A Middle-East-Inspired Jewel in the Heart of London
Location: Leighton House Museum
Address: 12 Holland Park Rd, Kensington, London W14 8LZ
“The home reflected his artistic joy. Every stone was subject to his loving care.” Leighton’s sisters wrote these words on January 26, 1989 in a letter to the Times. In fact, from the time it was purchased in 1864, the home at number 12 Holland Park Road became, for Frederic Leighton, the refined temple of his reserved and solitary life. The work on the home, begun in 1865, was entrusted to architect George Aitchison. Initially, both inside and out, the home appeared simple and subdued. However, three years after the completion of the building, Leighton undertook a long series of additions that would continue almost right up to his death. The style reflects his fascinating journeys to Turkey, Egypt and Syria where the painter selected fabrics, tiling and other refined objects for his home. The remarkable tiles that flank the walls of the Arab Hall, built in 1877, come all the way from Damascus, for instance. In creating the interior, he used the Zisa Castle as a model, the Norman construction in Palermo from the XII Century. This ambitious project engaged draftsmen, potters, sculptors and illustrators as well as remarkable mosaicists. Perhaps the most notable accomplishment is the Silk Room which was conceived, with its stunning green-silk covered walls, as a gallery for paintings by various artists, such as Albert Moore, George Frederic Watts, John Singer Sargent and Lawrence Alma-Tadema.
An exhibition to show how fashion photography has moved past the simple presentation of product lines to reflect on the reality of our lives, to explore our aspirations and to push at the boundaries of creativity.
Georg Baselitz marks his return to White Cube Bermondsey for the first time in eight years with solo exhibition A Confession of My Sins. The exhibition features large-scale paintings and a selection of works on paper in which the artist, now 86, traces the last six and a half decades of his practice.
The Biba Story explores the brand phenomenon invented by Barbara Hulanicki, grew to become the world's first lifestyle brand embodying the fashion of the 1960s and 1970s.
The Wonders of the Yoshida Family, Japanese Master Engravers
At the Dulwich Picture Gallery an exhibition that puts the spotlight on three generations of woodcut artists and will trace the evolution of Japanese printmaking across two centuries.