Time out london museums12/10/2023 Like Jim Ede and his museum-cum-home at Kettle’s Yard in Cambridge, modern art is mingled with found objects and other personal trinkets, taking a balanced, more accessible approach to living with art. Bridget Riley paintings and Henry Moore sculptures decorate the walls and garden, alongside a host of mid-century designers and surrealist artists, many of whom were friends with the Goldfingers. Not exactly a museum per-se, it nevertheless shows the full potential for art and design to come together in the most personal of settings, and offers a contemporary model for the home as a museum of sorts. Tucked away on a sleepy Hampstead street is a Modernist gem, the home of architect Ernö Goldfinger ( whose name famously inspired Ian Fleming’s Bond villain). (Louise Benson) Bridget Riley, Fugitive, 1962 and Ilse Crawford, Bench, 2018 at 2 Willow Road. Visitors can ride on a section of the Mail Rail, while above ground in a former Post Office depot a dizzying archive of mail-related objects and ephemera is also on show. The Postal Museum, which recently hit the spotlight as a nominee for Museum of the Year (the award ultimately went to Tate St Ives), unveils this hidden network, which few Londoners were aware of even while it remained actively in use. For almost a century, the Royal Mail used a subterranean railway system that stretched from Whitechapel to Paddington, fittingly named Mail Rail, to transport letters across the capital. Photo by Miles Willis Courtesy The Postal MuseumĪ remarkable slice of London’s history exists not in its palaces, skyscrapers and abundance of green park life, but tucked away below ground. (HB) Mail Rail train tunnel at The Postal Museum, London. Be sure to look out for the stuffed peacock too-he’s a great house pet. The rest of the house is filled with examples of his own work, that of his peers and original furniture that has been acquired over the years. It features an elaborately decorated hall complete with complex Islamic mosaics, a domed ceiling and a tranquil indoor fountain, for moments of quiet contemplation (naturally). The Victorian artist’s purpose-built studio home is as far from a live-work millennial loft as you can possibly imagine. Sir Frederic Lord Leighton’s “private palace of art” is truly transportational. Though entering the museum can feel like you’re stepping back in time, it also has an ongoing contemporary programme that constantly recontextualizes the legacy of the house and the man himself. The result is a veritable wunderkammer, filled with everything from a 3,000-year-old sarcophagus and Roman busts to paintings by Canaletto and Hogarth. This is Sir John Soane’s Museum, the former home of the eminent neo-classical architect who was intent on turning his residence into a permanent collection designed to educate cultural professionals and enthusiasts alike. Just behind Holborn’s bustling thoroughfare you’ll find Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a tranquil residential square with one particularly elaborate house. Out of Character at Sir John Soane’s Museum.
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