WORK BY THE CAMPANA BROTHERS AND JEFF KOONS LAUNCH ...



A new catalogue of Printed Books and Bookbindings marks the completion of the important Waddesdon Catalogue Series, and the final publication of eminent author and book specialist, Giles Barber. The James A. de Rothschild Bequest: Printed Books and Bookbindings, published by the Rothschild Foundation, 2013, presents a scholarly analysis of Waddesdon’s outstanding collection of largely 18th-century French books. These were collected by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild towards the end of his life, partly to complement the collections of 18th-century paintings and decorative arts, but also as works of art in their own right thanks to their intricately decorated gold-stamped bindings. The Waddesdon collection is one of the finest of its kind in the world, and the publication of the catalogue allows many of these treasures to be revealed to public for the first time. A monumental work in two volumes, the first offers a series of essays, which chart the history of bookbinding, from the materials and techniques used, the histories of the binders themselves, the role of the patron and collector and the fluctuations of the market. One unique feature is the photographic index of every tool used on each book in the catalogue. All the books have been scanned and the individual tools isolated reprographically and reproduced at actual size. As many as 50 separate tools could be used in the creation of a prestigious binding, and being able to identify each one precisely allows comparisons with books in other collections and attributions to particular workshops to be made more accurately than ever before. The Books and Bookbindings catalogue is also the final publication in the thirteen-volume Waddesdon Catalogue series, which covers the James A. de Rothschild Collection at the Manor as bequeathed to the National Trust. Waddesdon holds one of the most significant collections of 18th century works of art in the world, comparable with similar holdings in the V&A, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum and the Wallace Collection. The impetus to create the catalogue series arose when, on the death of James de Rothschild, the house was bequeathed to the National Trust and the need to make the collections accessible to the public and scholars became pressing. James’s widow, Dorothy, who took over the management of the house and ran Waddesdon until her death in 1988, set up a Catalogue Committee, headed initially by Anthony Blunt, then Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was succeeded as General Editor of the series by Geoffrey de Bellaigue, later Director of the Royal Collection. The first volume, Paintings, by Ellis Waterhouse, appeared in 1967, and over the ensuing half century all the major subject areas of the Collections have been covered, each catalogue written by an eminent specialist in the field. The result is an exemplar in art publishing, with many of the titles, in which world-class objects benefit from exhaustive expert research, setting the standard in their fields. This tradition of inviting eminent specialists to write the catalogues was especially true of Giles Barber, an internationally acknowledged expert with an unique encyclopaedic knowledge of the French bookbinders’ art. Barber’s career encompassed the Bodleian and the Taylor Institution at Oxford alongside independent writing and research, and included this last extensive catalogue for Waddesdon. Very sadly, Giles died unexpectantly in 2012, leaving the overseeing of the final editorial stages to the former Keeper of the Collections at Waddesdon, Rosamund Griffin, a role she has carried out on almost all the previous catalogues. For further information, a pamphlet on the series and the opportunity to see examples of the books, please contact: Theresa Simon or Natasha Plowright at Theresa Simon & Partners020 7734 4800 theresa@ natasha@orVicky Darby at Waddesdon Manor 01296 653 231 vicky.darby@.ukVisitor information and opening times: .ukWaddesdon Manor, Waddesdon, Near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP18 0JH-Ends-NOTES TO EDITORS A brief history of the Catalogue Collection:When James de Rothschild died in 1957 and the house and the majority of the collections were handed over to the National Trust, his widow, Dorothy, took over the management of the Manor. Almost immediately, discussions began as to how to interpret the collections, and satisfy the immense curiosity from the scholarly world about its contents which were almost completely unpublished and therefore unknown to all but a handful of specialists. In 1958, Victor, 3rd Lord Rothschild and the present Lord Rothschild's father, who sat on the board of the Waddesdon Trust (set up by James to oversee the running of the Manor) and who as a eminent bibliophile had a particular interest in the books, urged the National Trust to consider a catalogue. "In view of the scale and quality of the collection" he wrote in November "the catalogues of porcelain, textiles and bindings should become the standard works on these subjects; the catalogue of furniture should become, with the Wallace Collection, one of the two standard works; the catalogue of paintings should become a work of considerable importance". A Catalogue Committee was set up under the chairmanship of Anthony Blunt, then Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art. Geoffrey de Bellaigue (later Sir Geoffrey), who later became Director of the Royal Collection, was taken on as Catalogue Assistant, gathering information for the Furniture catalogue. He then, of course, went on to write it himself. Published in 1974, it remains one of the most admired in the Waddesdon series, and became a model of its kind for depth of scholarship and readability. Geoffrey retained his links with Waddesdon after his departure for the Royal Collection in 1963, becoming General Editor of the Catalogue series, and an active member of Waddesdon's Academic Committee, which oversees the work of the Collection Dept, right up to his much-mourned death in late 2012.In 1963, his role as Catalogue Assistant was taken over by Rosamund Griffin, who later became Keeper of the Collections at the Manor. Working closely first with Mrs James and then with Lord Rothschild and Waddesdon colleagues, she has steered all thirteen volumes through to completion, supporting the authors and applying her extraordinary knowledge of the collections to the task of editing and overseeing each to publication. In many ways, the Waddesdon Catalogue is a monument to her devotion and what Mrs James termed the "sky-high standards" which are so much a part of the Manor's history.The Waddesdon Catalogue comprises:Paintings by Ellis Waterhouse, 1967 Office du LivreSevres Porcelain by Svend Erikson, 1968 Office du LivreSculpture by Terence Hodgkinson, 1970 Office du LivreMeissen and Oriental Porcelain by R.J Charleston & John Ayres, 1971 Office du Livre Arms, Armour and Base-Metalwork by Claude Blair, 1974 Office du LivreFurniture, Clocks & Gilt Bronzes by Geoffrey de Bellaigue, 1974 Office du LivreGold Boxes by Serge Grandjean, Kirsten Aschengreen Piacenti, Charles Truman & Anthony Blunt, 1975 Office du LivreIlluminated Manuscripts by L.M.J Delaisse, James Marrow & John de Wit, 1977 Office du LivreGlass & Enamels by R.J Charleston, Michael Archer, Madeleine Marcheix 1977 Office du LivreThe Savonnerie by Pierre Verlet, 1982 Office du LivreArchitecture & Panelling by Bruno Pons, 1996 Philip WilsonDrawings for Architecture, Design and Ornament by Alastair Laing, Martin Meade, Michael Jacobs, J.W. Neimeijer, Michael Snodin, Christopher White and Karin Wolfe, 2006, The Alice TrustGiles Barber, Biography:Giles Barber, who died in 2012, started his career at the Bodleian Library and was later Librarian of the Taylor Institution, Oxford. He wrote extensively on ancien régime printing, publishing and book-collecting, as well as on bookbinding. He gave both the Panizzi Lectures in the British Library (1988) and the Sandars Lectures at Cambridge (1998), and was Commandeur in the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.About Waddesdon Manor:Waddesdon Manor was built in 1877 by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to display his outstanding collection of art treasures and to entertain the fashionable world. It combines the highest quality 18th century French decorative arts, magnificent English portraits and Dutch Old Master paintings with one of the finest Victorian gardens in Britain, famous for its parterre and ornate working Aviary. The house was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957 and is now managed by a family charitable trust, the Rothschild Foundation, under the chairmanship of Lord Rothschild. Waddesdon is one of the most visited historic house among England’s National Trust properties. The collections are a reflection of the passions of the Rothschilds who created and have cared for Waddesdon, from Ferdinand de Rothschild, who built the Manor in the late 19th-century to Jacob, the present Lord Rothschild, through whom contemporary collecting has been revived.Waddesdon also mounts a vibrant programme of exhibitions focussed on the historic collections, whether exploring particular themes through the collections or to celebrate new acquisitions. These have included collaborations with the Metropolitan Museum in New York, The Wallace Collection and in 2012 a small but significant exhibition celebrating the acquisition of a painting by J-S. Chardin, “Taking Time: Chardin’s Boy building a house of cards and other paintings” which drew together major international loans. In 2013 exhibitions include “Sacred Stitches: Ecclesiastical Textiles from the Rothschild Collection which explores a little-known aspect of the collections in store, textiles which were acquired by various members of the family to use as furnishing fabrics, and "Folded Beauty", a collaboration with the Catalan artist Joan Sallas and the Holburne Museum in Bath which recreates the astonishing creations made in folded linen to decorate grand tables in the 17th, 18th and 19th-centuries. In 2014 plans include an exhibition on 18th-century portrait sculpture organised in partnership with the Yale Centre for British Art in Harvard, and a collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the British Museum to display a magnificent 3rd-century Roman mosaic from Lod in Israel.Waddesdon is pleased to support Trust New Art, a collaboration between Arts Council England and the National Trust aimed at promoting contemporary arts and crafts in historic properties. Arts Council England and the National Trust believe that placing high quality and innovative contemporary art within historic settings can inspire artists and audiences and encourage new ways of looking at the work and the world.The Coach House opened as a new venue for contemporary art exhibitions in the grounds of the Manor in April 2009 with an Angus Fairhurst retrospective, in collaboration with Arnolfini, Bristol. In 2010 it showed contemporary chandeliers by Brazilian designers, the Campana brothers, while Jeff Koons’ Cracked Egg (Blue) was displayed in the Conservatory. In 2011 the Coach House showed Andy Warhol’s Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century, while 2012 was a landmark year with a series of site-specific installations throughout the ground floor of the Manor by ceramicist Edmund de Waal, a collaboration with Christie's to create a major exhibition of contemporary sculpture and the first in a series of collaborations with light artist Bruce Munro for the Winter Season.Visitors can also see sculpture in the grounds of the house by Stephen Cox and Xavier Veilhan, the latest acquisition by the Rothschild Foundation. Veilhan (b. 1963) is a French artist who lives and works in Paris. His work includes photography, sculpture, film, painting and installation art. There is also a growing collection of contemporary art at Windmill Hill, the home of the Archive and the offices of the Rothschild Foundation on the Waddesdon Estate which includes work by Anish Kapoor, Richard Long, Sarah Lucas, Angus Fairhurst and Michael Craig-Martin. Contemporary works in the house include paintings by Lucian Freud and David Hockney, as well as a specially commissioned contemporary chandelier by the German lighting designer Ingo Maurer. Waddesdon also works with design students from the Royal College of Art and art students from the Ruskin School of Art to develop innovative product for Waddesdon’s shop ................
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