Lines of Beauty
Rococo plasterwork and the art of Geoffrey Preston
4 June - 6 September 2015
An exhibition exploring the history of decorative plasterwork from the
Rococo splendour of the Foundling Hospital Court Room to
contemporary designs
Lines of Beauty investigates the 400-year-old tradition of decorative
plasterwork through the history of the Foundling Museum’s exquisite
interiors, the restoration of historic houses and the creation of stand-alone
artworks by modern master craftsman, Geoffrey Preston.
Image:
The Foundling
Hospital Court Room ©
The Foundling Museum
The exhibition includes a range of objects from small, beautifully-modelled
relief panels, to the Museum’s exuberant Rococo ceiling, which was
designed over 250 years ago by Georgian craftsman and entrepreneur
William Wilton. The ceiling was donated by Wilton to the Foundling
Hospital in the 1740s, forming part of a larger collection of artworks and
furniture built up predominantly through generous donations by artists.
These beautiful objects and furnishings were salvaged when the Foundling
Hospital building was demolished in the 1920s. The Court Room ceiling was
saved and remarkably recreated, piece by piece, and can be admired today
in its entirety at the Foundling Museum.
Lines of Beauty
Rococo plasterwork and the art of Geoffrey Preston
4 June - 6 September 2015
Casting contemporary light on Wilton’s Georgian masterpiece, this
exhibition also looks at the work of Geoffrey Preston, one of the UK’s
leading architectural sculptors and a specialist in decorative plasterwork
and the art of stucco. Preston was responsible for the pioneering restoration
of the eighteenth-century hand-modelled plasterwork at Uppark House in
1992-3. Design drawings, models and photographs will be on display from
some of his principal commissions, including Great Fulford in Devon and
the National Trust’s Uppark House in West Sussex. Different processes and
techniques are examined through photographs and drawings alongside a
display of the artist’s own tools and materials.
Foundling Museum Director, Caro Howell says:
“While the story of artists such as Hogarth, Handel and Gainsborough
generously donating work to the Foundling Hospital is celebrated, less well
known are the many master craftsmen who likewise gave freely of their skills.
William Wilton’s magnificent rococo Court Room ceiling never fails to take one’s
breath away. Lines of Beauty provides an opportunity for us to focus on this
extraordinary work of art and to view it through the lens of contemporary
practice, specifically the work of renowned master craftsman Geoffrey Preston”
Image left:
Geoffrey Preston working
on a clay model based
on a Tintoretto
painting of Bacchus,
Venue & Ariadne, 2013
© nickcarterphotography.com
Image right:
A detail of a new rococo
ceiling, based on stucco
at Ottobeuren Abbey in
Bavaria, 2011 © nickcarterphotography.com
Press Enquiries
David Lasserson or Amanda Mead
Brunswick Arts
020 7936 1290
[email protected]
Lines of Beauty
Rococo plasterwork and the art of Geoffrey Preston
4 June - 6 September 2015
Visitor Information
The Foundling Museum
40 Brunswick Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 1AZ
T: +44 (0)20 7841 3600
E: [email protected]
foundlingmuseum.org.uk
Open: Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00 - 17:00 and Sunday, 11:00 - 17:00
Admission: £8.25 (including Gift Aid), concession £5.50 (including Gift Aid)
Tube and train: Russell Square, King’s Cross St Pancras and Euston
Notes to Editors
The Foundling Museum explores the history of the Foundling Hospital, the UK’s
first children’s charity and first public art gallery, and through a regular programme
of events and exhibitions celebrates the ways in which artists of all disciplines have
helped improve children’s lives for over 275 years.
The Foundling Hospital, which continues today as the children’s charity Coram,
was established in 1739 by the philanthropist Captain Thomas Coram, as ‘a
hospital for the maintenance and education of exposed and deserted young
children’. Instrumental in helping Coram realise his vision were the artist William
Hogarth, who encouraged all the leading artists of the day to donate work, and the
composer George Frideric Handel, who gave annual benefit concerts of the
Messiah. In doing so, they created London’s first public art gallery and set the
template for the way that the arts could support philanthropy.
Coram has been creating better chances for children since 1739. They help
children and young people today through their pioneering work in adoption,
parenting support, housing support, alcohol and drug education, creative
therapies and championing legal rights in the UK and overseas.
www.coram.org.uk
Geoffrey Preston trained as a stonemason and carver after studying sculpture
at Hornsey College of Art in the early 1970s. He was a founding director of two of
the country’s most respected conservation companies and at the helm of many
significant projects such as Uppark House in 1992-3. In 2000, Geoffrey set up his
workshop in Devon to concentrate on making new decorative plasterwork and
sculpture. The workshop is thriving and employs a team of skilled sculptors who
work with Geoffrey on larger projects. www.geoffreypreston.co.uk