BOOKS IN REVIEW
If you’re looking for a coffee table book, this is not it. Great Collectors of Our Time follows the tastes of some of the greatest art collectors of our era in Europe, America and the Far East, with many of the collectors themselves speaking publicly about their collections for the first time. Author James Stourton begins his journey in 1945, using WWII as a natural watershed not only because it marks an era in which there is still living memory, but also because it was the beginning of a giant cultural shift between the primacy of European culture and that of America. ‘What is less obvious is the shift revealed in the way people collect,’ writes Stourton in his introduction. ‘Prior to 1939 collectors periodically lent their works of art for exhibitions and many, particularly in America, left their collections to public museums, but for the most part private collections remained private.’ During his research for this book, Stourton discovered that many of the collections included were already in the public domain; ‘Many collectors feel a moral imperative to share their works of art with the public,’ he writes, ‘not least when these works are on a scale far beyond that of domestic living.’ The book highlights the fact that there are just as many different kinds of collectors as there are collections, from the supremely rich to the moderately rich (some form of wealth is a pre-requisite) and inclusive of all walks of life. Some are self-made multi-millionaires, other come from ‘old money’, but the one thing they have in common is a passion for collecting, and it’s this passion that shines through as Stourton presents collecting dynasties such as the Rothschilds, Gettys, Thyssens, Rockefellers and Mellons, along with luminaries such as Andrew Lloyd Webber, Yves Saint Laurent, the Sainsburys and Picasso. Lives are traced, collecting roots are uncovered and significant actions in the collecting world are revealed. This book affords the average person the opportunity to not only peek at world-class collections, but to understand from the collectors themselves what drives them to collect. For example, Sir Michael Butler – a British diplomat – bought a house in London in 1959 that had spare shelves, so he walked into Sotheby’s and bought ‘Six pieces of old Chinese porcelain’ for £15. He now has one of the most important collections of 17th century Chinese porcelain in the world. American entrepreneur Norton Simon had no interest in art until he moved to a new home and a decorator brought in some paintings. He didn’t like them, so he went to some dealers see what was available; his first painting purchase was a Renoir. And Esther Gerther, a Swiss businesswoman who made her fortune with pharmaceutical investments and shrewd decisions – she backed the Swatch watch company – says she had no idea what to buy except in retrospect. She is now the only collector in the world to own four Francis Bacon triptychs. In many cases the collectors themselves chose the items used to illustrate their collections, which adds to the very warm and personal feel of this fascinating book. Great Collectors of Our Time: Art Collecting Since 1945 by James Stourton. Published by Scala Publishers Ltd. 2009. 200mm x 270mm, 416pp, colour throughout, hard cover. ISBN 978-1-85759-514-7. RRP: $85. Available from bookshops or email: malston@optusnet.com.au for details of discounted copies.
Quilts: The Fabric of Society is a treasure trove of stories for quilters and historians As the title suggests, Ms Gero relates quilt making to the society of the day. The well known Rajah Quilt c.1841, currently residing in London’s V&A Museum as part of the Quilts 1700-2010 Exhibition, is the first featured. Ms Gero explains how the earliest of the so-called Australian made quilts came about by keeping convict women busy during transportation to NSW. The prison reformer Elizabeth Fry arranged for sewing equipment for each woman. To a quilter, the whole story of the Rajah Quilt is fascinating. But that is not the only delight that this book holds. The mid-1800s silk hexagon quilts are stunning, with vibrant colours and intricate arrangements. So too are the silk Log Cabin quilts such as the one made by Jeannette Dick c.1867, which contains 6000 strips of fabric and ribbon! It was made as part of Miss Dick’s trousseau and there is a lovely old photo of her and her son, the eventual owner of the quilt. Human interest stories abound; the chapter on waggas is full of them. Waggas, or bush rugs, are about as Australian as you can get. Whether they are made of wheat bags, or old clothes, all carry a story. The wagga of old dressing gown fabric was made by Mrs Ingles of Tasmania c.1920 for her son Jim, a miner of Osmiridium near the Gordon River. The photos of the quilt makers, where able to be sourced, are especially lovely, being reminiscent of familiar old family photos. For me as a quilter, one of the most exciting features of this book is not only the quilts but that for 29 of them there is the chance that I too may be to have one, albeit a reproduction of my own making. The patterns that accompany the book have been provided by Kim McLean, an internationally known Australian quilter. She also gives clear written instructions in the accompanying disc to the book. So if you too desire a reproduction of a true blue Aussie quilt, there is no excuse…make one! Quilts: The Fabric of Society – Australia’s Quilt Heritage from Convict Times to 1960 by Annette Gero. Published by The Beagle Press, Sydney, 2009. 260mm x 310mm, 240pp, colour throughout, hard cover. ISBN 978-0-947349-55-4. RRP $120. www.annettegero.com These reviews appear in Issue 37 of Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure & Profit.
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If, on the
other hand, you’re looking for a meaty read on collectors and the history and culture of collecting art, you’ll be fascinated.
alike.
Not only is it beautifully presented on very high quality paper and full of the most glorious photographs of Australian quilts from the convict times until the 1960s, but it also contains quilting stories of how Aussies got from
then to now.