Plates with personality bring charm to the table
WHen the art historian, kenneth Clark, commissioned the Bloomsbury Group artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant in 1932 to create a dinner service, he perhaps hadn’t expected to receive a feminist history lesson.
The 50 plates Bell and Grant delivered were each hand-painted with the faces of 50 famous women. kenneth Clark, best known for his Tv series Civilisation, was taken aback. ‘as usual with commissions it turned out differently to what we had expected,’ he recorded a little glumly. But his wife Jane, who had been writing to Bell discussing the commission, liked the artists’ idea of celebrating women from all sorts of fields.
Now those 50 faces — Christina Rossetti, Mary, Queen of Scots, Cleopatra, Marie antoinette, Queen Victoria, Virginia Woolf, emily Bronte and Greta Garbo, pictured, among them — are on display in a new exhibition space at Charleston, the Bloomsbury Group’s retreat near Lewes, east Sussex.
Did the Clarks serve cake from Marie antoinette or eat tea- time sandwiches presented on Queen Victoria? either way, the plates would have sparked dinner party discussion — surely what Bell and Grant intended.
It’s a timely show because faces are popping up all over the place. If our dinner guests are dull it doesn’t matter, our tableware has personality.
Some of these portrait plates are so lovely, they’re too good to eat from. Hang those on the wall instead.
This summer a ceramics collection for Habitat by the London-based supper club duo, Laura Jackson and alice Levine, was an instant hit, selling out within three hours.
‘ Figurative illustration is having a moment,’ says kate Butler, head of design at Habitat. ‘It’s striking a chord with customers who like this playful style.’
Hand-painted in the Fasano factory in Puglia, Southern Italy, the range will be back in store from next month. the faces on the plates are described in expressive brushstrokes, the plate rims decorated with polka dots.
In mustard and red or olive green and pink, they will prolong that summer feel, (£20 for a platter, £12 for a side plate, habitat.co.uk). the store has launched another collaboration with the faux fur clothing brand Shrimps. Rather disquieting cartoon-like faces by Shrimps’ founder Hannah Weiland appear on tea towels, cushions and rugs. More serene are the visage vases inspired by the easter Island statues, £25, also at Habitat. Meanwhile, Liberty is celebrating the ceramic illustrations of Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) with a range inspired by the work of the French poet. Cocteau came to ceramics, aged 68, and was influenced by Picasso. ‘Picasso told me that if I put a ceramic in the kiln, I would be lost. But I have always taken great pleasure in being lost,’ he said. Made in Limoges porcelain by the French brand Raynaud and starring Greek gods, these gorgeous pieces are made to be admired (£95, libertylondon.com).
The interior designer and artist Luke edward Hall also takes inspiration from ancient Greece and is known for his handsome otherworldly portraits.
Luke’s Faces dinner plate comes in turquoise, pink, red and orange (€55 each emporiosirenuse.com). While his dreamy Friend platter is more artwork than tableware, £295, alexeagle.co.uk.
If you want to display your plates, then you need a dresser. John Lewis has the audley oak large dresser for £1,038, johnlewis.com.
Auction houses seem to be almost giving away brown furniture. the Sale Room has several, ranging from a ercol dresser in a dark stain with an opening price of £25 (September 11 auction) to a George III oak dresser with an estimate between £ 500 and £ 700 ( September 12 to 13 auction), the-saleroom.com.