A Diego Giacometti table sits comfortably with Georgian pieces.
In a guest room, a pair of chairs from the Edward James sale in their original Severini fabric.
The house which was used for What's wrong in this picture? appeared in the June issue of The World of Interiors. In fact it is Woolbeding House, a restored pile dating from the 1720s in West Sussex, home to the late cultural benefactor, Simon Sainsbury.
I was so taken with the individual pieces (and there are some incredible pieces ranging from Chippendale to Giacometti) I failed to take in the whole. The comments left by Mamacita and Hello Gorgeous gave me pause for thought. It never occurred to me that the room itself would not be well received. After all, it does have that typically English country house look which is usually so popular.
In spite of its fine architecture, it is not a pretty house or rather it has not been prettily done. Though, it does appear comfortable and inviting; which, from a cultural perspective especially, has always taken precedence. There is, however, an uncommon sense of connoisseurship in the understated English Georgian furniture and British pictures that is atypical of the English country house look.
Simon Sainsbury built the collection to furnish and complement Woolbeding House, which was leased from the National Trust. It was this and his personal taste that formed the nature of the collection.
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Now playing: Christopher Cross - Sailing
via FoxyTunes
Friday 5 June 2009
In no need of chintz to distract the eye
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2 comments:
The Edward James chairs are gobsmackingly beautiful used here. (Is that fabric still made? If not, it damned well should be.) I must find this issue of WOI. I'd rather a modern painting though in the first photograph, which would be more striking given the rest of the room. And Giacometti anything goes with everything, even though I think the cocktail table a bit yawn-making. Better one of the more rare plaster lamps, an original mind you, in a shape not often seen. A man who would choose the Edward James chairs would surely understand the distinction, don't you think?
late to the game, but looking at the top picture, hard to imagine finding anything "wrong" - glad I didn't play, it would have caused me hours of anxiety trying to figure it out!!
good one, W.
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