloud); Snowdrops in clumps (Galanthus ebrosessii); Agapanthus; English Primroses in clumps; and English Blue Bells, philadelphus ( Belle Etoile).
Beaton's scattered Roses fabric creation
Beaton- in less flowery language said:
" Any large white Orchid of any variety, so long as it is white. (I have grown some and they are a great delight!) ; white Paeony, dark red Roses, white Rose, Pink Rose, lily- of- the Valley; auratum Lily; white Marguerites, white Geraniums, Clematis.
Mapplethorpe's Orchid
Rose by Robert Mapplethorpe
Sir Cecil Beaton died in 1980.
Beverley Nichols outlived him by three years.
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