The Summer is Nearly Over but Russia Goes On

Thursday 31st May 2018

I feel that summer is nearly over yet it’s barely begun. It’s all the diarising and being in a terrible jumble, not able to keep up. All the summer jackets have sold out at Tiger of Sweden. And the summer is fully diarised, right into September really. So it’s as if one has already had it.

And I haven’t even finished covering the Russian visit. There’s the 20th century department of the Hermitage (incredible: v. complete, going right through from the Impressionists to Picasso), the second visit to the main Hermitage to improve grasp, the Pushkin flat where he died, and the surprise final visit to a remote suburb when I wore the Topman silver dress coat. Oh… and the Finland Station. We mustn’t forget that. And the Marriage of Figaro at the Marinsky Theatre.

In the meantime, my new Topman frock coat (Black watch tartan from Lochcarron tartan mill. 100% wool) has not made the impact I would have liked. I wore it at the family wedding when we united with Peru and had 10 courses at a Peruvian restaurant in Marylebone. The Gay Mother was in Alice Temperley and Aunt Lavinia in a dress coat by Hobbs. Their silhouettes were incredible at 86 and 94 respectively. But my Topman frock coat in tartan from Lochcarron (100% wool) – well, why bother? It was the same at the funeral of Robert Nevill’s sister’s partner’s mother who died at 104. So quickly gathered in the end. Had motored to Tamworth (where the pigs come from) only a few days before. Then went. Her final knitting was placed on her coffin. A burgundy red wool with two needles sticking out. At 99 she knitted The Queen Mother from the ‘Knit-Your-Own-Royal-Family’ set. Incredibly complex knitting. She got the brim of the off-the-face hat rolling back just right. I have the wooly QM in my proud possession. She said she wouldn’t knit another member: too difficult. But it seems that she did. The exact history of her knitting has become blurred even after a few years. Robert Nevill and I were mistaken for an item by the caring vicar newly arrived in the remote Marches from South Africa and equipped sadly with a dead wife. Quite good looking and I should imagine inundated with oven-ready lasagne made by eager ladies as all widowers are.

Reggie Cresswell gave a function last Saturday and a few days before Harry Rollo gave a perf. I hadn’t expected to be present but was bowled over. Bertram Dibantry also created a performance at top speed in which one nation was overcome by another. It was incredibly heroic and gigantic but the soldiers involved where all either not of medium height because short but not short either, or given over to Lust. It is not clear whether this terrible conquest ever happened in history. We knew about the soldiers because a Latin person from the Middle Ages dictated about them to Bertramus de Bantri who lived from 1194 to 1242 (approximately). Such a coincidence that he should have the same name as Bertram Dibantry himself, only done in Latin. But that’s Art for you. Everything comes together and makes a shape.

Reggie Cresswell’s function, the press opening of the Temperate House at Kew, Absolute Hell given at the National Theatre, The Moderate Soprano given at the Duke of York’s theatre – oh, and we mustn’t forget the toiletless weekend in Norfolk and my private visit to Raynham Hall where I was received by the Marquis and Marchioness quite privately – all that will have to wait. Not to mention my ventures in lime plastering and quest for summer slacks.

In the meantime, here are some graphs from the Hermitage, General Staff Building, where the art from the Impressionists onwards is stored. One of the glories of St Petersburg. And free of all association with Revolution, Terror and bad Tsars. Except I don’t know how all these paintings come to be in Russia.

So Strange: I thought this was by Manet but it's Degas. Really Great Picture though

So Strange: I thought this was by Manet but it’s Degas. Really Great Picture though

Didn't know Seurat did This Colour: Incredibly Great

Didn’t know Seurat did This Colour: Incredibly Great

Wires on this Seurat

Wires on this Seurat

I think This Cezanne Totally Great: A Picture of Nothing but so Braced

I think This Cezanne Totally Great: A Picture of Nothing but so Braced

Even the Van Gogh is Good

Even the Van Gogh is Good

Picasso Blue Period: Yes. No to Later Picasso

Picasso Blue Period: Yes. No to Later Picasso

Bonnard on a Rainy Day

Bonnard on a Rainy Day

This Bonnard is Buckled: Lots of Bonnard, Whom I Didn't know. Splotchy but that's the Point

This Bonnard is Buckled: Lots of Bonnard, Whom I Didn’t know. Splotchy but that’s the Point

Now this Matisse you Do Know

Now this Matisse you Do Know: Why Has She got no Eyes? 

Also this One: Incredibly Well-Known in Red

Also this One: Incredibly Well-Known in Red

Another Classic Matisse

Another Classic Matisse

A Pastel Matisse: Rare and Great

A Pastel Matisse: Rare and Great

 

 

 

Posted Friday, June 1, 2018 under Adrian Edge day by day.

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