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Paul Murphy
THOMAS HOPE, REGENCY DESIGNER: VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON, LONDON
Thomas Hope, eminent Regency period designer and visionary, is given a makeover at the V & A Museum. What's interesting about Thomas Hope, giving his life and work a very modern inflection, is his eclecticism, travels through the former Ottoman Empire, willingness to experiment, to create fusions and juxtapositions of the different cultures that captivated him. In this sense his work is thoroughly Post-Modern (but Post-Modernism seems also to be so retrograde) Recreations of his travels, rooms at Duchess Street off Portland Place, London and mansion at Deepdene, Surrey complement this exhibition.
Hope is portrayed at the entrance to the exhibition in Ottoman guise. Themes of exoticism and orientalism are entwined in his design, something that had begun to surface in Europe as a fashion or fad at this time. For instance the Turkish harem in Mozart's opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail which foregrounds Eurocentric attitudes (to love, sexuality and honour). Obviously Hope's portrayal of himself as an Oriental tells us something important about Hope, his life and work, his position in society, his attitudes to culture and difference. Of course Thomas Hope origins were in Holland not England, (born in Amsterdam in 1769) offering us a clue to his cosmopolitanism, eclecticism, willingness to expose himself to the foreign and alien at a time when most British people, if they knew anything about Turkey at all, probably regarded Ottoman Turks as heathens or barbarians. But Hope wanted to embrace the Orient, to imply that he is a person who can simultaneously occupy two entirely different, in many senses mutually incompatible cultures.
A series of intricate sketches depict Hope's travels through Turkey, Egypt and the Levant. These are unbelievably detailed, unbelievably beautiful pieces that might qualify (but not quite) as art. They are the work of Hope, a highly skilled draughtsman, creating translucent sketches and allowing us a glimpse of the Ottoman Empire at its height (and not as it latterly became 'the sick man of Europe').
Entire rooms from Duchess St are reconstructed, such as the Aurora Room with black felt edged mirrors draped with black and orange silk. Furniture evinces an eclectic mix of Classicism, modern Islamic design and ancient Egyptian. Hope is unbelievably predicting Post-Modernism. Its clear that he was far ahead of his time. Its also clear that his furniture is better and sturdier than that made today.
Deepdene is reconstructed, but only as a model, since it was knocked down sometime ago. It seems to have been the centrepiece of Hope's achievement, some of its beauty is reconstructed through Hope's sketches.
This exhibition is exceptionally well constructed, structured and offers us a fascinating insight into the era when modern interior design was created.
Paul Murphy, London
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