The Annual Christmas Installation at Dennis Severs' House 2018
In 1979, creative dreamer Dennis Severs, after moving from America to England a few years prior, bought a ruined house in the Spitalfields area of London and set about returning it to its former state. After several years, he ended up creating something very special that he called a "still-life drama," with vignettes spread across the ten rooms and four storeys of No. 18 Folgate Street. Each room is dressed like a stage or film set in a different historic style, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries. He invented a back story for this house: the fictional Jervis family (a name anglicised from Gervais), originally Huguenot (French Protestant immigrants) silk weavers who lived at the house from 1725 to 1919 are still present but just out of sight. Dennis opened this "time-machine" to the public and invited people to take a tour, not of an historic house, but to step into the Jervis' lives in a very immediate and visceral way. In what is more like an immersive theatrical experiences or performance art, he left half-eaten meals, half-full chamber pots, lit candles and blazing fireplaces scattered about while sound effects of the period softly emanated from hidden speakers as though the family just stepped out for a moment. Each room evokes incidental moments in the lives of these imaginary inhabitants. Writer Peter Ackroyd, author of LONDON: THE BIOGRAPHY, wrote, "The journey through the house becomes a journey through time; with its small rooms and hidden corridors, its whispered asides and sudden revelations, it resembles a pilgrimage through life itself." Artist David Hockney called the experience of touring the house one of the world's greatest works of opera.
After Severs died in 1999, the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust, an architectural preservation charity, took over the property and has kept it open to the public. But the best time to go is during the holiday season. The Annual Christmas Installation at Dennis Severs' House sees the property decked out in its period holiday finery. Photos are normally not allowed (guests embark on a 45 minute tour of the house but are encouraged to do so silently, without taking any photos) but London-based photographer Skye O'Neill was recently permitted to tour and photograph the house for this year's Christmas Installation. She shared some of these lovely images.
And here is a great interview with Dennis Severs about his home and why and how he created it.
If you live in London or will be there during the holidays, you have a chance to see the Christmas Installation in person through the 4th of January 2019. Even though appointment tickets are nearly sold out, the house can be visited on Sunday afternoons without booking in advance. Check the website for more details.
"Oh, By The Way" is my digital scrap book of things I like, things I would share with a close friend and say: “Oh, by the way, do you know of this artist/ clothing or interior designer/ model/ singer/ actor/ gorgeous man… or, have you seen this video/ photo/ film... or heard (or do you remember) this song/ band... or, read this book/ poem/ inspiring quote... or, visited this place/ museum/ restaurant/ famous building... or, have you heard of this amazing new scientific discovery?”
I am dedicated to posting the positive, the fascinating, the beautiful, the interesting, the moving, and the inspiring and uplifting. Sometimes I post cultural as well as personal observations, milestones, and remembrances. And just like life, all of these things may often have a bit of melancholy or even sadness in them, which is what makes our time here so lovely and bittersweet and precious.
Some of the photos, art, poetry, and prose are my own original work, credited with my initials, JEF. When it isn't, I always try to post links to the original source material, but often I find photos on the web that are not linked or other material that is not sourced. In these instances, I post them without malice since it is assumed that such things, by being globally posted on something as uncontrollable as the internet to begin with, are in the public domain. If you identify the source of an image that is not linked, please politely let me know (without accusing me of theft) and I will be happy to provide a link. If you are the owner of an image and would prefer it be removed, I am happy to do that as well.
I hope to inspire and entertain my readers with things that inspire and entertain me. There is a startling amount of beauty and creativity in the world and it enriches us all to participate in it.
All-time Favorite Films
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
After Hours (Hysterical, hair-raising ride through NYC at night)
Amelie
American Beauty (Alan Ball)
Baraka (Stunning, transcending—the "spiritus mundi" on film)
Belle et Bete (Cocteau)
Big Sleep, The (The epitome of film noir)
Bringing Up Baby (Hepburn & Grant—the epitome of screwball comedy)
Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, The (Greenaway)
Crash (Cronenberg—DIFFICULT subject, not for everyone)
Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg—ultimate modern gothic horror)
Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)
Easy Rider
Edward II (Derek Jarman)
Erendira (From magic realist Marquez’ brilliant short story)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick's last film)
Fearless (Jeff Bridges—life and death)
Funny Bones (Leslie Caron, Jerry Lewis, and the brilliant Lee Evans)
Holiday (Hepburn & Grant)
Howard’s End (The ultimate statement of the unfairness of class systems)
Hunger, The
Ice Storm, The
Inland Empire (David Lynch)
Interiors (Woody Allen's ode to Bergman)
Jetée, La (French short that inspired Gilliam's "12 Monkeys")
Jules et Jim (Truffaut)
Juliet of the Spirits (My favorite Fellini)
Kwaidan (4 Japanese ghost stories)
L’Age d’Or (Bunuel)
Last Temptation of Christ, The (Jesus was a shaman)
Latcho Drom (Beautiful visual documentary of Romany culture around the world)
Lion in Winter, The (Hepburn!—Like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” but circa 1183)
Living End, The
Logan's Run
Lost Highway (David Lynch)
Magnolia
Maurice (Boy gets boy, they live happily ever after!!!!!)
Men Don’t Leave (Jessica Lange’s gorgeous delicate performance)
Nights of Cabiria, The (Fellini)
Orlando (Tilda Swinton’s pristine performance and Sally Potter’s ravishing visuals)
Orphée (HEAVEN! Cocteau was a genius)
Pennies From Heaven (Steve Martin/ stunning Edward Hopper sets!)
Philadelphia Story, The (Hepburn)
Pillow Book, The (Greenaway)
Planet of the Apes (1968...NOT 2001!)
Postman Always Rings Twice, The (Nicholson/Lange--WOW)
Prospero’s Books (Greenaway)
Rebel Without a Cause ("I got the bullets!")
Satyricon (Fellini)
Shining, The (Kubrick)
Thin Red Line, The (Terrence Malick--existential poetry cleverly disguised as a war film)
Titus (Julie Taymor does Shakespeare)
Tommy (Brilliant, audacious Ken Russell film of The Who's rock opera)
Tree Of Life, The (Terrence Malick masterpiece)
Un Chien Andalou (Bunuel and Dali, need more be said?)
Wall,The (Pink Floyd)
Wings of Desire (All the feelings of the entire human race in one film)
Woman of the Year (Dated yet charming Hepburn vehicle)
Zabriskie Point (Empty, open, classic early 70s)
ZOO, A Zed and Two Noughts (Greenaway)
The Sounds My Soul Makes: Music
Annie Lennox
Brian Eno
Cocteau Twins
David Bowie
David Sylvian
Dead Can Dance
Durutti Column
Elbow
Everything But the Girl
Gang of Four
Gem Club
Goldfrapp
Joni Mitchell
José González
Junip
Kate Bush
Laurie Anderson
M83
Morrissey
Nine Inch Nails
Peter Gabriel
Peter Murphy
Rickie Lee Jones
Sigur Ros
Simple Minds
Smiths, The
Sufjan Stevens
Talk Talk
Tears For Fears
This Mortal Coil
Tori Amos
William Orbit
Zero 7
Important Books That Have Influenced Me
100 Years of Solitude—Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Doorway (for young people but worth it)—Madeleine L’Engle
No comments:
Post a Comment