This week I have been spending time at Gainsborough’s House working on the newsletter for the Gainsborough’s House Society, On the House.
When taking a break I have very much enjoyed taking time off to take another look at the current exhibition celebrating the purchase of the House by the Society fifty years ago. It is very much worth a visit, but hurry, you only have three weeks or so left. (Don’t forget that on Tuesday afternoons admission to the House is free.)
Rather than presenting a traditional history of the property, the focus of the show is on the life of the House from the early decades of the 20th Century to the present day.
A good deal of archival material has been unearthed and this has enabled the exhibition’s curators to create a display that illustrates Gainsborough’s House when it was used as a hotel and tea room prior to its acquisition in 1958. According to the memoirs of guests visiting the House seems to have been a positive experience on the whole. It seems that the garden, always an important feature of the property, was larger than it is today, incorporating two hard tennis courts. Watching the tennis was much enjoyed by guests on summer evenings.
Another section of the exhibition is devoted to the original appeal for funds. When the House came up for sale in the 1950’s, the campaign launched to buy it reached well beyond the borders of Suffolk. The most active response for help came from the artistic community, and a number of exhibitions were held to support the project. A vital contribution to the funds was the donation and sale of the painting of the Queen’s horse, Aureole by Sir Alfred Munnings
Since its opening in 1962 the House has inspired several artists to produce works in which it is represented, and some of these will be on display. The House has also the subject of constant restoration, piecemeal at first, but culminating in the major works that were completed recently.
Gainsborough’s House today continues to be a focus for artistic endeavour. To complement the historical aspects of the exhibition, several contemporary artists have been invited to record their response to the House as it stands today. Their original works, which will include photographs, prints and paintings, will be displayed as part of the exhibition, alongside reactions from schoolchildren and other visitors to the House.
Stephen Jones the Curator of the house between 1979 and 1981 once described people associated with Gainsborough’s House as ‘a gathering of kindred spirits, apparently divers, but united in the devotion to the House which made it such a very happy place to be’. In general his words ring as true today as they did over 25 years ago!
When taking a break I have very much enjoyed taking time off to take another look at the current exhibition celebrating the purchase of the House by the Society fifty years ago. It is very much worth a visit, but hurry, you only have three weeks or so left. (Don’t forget that on Tuesday afternoons admission to the House is free.)
Rather than presenting a traditional history of the property, the focus of the show is on the life of the House from the early decades of the 20th Century to the present day.
A good deal of archival material has been unearthed and this has enabled the exhibition’s curators to create a display that illustrates Gainsborough’s House when it was used as a hotel and tea room prior to its acquisition in 1958. According to the memoirs of guests visiting the House seems to have been a positive experience on the whole. It seems that the garden, always an important feature of the property, was larger than it is today, incorporating two hard tennis courts. Watching the tennis was much enjoyed by guests on summer evenings.
Another section of the exhibition is devoted to the original appeal for funds. When the House came up for sale in the 1950’s, the campaign launched to buy it reached well beyond the borders of Suffolk. The most active response for help came from the artistic community, and a number of exhibitions were held to support the project. A vital contribution to the funds was the donation and sale of the painting of the Queen’s horse, Aureole by Sir Alfred Munnings
Since its opening in 1962 the House has inspired several artists to produce works in which it is represented, and some of these will be on display. The House has also the subject of constant restoration, piecemeal at first, but culminating in the major works that were completed recently.
Gainsborough’s House today continues to be a focus for artistic endeavour. To complement the historical aspects of the exhibition, several contemporary artists have been invited to record their response to the House as it stands today. Their original works, which will include photographs, prints and paintings, will be displayed as part of the exhibition, alongside reactions from schoolchildren and other visitors to the House.
Stephen Jones the Curator of the house between 1979 and 1981 once described people associated with Gainsborough’s House as ‘a gathering of kindred spirits, apparently divers, but united in the devotion to the House which made it such a very happy place to be’. In general his words ring as true today as they did over 25 years ago!
