-pavilion diary
Painter Stig Evans has been awarded an Arts Council grant to be Artist in Residence at Brighton¹s Royal Pavilion for four months from December 2006. During that time, he will be working with the Conservation Department at the Royal Pavilion, looking into the history of the building¹s painted decorative schemes. A series of his works inspired by the project will be exhibited in the Pavilion from 12 March to 5 April 2007.
Stig Evans, who is normally based in Brighton & Hove, has just completed a year-long bursary at Sherborne House in Dorset as part of their Colour and Chemistry project. His work uses the analytical processes used in restoration to show the material construction of painted surfaces. These are the techniques that have also been applied to the restoration of the historic interiors of the Royal Pavilion.
This is the first time that there has been an artist in residence at the Royal Pavilion and the grant provides a unique opportunity for collaboration between the permanent Conservation team and the artist.
Week 10
5.02.07
I have been working on the glass paintings and developing the collaborative collage in the studio. I have been looking into Goethe colour theory, which was very influential at the beginning of the 1800’s. One colour I have talking about with the conservation the team is Peach Blossom which the Octagon hall has been painted in. After careful analysis of paint samples and historic records it is believed that the room was painted in this pinky brown colour. What is interesting is Goethe makes reference to Peach Blossom in his experiments with a prism. He stated that the ends of the visible spectrum, the red and the blue bent through a prism make this colour. This he considered the colour of affirmation and health!). Its opposite, on the circular spectrum he had devised, was green. The Octagon hall is peach blossom and the next room a visitor would enter is the entrance hall –which is green.
Week 9
29.01.07
Working on glass leaves room for absolutely no mistakes, as the paintings are viewed from the reverse, the first marks made will be visible. It is the opposite way from working on canvas. This week we organised an afternoon where all the staff in the Pavilion and Museum could come and see the work I have been doing and to come and collaborate with an enlarged drawing of Nash’s cross section view. The turn out was very good and everyone had a story, an idea or anecdote that we temporarily pinned onto the drawing. Stories ranged from Barbara Streisand being reprimanded for playing the piano in the Kings apartments to replacing the stuffed rat on display in the kitchen with a freeze dried one. Apart form the wealth of information everybody has about the building, what struck me most was the passion that everyone has for the place. /p>
Week 8
22.01.07
I have been making more cross sections from paint samples and analysing the samples under polarising microscope A particularly interesting sample is from what is thought to be an original door in the kitchen. Under the microscope it appears to have at least 30 layers of paint. Its also a great example of the difference between traditionally ground paint and modern paint as you can see quite clearly the much finer pigment particles over the modern paints in the upper layers. It is this sample that I have started this week to work up into a painting onto etched glass.
Week 7
15.01.07
Nash’s cross-section of the Pavilion is an interesting watercolour as it shows not only the interior decorations but also reveals the hidden structure to the building. I have started a copy of the cross section. Originally my intention was to make a kind of updated version using collage and drawing to define areas and changes in the certain rooms. I have been collecting replica wallpapers, taking photos of original decorations and testing out original techniques with the idea of incorporating these into the cross section. Like the pavilion itself, the work will reflect the fusion of original, unoriginal, restored and replicated materials.
I have been wanting to collaborate or at least incorporate as much of the pavilion staff’s ideas, thoughts, and understanding of the building and I thought this could be a good opportunity to capture some of it within the context of a collaborative piece. So I have set up a time in the next few weeks where all staff are invited to come and comment and add ideas to the cross section. .
Week 6
8.01.07
Continued on the drawings and have bought a Camera Lucida, which is an optical device for drawing. It was developed in the 19th C and although there is no record of Pugin using such a device, in his original drawings there appears to be minimal correction or preliminary sketching and I wondered if an optical device such as this could have been used. I haven’t had time to set it up yet but I am interested in seeing how Pugin has distorted his perspective to incorporate more of a room’s walls and ceilings.
I have also been identifying the pigments used in the various sky layers in the painted dome of the saloon. Often on walls and doors a scrape is done to literally ‘scrape back’ the layers in stages to reveal the previous colours used in a decorative scheme. This is not possible on a painting and is done on a microscopic level that requires a very small cross section sample. Under the microscope, each layer is carefully scraped and put onto a glass slide. This means that the pigment particles can be identified under a special polarising microscope. This can help to date each layer, but it is particularly important to me for making my final paintings.
Week 5
2.01.07
Working on more drawings, this week I have elaborated the Banqueting Room drawing more and have been comparing the changes between Nash’s view and how it is now. I have also started preliminary drawings for the Music Room and a ‘behind the scenes’ view of “the Bottle”, which is in the central Dome and used to be servants quarters and has been left untouched for years. All the walls are completely covered with signatures and graffiti dating from the 1830’s to the present day. In a way it its a fascinating ongoing social record to the people who have worked and visited the building throughout its lifespan.
Week 4
17.12.06
Monday morning the curator and I looked through the archives at the original prints and drawings in the collection. Pugins draughtsmanship is quite astounding, (the book reproductions are good, but in a way totally misleading) Its not so much the accuracy of line that amazes, but the subtly in weight within that accuracy (that gets completely lost in the reproductions) in conjunction with the solidity of objects from pure outline and attention (or obsession) to detail that makes for such incredible works. There also doesn’t seem to be any preliminary sketch marks or workings out either. I have started making a drawing of the banqueting room, taking Pugin’s view as the starting point. Looking at the differences and changes that have taken place.
Week 3
11.12.06
I have been looking into working on glass as a support to paint on. There is a huge amount of painted glass in the Pavilion, from chandeliers, freestanding lamps and skylights. I have been discussing with the conservation dept. the techniques used for painting on glass. Originally the glass would have been hand ground using carborundum to give the glass a key to work on. Acid etch is the modern substitute, sandblasting, interestingly, doesn’t work as a key as it creates a random etch that makes the paint run and bleed. I have borrowed a light box and found a local source that has given me some test glass and I have started experimenting with various opacities of paint. Looking at the various views that Nash, Pugin and others made of the interiors it has made me realise the relevance of these designs, drawings, watercolours and engravings in understanding the Pavilions’ past and present. I have been looking at Nash’s engravings and Pugins’ drawings “in situ’ from where they could have have sat.
Week 2
4.12.06
I have spent the week talking with most of the conservators who work within the Pavilion. This has enabled me to better understand the various restoration schemes that have been undertaken in the past as well as the present. It has been particularly useful in understanding the changes in the decorative schemes that happened beginning with the Marine Pavilion right through until the 1820’s and on to Victoria’s reign. I have been particularly interested in the saloon dome, which being relatively unchanged since Holland’s Marine Pavilion has a painted ceiling that has 3 painted skies under the existing Victorian one. We had a look at a sample of paint that was taken 20 years ago when work was being carried out on the ceiling. The cross-section revealed the numerous layers of paint (and paper) dating back to the 1787 olive green decorations by Biaggio Rebecca, two Crace skies from 1801-2 and 1805 respectively and a paper layer that dates from Robert Jones’ interventions of 1821-23 and finally the post 1851 sky that exists today. I find it intriguing that there are 4 different skies in the dome and I am starting to make some preliminary works that will hopefully develop into a final painting.
Week 1
27.11.06
I have started by walking around the pavilion and just looking. Looking at the decorations in the different rooms and looking behind the ‘public’ rooms to see the other rooms, storage areas, archive stores that as a visitor you don’t normally get to see. My first impression is the overwhelming amount of information and visual material there is to decipher. Each room or area has its own history and numerous transformations, that have occurred over 200 years both decoratively and structurally.