Since 2006, Chichester’s Pallant House has been commissioning artists to redesign its 18th century stairwell. Kirstie Brewer takes a look back at the dazzling stars, mussel shells and international artists who have had a go.
Pallant House Gallery has undergone a bold transformation this month, with contemporary art works being moved into the gallery’s original 18th century house.
This exciting fusion of the traditional and the contemporary took off in 2006 when Pallant House Gallery reopened and took the controversial decision to commission artists of today to create an installation in the main staircase of the gallery’s Queen Anne townhouse.
The imposing building was born out of the marriage of convenience between Henry Peckham, an ambitious yet disreputable 27-year-old, and Elizabeth Albery, a widow in her early 40s, and was designed to impress.
The love lost between the couple in their marriage was matched only by the dedication each poured into finishing the house, leaving a permanent mark on the city of Chichester.
Spencer Finch's Evening Star is the latest addition to the ancient stairwell at Chichester's Pallant House
October 2010 – October 2011
Spencer Finch, Evening Star
Spencer Finch’s Evening Star is the fifth installation to grace the stairwell since 2006. Like the other four, this dazzling new commission demands your attention and brazenly thrusts modern art into dialogue with historic architecture.
The startling starburst chandelier manipulates light and perception and takes its name and inspiration from a painting by JMW Turner at the National Gallery.
The original painting captures the moment when day turns into night and the first star of the evening can be seen; at first barely discernable and soon supplanted by the stronger light of the moon.
The Evening Star is in reality not a star, but instead the planet Venus which reflects light from our sun and moon.
Finch studied infrared maps recorded by the NASA Galileo Spacecraft of the false colour reflected from Venus and translated the proportional breakdown of colours into the bands of colour which make up the installation.
Across the courtyard, in the new wing of the Gallery, the artist has created a corresponding light installation called Passing Cloud After Constable.
Each installation can be seen from the other, thereby connecting the historic and contemporary architecture and also Finch’s inspirations – Turner, whose work was concerned with light, and Constable, whose work was concerned with shade.
Francisco Toledo's Papalotes
May – September 2010
Francisco Toledo (part of Surreal Friends), Papalotes
Francisco Toledo, one of Mexico’s most elusive and controversial artists, created a vibrant display of art kites, or “papalotes” to coincide with the Centenary of the Mexican Revolution and the Bicentenary of Mexican independence.
A fierce advocate of the cultural heritage of his native state, Oaxaca, Toledo’s kites reflected his interests in the history and mythology of Mexico. The dream-like images, with hazy Kafkaesque associations from childhood, fluttered down playfully from the ceiling.
Antonio Rodriguez Rivera, co-curator of the installation, said Toledo combined “the magic of the coastal culture with a strong sensuality which makes you smile and humanise all living creatures.”
June 2009 – May 2010
WOKmedia, A New Breed
WOKmedia's A New Breed ran for a year from June 2009
WOKmedia, a collective established in 2004 by artists Julie Mathias and Wolfgang Kaeppner are interested in “emotional dimension, an archetypal memory or a
physical sensation” and “the state of flux where chaos begins to make sense”.
They responded to the historic setting with a subversive play on traditional Chinese craftsmanship. Their delicate, large-scale porcelain eggs revealed hand painted depictions of Chinese erotic art from inside their broken shells.
Traditionally, these intimate images were produced by highly skilled craftsmen, who painted through a small opening in the porcelain egg that would conceal the scene and allow only one person at a time to view the imagery.
By daring to expose what is intended to be private, WOKmedia brought notions of sexuality and liberalisation in China into the public domain.
Autumn Flowers by Nina Saunders
November 2007
– Spring 2009
Nina Saunders, Autumn Flowers
“Pallant House Gallery is a place where art is nurtured, where old and new merges, radical transformations occur and every button counts,” said Danish artist Nina Saunders.
She quite literally turned conventional upholstery and craft on its head with her imposing installation, which blended nature with domestic and social culture.
Hanging gargantuan from the ceiling above and made from swathes of traditional William Morris fabric, Saunders’ installation proved to be a potent addition to the house and was viewed with much amusement and contemplation.
Susie Macmurray's Shell installation
July 2006 – August 2007
Shell: An Installation by Susie MacMurray
A sumptuous sight to behold. Twenty thousand mussel shells each individually inlaid with rich swabs of velvet adorned the stairwell, making a magnificent impact.
Inspired by the grandiose design of the townhouse staircase and intrigued by the turbulent love-hate relationship between Elizabeth and Henry Peckham, Susie MacMurray created the work to reflect the stories and histories within Pallant House Gallery.
“The house itself seemed like a vessel lined with aspirations; a container to express passions unfulfilled in the Peckham’s lives,” she explained.
“It is the hard shell that remains as its occupants live their messy human lives and then pass through.”
- To find out more about Pallant House and Gallery visit their website
Pallant House’s Staircase to design heaven in Sussex | Culture24.
