Contemporary at Waddesdon
Location: Dining Room and Blue Dining Room
From June 2013
From June we are delighted to be collaborating with the Holburne Museum in Bath on an exhibition of elaborately folded napkins and linen made by Catalan artist Joan Sallas after Renaissance and Baroque patterns. This will be the first time that such an exhibition has been held in the UK and the first time that Sallas has worked here.
Joan Sallas is the world’s leading authority on historic linen folding and a virtuoso folder. Based on meticulous research of court etiquette, he has almost singlehandedly revived the extraordinary art that first appeared in Renaissance Italy but reached its zenith in German speaking lands in the 17th century. Sallas has exhibited across Europe and USA, but never in the UK. The exhibition at the Holburne and at Waddesdon will be the first time audiences here will have the opportunity to see this remarkable and spectacular art-form from a highly-skilled and passionate artist.
In May 2013 Sallas and his assistant will work on site in the Dining Room to create a 1.5m high table fountain flanked by heraldic beasts, a 3m long snake and numerous animals, vegetables and architectural features – all original designs that would have graced the tables of courts and those of high-society across Europe. There will be opportunities for groups to meet the artist and to take part in hands-on have lessons to learn how these magnificent constructions are made.
The scale of the linen creations will vividly recreate the drama of the dining experience in the Baroque age and will relate to our 18th-century ceramics and silver. Sallas will also create a contemporary version of these magnificent centrepieces in the Blue Dining Room.
The exhibition can also be seen at the Holburne Museum from February to April 2013
Links: http://tweedlandthegentlemansclub.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/joan-sallas-magician-in-art-of.html