Charleston Farmhouse
Charleston Farmhouse is a country house in Firle between Lewes and Polegate in Sussex , England. It houses a small museum about the Bloomsbury Group with a garden and a small gift shop.
History of the house and facilities
In 1916 Vanessa Bell and her lover Duncan Grant leased the farmhouse and moved there with Vanessa's sons from London. Charleston developed into a rural meeting place for the Bloomsbury Group, whose regular visitors include younger sister Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard Woolf , economist John Maynard Keynes , writer EM Forster , biographer and essayist Lytton Strachey and painter and art theorist Roger Fry belonged. Their social standards were revolutionary for the prudish and often bigoted Victorian times in which they lived. This resulted in them living a life free from traditional social shackles. This was also reflected in the love affairs of the residents, which from today's perspective could be classified as polyamory as a form of relationship . At times other members of the Bloomsbury Group also lived in the country house, among them Duncan Grant's lover, David Garnett , and Vanessa's husband Clive Bell with his girlfriend. Duncan Grant's lover later married Angelica Bell , the daughter of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.
The interior of Charleston Farmhouse was designed by the local artists, especially Vanessa Bell, but also by Duncan Grant, in their own decorative style, inspired by Italian fresco painting and the Post-Impressionists. In one room, for example, there are motifs by Pablo Picasso as a cupboard decoration , as well as a painted greyhound below and a peacock above the window. Several walls and mantels, as well as the dining room table are decorated with circles, Vanessa Bell's favorite motif. In the dining room hangs a picture in the style of Henri Matisse . There are painted doors, bathtubs, beds, self-designed dishes, lamps and much more. Even the tiles by the kitchen stove were made by a member of the house, Quentin Bell , a son of Vanessa Bell. Several of the fabrics used to cover the furniture were designed in-house. These are all reasons the house and furniture were later considered works of art and the farmhouse was acquired by the Charleston Trust in 1985 . Today, an immense effort to preserve the works of art, originally intended only for the moment, but not for eternity, is necessary.
Events and exhibitions
Every year in May, the Charleston Festival, which is dominated by literature, takes place for one to one and a half weeks in the garden of the Charleston Farmhouse. Previous guests have included Peter Bazalgette , Jung Chang , Michael Frayn , Patrick Garland , Stephen Poliakoff , Patti Smith , Sarah Waters , Polly Toynbee and Simon Schama .
It also hosts an exhibition program that so far has included the following artists: Norman Ackroyd , Stephen Finer , Derek Jarman , Desmond Morris , Tom Phillips , photographs by Patti Smith, Sir John Tenniel, and others.
There is also an event , 'The Quentin Follies', which takes place on a single evening and the proceeds of which are used to buy back privately owned works of art by members of the Bloomsbury Group. 'The Quentin Follies' is named after Quentin Bell, the son of Vanessa Bell. It takes place in the form of a silent auction of donated works of art, which includes an evening variety show, which ranges from opera performances to stand-up comedy.
See also
literature
- Quentin Bell, Virginia Nicholson, Alen MacWeeney (Photos): Charleston: An English country house in the Bloomsbury Circle . Christian Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-884-72353-7
Web links
- Official website of Charleston Farmhouse
Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 32 ″ N , 0 ° 7 ′ 7 ″ E