The Real Aesthetic House

The weather continues to be summer-like in London, so off I went to the Leighton House, following up on "The Cult of Beauty" exhibition at V&A...and what a hidden treasure this house is! The interior is so otherworldly, I almost felt as if I time-traveled as I stepped into the house.

At the hallway, I was greeted by a stuffed peacock, the symbol of aesthetic movement, and deep, deep blue tiles, with floor covered with Roman mosaics guiding me through to the famous Arabic Room. This Room, completed with a fountain, is covered with tiles and glasses topped with golden domed ceiling. The room could have been a disaster with visual overload, as every inch is covered by colors and shapes, but somehow it retains a tranquility of exquisite sanctuary, centered by a fountain trickling soothing water.

The entire house was carefully and meticulously decorated, save for Leighton's bedroom, including absolutely stunning studio with huge windows and beautifully appointed garden. Still, the real wow-factor of the house is the entrance and the Arabic Room.

What really astounded me was the attention to details for every single item in this house. Everything, from staircase to fireplace, is carefully planned and decorated with the engineering ingenuity. The fireplace in the reception room represents this excessive attention to details; it is placed under the window with side-way chimney (and no sign of chimney inside), so the garden view from the window will not be obstructed...considering how most of the Georgian/Victorian/Edwardian houses are built with the fireplaces as centerpiece with huge chimneys protruding the walls, the placement of this fireplace represents the 'idea outside the box' and careful planning prior to the construction of the building.

The house also showcases the extent of power British Empire once held. The accessibility and influx of art and decorative ideas of the Middle East are prevalent, with many pieces delivered or modeled after the region, from plates to tiles to window coverings to wallpapers.

Leighton, as a painter, may not have been as well-known as some of his contemporaries, but this house is truly his masterpiece. His wealth (mostly from his family) and standing in the art world (as the head of Royal Academy) must have been quite extraordinary. According to his biography he had no family and there was a rumor of him being a homosexual or having a passionate affair with lower-class woman with illegitimate children, but none are confirmed. I cannot guess, nor do I care about his sexuality, but I found a small pencil drawing of a young woman in the Silk Room quite intriguing...it was drawn in such care and...love? The untitled drawing made me wonder if she was someone close to his heart or the idealized version of the woman he sought after. A romantic notion for an incredibly romantic house.

The Cult of Beauty

There's something about the era between 1850 to 1914 Europe that attracts and haunts me. My favorite artists and writers are mostly from this era, many of them associated with Symbolism, Pre-Raphaelite and/or Bloomsbury groups.

So it was a delightful surprise to bump into an exhibition called "The Cult of Beauty" at V&A Museum yesterday. I actually went to see Yoji Yamamoto's show that has been exhibited for a while, but the show on aesthetic movement between 1860 - 1900 with Rossetti and Burne-Jones and rest of the clans is more closer to my heart, and I spent good one and half hour going through the exhibition...until I was kicked out at closing time.

I don't know what fascinates me to the movement and the era; it was a time of great change with nostalgic view of the past, and that juxtaposition may be the attraction. It was, after all, a post-industrial era with the emergence of new middle class and influx of new and exotic culture from imperial expansion in the middle east and the newly accessible culture of Japan (the influence of far east was profound for symbolist such as Whistler.) It was also the time of socio-econmic changes, with alternation with the existing and stubborn class system and sexual politics (to some extent,) with suffragettes starting to march down the streets.

The culture that exists for "art for art-sake" and "beauty for beauty-sake" is intoxicating and decadent; everything is created for the sake of beauty, and that included furniture, clothing, book cover, wallpapers, jewels, utensils and even exhibit space (Whistler's exhibit space consisted of tatami floor and grey wall to maximize the effect of his works!)

It was also interesting to compare aesthetic movement from the past, which is filled with decorative and exaggerated symbolism (peacock, sunflower, lilies) to modern aesthetic style of Yoji Yamamoto who apparently started his career with the belief that "white means lack of all colors and black means concentration of all colors" thus using black as his main palette with no frills. In fact, I found Yoji Yamamoto's designs very Japanese, not as interpretation of Japan/Far East experimented by the western aesthetic of the past, but something ingrained in him, especially his use of fabrics. There are elements of kimono in his works, flowing or coarse, and as successful as he is in the western fashion world, I still find his clothes the extension of Japanese tradition. On a side-note, I really liked his unconventional way of breaking pre-existing rules...my favorite was the video of the catwalk with Charlotte Rampling and Viviene Westwood wearing his menswear in his menswear collection.

I really need to go back to the "Cult of Beauty" exhibit before it ends in July, and also try to get more understanding of this movement by visiting Leighton house, which is supposedly a representation of this movement.

Coincidentally, I'm now reading Alan Hollinghurst's "The Folding Star," a novel set in a town in Belgium about the obsession of the protagonist with the beauty of a boy and a symbolist painter modeled after Fernand Khnopff. With the novel like "The Swimming-Pool Library" and "In Line of Beauty," I find Hollinghurst the descendent of aesthetic writers, with modern and gay twists...the reason why I find it coincidental that I am reading his novel while bumping into the "Cult of Beauty" exhibition.

Talking about coincidence...here's another one...I saw Claire Foy, the actress who played Erin in Channel 4's drama, "The Promise" on the way back from the museum. She was riding the Barkley bike, and I noticed her because I was startled by her piercing blue eyes. She really looked as beautiful as she looked on TV, and even with her petite stature, very recognizable with her stunning eyes. Had she lived in the era of Symbolism, I'm sure she would have been the muse of one of those painters.

A day of delightful coincidences with beauty...