Turner

“Indistinctness is my forté”.

This is the eighteenth square of my London Faces Patchwork. It is a patchwork of papers gleaned from the pavements of the city in which I live. There are twenty-five squares making up the whole piece. You can see it here.

Joseph Mallord William Turner, artist and barber’s son.

Born in Covent Garden in 1775, died at 119 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, in 1851.

My 11th square, Mick Jagger, lived on the same street (No. 48), with Marianne Faithful. Katherine Hilbery, created by Virginia Woolf (my 15th square) in her second novel, also lived on Cheyne Walk.

The square is cut from a booklet given to me when I visited Tate Britain to see Late Turner: Painting Set Free, September 2014/January 2015. Turner On Varnishing Day, 1846 by William Parrott. Museums Sheffield.

Noel Coward

“No autographs, but you may touch my garment.”

This is the seventeenth square of my London Faces Patchwork. It is a patchwork of papers gleaned from the pavements of the city in which I live. There are twenty-five squares making up the whole piece. You can see it here.

Noel Coward, born in Teddington in 1899, died in 1973. Actor, playwright, composer, singer, Mr Bridger. Known for his wit and flamboyance.

Here he is doing his stuff.

This square is from the BBC archives, but I have no idea where I got it. I will keep looking.

Kate Moss and Allen Jones

“I was 14 when I started modeling. At the end of that first day my mum said, ‘If you want to do this, you’re on your own, because I’m not traipsing around London ever again like that. It’s a nightmare’ ” Kate Moss.

“As an artist, I have a responsibility to art. As a human being, I have a responsibility to society. I was brought up a socialist and I think of myself as a feminist and I don’t need to defend my political stance.” Allen Jones. From a Guardian interview, 2014.

This is the sixteenth square of my London Faces Patchwork. It is a patchwork of papers gleaned from the pavements of the city in which I live. There are twenty-five squares making up the whole piece. You can see it here.

Kate Moss was born in Croydon, 1974.

Allen Jones studied at The Royal College Of Art.

Taken from Body Armour by Allen Jones, 2013.

The Square is cut from a Royal Academy leaflet, advertising Jones’ retrospective in 2014.

Virginia Woolf

“You cannot find peace by avoiding life”.

This is the fifteenth square of my London Faces Patchwork. It is a patchwork of papers gleaned from the pavements of the city in which I live. There are twenty-five squares making up the whole piece. You can see it here.

Virginia Woolf, writer. Born in Kensington in 1882 (thanks Hilaire). Died in 1941, by her own hand.

Here is the only surviving recording of her voice, 1937.

In keeping with recent posts’ Fleet Street link; when Virginia and Leonard were first married (1912) they ate their daily meals at The Cock Tavern, having rented rooms at nearby Clifford’s Inn.

The square was cut from a National Portrait Gallery members’ booklet. The photograph was taken in 1927, but the photographer is unknown. Copyright: Mortimer Rare Book Room Neilson Library, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Boat Racers

“I can’t see who’s in the lead, but it’s either Oxford or Cambridge,” John Snagge, 1949.

This is the fourteenth square of my London Faces Patchwork. It is a patchwork of papers gleaned from the pavements of the city in which I live. There are twenty-five squares making up the whole piece. You can see it here.

These are not so much faces, as backs of heads. Although, ironically, ‘boat race’ is rhyming slang for ‘face’.

The Boat Race started in 1829, and is 4.2 miles. The official start and finish lines are marked by stones on the Thames. I have never seen these stones, but intend to go looking for them.

The square was cut from Vintage Sporting Posters Calendar 2015. Printed and published by J. Salmon, 2014. Artwork, I think, as it’s very difficult to read, is by Waterlow and Sons. This is likely as they did a lot of work for London Transport. Copyright, Transport For London.

 

Elizabeth 1

“Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak, you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind”.

This is the thirteenth square of my London Faces Patchwork. It is a patchwork of papers gleaned from the pavements of the city in which I live. There are twenty-five squares making up the whole piece. You can see it here.

Elizabeth 1, born in Greenwich, 1533, died in Richmond, 1603. Reigned, 1558-1603.

When she was young, her father had her mother executed. Elizabeth was imprisoned in The Tower.

There is a statue of Elizabeth in St. Dunstan’s Churchyard. It is thought to be the only statue carved in her lifetime, although the date (1586) is barely legible. It has stood in this spot for over 170 years.

It once stood at the bottom of Ludgate Hill, not far away from its present site.  After The Great Fire in 1666, it is said to have been moved to the basement of a nearby pub, where it was forgotten about. It was rediscovered when the pub was demolished in 1839.

St. Dunstan’s is on Fleet Street. The same street where my 11th square, David Bailey, worked at the age of 15. The churchyard, where in 1605 you could buy copies of Hamlet by Shakespeare, subject of my 9th square. Also, Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of my previous square, regularly used to drink at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, on Fleet Street. The alleyways in that area are said to be the inspiration for ‘The Adventure Of The Red-Headed League’.

The square is cut from a leaflet for the exhibition Elizabeth 1 & Her People, National Portrait Gallery, October 2013/January 2014. ‘Ermine’ Portrait attributed to Nicholas Hilliard, 1585. Copyright, Marquess of Salisbury, Hatfield House.

Sherlock Holmes

“London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained”. A Study In Scarlet, 1887.

This is the twelfth square of my London Faces Patchwork. It is a patchwork of papers gleaned from the pavements of the city in which I live. There are twenty-five squares making up the whole piece. You can see it here.

Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective.

A Study In Scarlet was written two years before my first square, Charlie Chaplin, was born.

When I was about fifteen, I became a bit obsessed with those Conan Doyle stories, reading each one quite a few times. I passed this obsession on to my sister. We fancy ourselves as experts. We both like to think we know more than the other. It can get a bit nasty. Possibly the worst argument we have ever had  (we have had plenty) was started by Sherlock.

Just to keep with the Fleet Street connection of the previous post, the Cheshire Cheese pub was a favourite haunt of Conan Doyle.  The alleyways in that area are said to be the inspiration for The Adventure Of The Red-Headed League.

The square was cut from a leaflet for an exhibition at The Museum of London. Sherlock Holmes, The Man Who Never Lived And Will Never Die. It was a great exhibition, the entrance was disguised as a bookcase. There is no mention of the designer.