So I have had a break (first break away in 2 years actually!) I went away for the week on a girls holiday just me and my Mum to Bournemouth. We was so lucky because the weather was LUSH! heatwave all day everrrry day!!
I wanted to make the most of my break away but also try and find some Arty stuff to be inspired by. After a google search and seeing some posters around Bournemouth I came across the Russell – Cotes museum; although it isn’t really Art and Design as such it looked like an interesting walk around for the morning.
The morning turned into mid-afternoon as we had a guided tour and the tour guide ran over his chat by an hour and a half! He was however very knowledgeable and did give us a good insight and picture of the house and the extraordinary couple who owned it! I feel like if we hadn’t of had him to guide us around we would have walked around this house at the strange artwork wondering what on earth it was all about!
Basically Russell – Cotes (Merton) built the house to give himself “celebrity status” in Bournemouth but also as a gift for his wife in their later years. They both enjoyed travelling the world and bringing back artwork and souvenirs from their travels and putting them into the house but also in the Royal Bath Hotel (which they also owned- next door to the house!)
Merton was a delboy! – He came from nothing and by just being a bit of a “jack the lad” he managed to climb the social ladder and mingle with royalty and celebrities. He was obsessed with celebrity life and liked to collect items from celebrities of the day. If he was alive today he would definitely buy his copy of heat magazine for the celeb gossip!!
However, the day consisted of browsing around his weird and wonderful art collection and looking at the original house. He certainly was a unique man for his day and age; the “marble” pillars in the house were made of fake marble… the “leather” wallpaper and “embossed plastered ceilings” were all fake! All wallpaper from a catalogue at the time! He faked it until he made it!
He fabricated stories to get people interested In his house and hotel and even lied about his origins.. trying to pass himself off for an aristocratic Cotes family that he had no relation to! He created family coats of arms which he placed all over the house – these interested me because he took icons from his wife’s history and his own and then made them into symbols for the coats of arms!
There was a strong influence of cherubs too; I have noticed that cherubs are making a comeback and are quite fashionable at the moment! I have done a post about this! (It relates back to my postcard designs!) The cherubs for him symbolised the love for his wife.
There was a room in the house that was my favourite, the morning room. The original roof in this room was destroyed in the war when a German parachute mine destroyed the East cliff. They then enlisted an artist called Anna Zinkeisen to repaint the ceiling. She was well known for designing posters for London transport, the original Quality Street tins and the murals on the R.M.S Queen Mary liner. I felt that this is a connection to Design history. The ceiling portrayed Aurora riding in on her chariot.
Some of her work I have researched into since! Definitely has a Graphic Design influence!
Another thing about the house that gave a subtle nod to Design and the thought processes behind it was the stained glass roof and a fountain in the main entry room. The tour guide explained to us that the stained glass mirrored the fountain design; The design is the sun rising, the sun being at its highest in the day and then again setting. It used simple symbols.
Overall it was a very pretty place to visit with a lot of history and passion for what they both obviously enjoyed. They virtually gave everything away at the time of their deaths and they passed on their house to the people of Bournemouth to be a museum to which it still stands today.
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