Sculpture @ Waddesdon Manor

Joana Vasconcelos’s Pavillon de Thé

Here in the Vale of Aylesbury we live in a part of England which was once dubbed "Rothschildshire" for it is surrounded by no less than seven Rothschild Mansions: Ascott House (Home of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild), Mentmore Towers (Former home of Lord Roseberry who married into the Rothschild’s and was Prime Minister), Halton House, Aston Clinton House, Tring Manor (Now home to the Walter Rothschild Collection of the Natural History Museum) and Eythrope House which borders Waddesdon and where Jacob (Lord) Rothschild lives and above all the magnificent Waddesdon Manor. The Rothschild’s didn’t just build their houses but also villages to house the staff and in the case of Waddesdon a railway line, gasworks, electricity plant and much more.

Jean-Simon Chardin’s Boy Building a House of Cards

Thomas Houseago - Untitled "Red Man"

Tony Smith’s painted aluminium Moon Dog

Today Waddesdon stands pre-eminent. Gifted by the family to the National Trust it is their most visited property. It closed for 3 years whilst the family spent £12 million renovating it and it is stuffed with the Rothschild Collection of French decorative art collected by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild and is set in magnificent grounds. What sets it apart is the wonderful (and generous) proprietorial instincts of Jacob Rothschild with the result that every year there is much new to see. It is the only house today in “Le goût Rothschild”  best described as Touts les Louis and then some.

Last year the house hosted an exhibition of Andy Warhol’s screen prints of prominent Jewish thinkers;

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/waddesdon-in-summer.html

But this year Jacob has outdone himself with a truly marvelous exhibition of modern sculpture which adds much gaiety to the grounds and much interest to any visit. From 26 May - 28 October, Waddesdon in collaboration with Christie's, is the venue for a major outdoor exhibition of contemporary sculpture, including works by the leading artists of our time.  The exhibition has been timed as a sculptural counterpoint to Waddesdon's recent acquisition of Chardin's Boy building a House of Cards.  It also builds on Waddesdon's own commitment to contemporary art and its significant and growing collection of work, which includes pieces by Richard Long, Sarah Lucas, Michael Craig-Martin, Angus Fairhurst and Stephen Cox, amongst others.

Richard Serra - House of Cards

A giant House of Cards stands on the parterre at Waddesdon Manor. Its four sheets of steel lean one against the other, the precarious balancing act of American artist Richard Serra’s work sustained by weight and pressure alone. On the other side of the Rothschild manor, a magical oversize teapot sits on the lawn. Oxidised to a reddish brown, the filigree wrought iron fancy of Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos’s Pavillon de Thé embodies the playfulness and lightness of touch of the Boy Building a House of Cards in Chardin’s famous paintings.

Tonicos Lemos Auad - Figa

Urs Fischer - Bad Timing, Lamb Chop!

All 33 works in this exhibition of contemporary sculpture at Waddesdon Manor have been chosen as responses to paintings by the French artist Jean-Siméon Chardin, especially his House of Cards on view in all four variations inside the Manor. Conceived and curated by the auction house Christie’s, the show includes some specially commissioned sculptures, and most are for sale as if in a gallery (prices between £60,000 and £7.5m!). Themes such as balance, precariousness, stability, grace, playfulness and the passage of time connect the 18th-century paintings and modern-day sculptures. Artists include Tony Cragg, Urs Fischer, Antony Gormley, Damien Hirst, Donald Judd, Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons, and Ai Wei Wei. The earliest piece is American artist Tony Smith’s painted aluminium Moon Dog, made in 1964.

Anthony Gormley - Construct 1

Robert Indiana - Love (Red)

Thomas Schütte - Untitled (Lemon Bronzes)

Moon Dog is an extraordinary sight, minimalist yet dominating the immediate area by size, colour and geometric configuration. From some viewpoints it seems to tilt, giving an impression of instability that is at odds with its massive form. Viewing it with the turreted façade of the house as a backdrop, the influence of the artist’s early career as an architect is clear. Smith said he was also influenced by Joan Miró's painting Dog Barking at the Moon.

Anish Kapoor - Untitled

Damien Hirst - Decorated Mini for charity auction 2000

Xavier Veilhan - Elisabeth Lemercier & Philipe Bona

Nearby, Kapoor’s monolith Untitled is of a similar scale and quality. Made out of dark stone polished so highly that it reflects a double inverted image of the landscape, it is a typically elegant work by Kapoor, perhaps made more relevant to see given the publicity around his twisted steel Orbit Olympic Park sculpture.

Not everything is as it seems. Anthony Gormley’s ostensibly sun-worshipping man appears to be lying flat on the paving, yet he teeters on two points. Xu Bing’s Stone Path flowing downhill on the grass is a pleasure to follow as if following a poem. Each of the 74 stones appears to be carved with a Chinese character, yet word play frequently plays a part in the Chinese artist’s work.

For the history of Waddesdon see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2007/11/waddesdon-manor-buckinghamshire.html 

After viewing the sculptures in the grounds there is a very well curated exhibition examining the sculptures and their artists in the stables at Waddesdon. Here you will also find a café and a shop and if the “stables” look a tad grand it is because they are a scaled down version of the Tuileries Palace in Paris which was destroyed in 1871.

The Stables

A cleverly conceived exhibition, Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire’s beautiful grounds have never been more enjoyable. Indeed the house has reinstated much of the garden sculpture which was lost over the years and this exhibition forms a delightful foil to the existing garden sculpture.

Waddesdon Manor Website;

http://www.waddesdon.org.uk/

Jacob Rothschild (Lord Rothschild) discussing the House of Cards exhibition at Waddesdon Manor

Waddesdon Manor - Entrance Front