The Secret Life of Sir Edward James...

Edward William Frank James (1907–1984)

Thoughts from a simple Traveller - "Shabby Chic" and Eccentricity

(Photo by Tavarua)

A few years back in Clubland -  I overheard a conversation about "Shabby Chic" 


 Rather interesting concept "Shabby Chic"

I was amused????

"Shabby Chic" 

Well, is that what we call it???

Hmmm - a style of intelllectual and social overtone appering as an effortless understated elegance of times passed by.  Interiors that bring back life of an era of unsurpassed good quality and taste.  Well, now suddenly "someone" had assigned a old way of living/life a name and thought about reproducing it of how many grew up and lived. Pasted down from generation to generation with the imprint of old faded grandeur, peeling paint from untouched walls, faded old fabrics, the rich painted canvases, tooled leather, chipped and scuffed solid mahogny furniture, piles of old leather bound volumes, crumbling leather - an interior which had aged in its own way until it has reached that perfect comfort of plain simplicity and dignified old age.  

Aesthetic splendours  - eccentric untamed sophistication from the days of Under Canvas to Ancestral homes. Maybe it does not follow any pattern at all.  Perhaps it just follow the character of the person who lives there.


  Does it have to do with Eccentricity? We know that the Eccentrics do not care about what is in fashion, rules, criticism, money or time which are all of little concern for them. Their mind has a creative impulse as well as an uconforming attitude.  Sometimes definitely serious Eccentricity and sometimes making the best of what you had/have - when there were no money to repair,restore or to replace. 

"Shabby Chic" - This is and will always be an atmosphere that can never artificially be recreated.  "Shabby Chic" is a bourgeois concept.


Still - Interior Decoration is one of life's greatest creative pleasures.

My father was a true Eccentric... (Part II)

(Photo - family archives)

Well, you asked and it is true.

 My parents were different - they came from two "worlds" of eccentric behavior.  Their understanding of society their own.

To be their only son I had the inheritance and privileges to observe at close these characters of an older era and the originality of their characters. I do think born to these conditions and to have the good fortune to understand what I saw made my life more interesting.

It is not my intention to portray my father whom I have inherited certain ranges of interest and veins of thought. Only a section of his character.

The behavior of our ancestors reincarnated once more in my dear father. The family shows a string of several successful literary members and artists - Could this be the answer? Very likely not. My father never wrote any books or any great poems of note although he was a gifted writer and could write at large. He did always find something to do and did this meticulously whatever it would be at the time. His eccentricity was clearly a family trait and he definitely displayed many unusual behaviors and habits in his daily life.

In his health and food habits - in his obsessive collections as well as in his artistic creations and inventions.

He had a vivid visual imagination and could explain in detail the most interesting stories. His rules - nobody else's.

Was it a limited choice that life presented for him?

He found a refuge in himself - Perhaps work, simplicity, collecting, and the sporting life narrowed down to his own perceptions. His unusual eating habits when convinced that he would live on a certain fish sort for years (which he did) or his focus on the onion family Alliaceae...(well then..garlic)for its culinary and medicinal purpose (but raw?)and was it just European garlic from specific regions in Italy and France - I never asked.

His habit of filling rooms to the "ceilings" with collections of whatever amused and interested him at that time for some years to come...He did not posses a great understanding...for life outside his own - his opinions could never be bent or molded...

His standards were high and he had many rules. We had numerous discussions and he spoke to me about family, honor, tradition and responsibility.  I thank him, indeed because he taught me and I got to understand at an early age that life is far more interesting than we can ever imagined. 


Our winds of thoughts are our blossoms to free ourselves and open our minds to make use of our desires, dreams, aspirations, and ideals.

My father did... so do I - Just slightly different...

The Art of Life - From the family archives...

(Photo - family archives)

My mother stated : I can close my eyes and still have a perfect score...

She has her own world, style and her own rules...

She is always cheerful and still laughs at the world...

From the days of my childhood - She told me it is nothing in life to worry about and it is nothing you cannot achive...

(Photo - family archives)

She said: It is another world out there called life and freedom - Discover the beautiful side of life...in anything...

The world spinns around you...travel, explore,

observe, achieve and maintain your experiences...

 My destiny was determined...

- Joie de vivre -

Here I am holding on to a ball or is it the world of discovery?.....soon I was bitten by the travel bug - it now runs in my  veins....forever......

“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”

- Pat Conroy

An Eccentric - Eccentric - Eccentric - Rebel - 7th Marquess of Bath

Alexander George Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath was born in 1932 - an eccentric and rather colorful Lord. He was educated at Eton. Art was close to his heart already when he was a young man. He studied under Wilfred Blunt, Oliver Thomas and Gerald Leet at Eton.

In Paris - he joined the art scene of the legendary La Rive Gauche - the "Left Bank". The old era of artists has always been connected with the Left Bank - Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Henri Matisse, Nancy Cunard, Anais Nin, Gertrude Stein...here the life style of bohemians - writers, philosophers,photographers, poets, and artists...can be seen an lived....Atmosphere - fill your soul - Boulevard Saint Germain des Pré's....

.

Longleat - 1675 - Artist - Jan Siberechts

On the death of his father in 1992 he (Viscount Weymouth) became the 7th Marquess of Bath and took control of Longleat House a very attractive stately home which, is set within 900 acres of magnificent landscaped parkland with a further 8000 acres of nature.

His life..... art, writing, and music....

which, you can follow througout his life in his paintings and writings. You can experience his murals entitled "keyhole glimpse into my psyche" at Longleat House.

The Red Library at Longleat has approximately 40000 books... for us who like books....

Strictly Private to Public Exposure - his Biography/autobiography consisting of six volumes.

His "Wifelets" that is another story......

If you could have a collection of Ivory ...Would a small one please you?

Nancy Cunard - Photo By Man Ray.....

Nancy Cunard could do it......wearing multiply ivory bracelets.....Well,well,well

A nice evening at the Muthaiga Club or the Rand Club..wear one.. with that simple dress I am sure your personality will bring out beauty reincarnated...

..and back at your campsite - make yourself comfortable in your Rorkhee chair - wrap up in a blanket and let the kikoy cover your legs - in front of the campfire - listen to the sounds of the African night - Open your lap desk and write a story about.....that special day...- Your life is a Safari..

Dinka - Ivory Bracelet........

Mursi - Ivory Bracelets

Mursi - Ivory Bracelets..

Bracelet - Fibre and Tusks...

Bracelet - Fibre and Hog Tusks

Lotuko - Bracelet - Warthog Tusks.........

An Eccentric Woman and Patroness of the Arts - Marchesa Luisa Casati

Marchesa Luisa Casati

1881 - 1946

"A continent in the claws of a Cheetah"

Smooth, Elegant and Dangerous

Exotic -Dramatic - Extravagant - intense - Burning Desire -Dominant- look at the eyes and the expression of this woman..for over three decades she ruled as an icon, a sculpture, a woman of inspiration- for a continent..(Still we find the memory of her in fashion and design etc. flare up once more).She lived at several Palazzos one was Venier dei Leoni - Venice - Italy. This is the woman who had her pet Cheetahs as part of her dramatic appearance - She introduced snakes as jewellery - we do not experience that to often...

Eccentric - Eccentric - Eccentric..

She would make an imprint and an impression which would not be forgotten on all people she ever came in contact with - Jean Cocteau - Colette -Cecil Beaton - Erté - Baron Adolph de Meyer - Man Ray -Nijinsky - Isadora Duncan - Picasso - Marcel Proust - Comte Robert de Montesquiou - Elsa Schiaparelli- Coco Chanel.

She was titled Marchesa di Roma and was the inspiration for Cartier's panther. Love for Palaces, her exotic animals and an extravagant taste for life which, would one day have her in a dept of 25 million dollars.

Her appearance made her a legend throughout the continent. When I write living sculptures about women - one of her expressions was that she would like to be a living piece of art. Definitely.

My Father was a true Eccentric...(Part I)

 (All photos of eccentrics except the one of my father in this post by Tim Walker)

His... himself - (My Father), here in his late Seventies.

Here is a photo of Alexander Thynne, Marquis of Bath, with crocodile, at his estate, in Longleat, Wiltshire.

Charlie the Penguin stands among portraits of Marquis of Bath at Longleat, his Wiltshire estate.

Sitting here this evening in Arabia - reflecting over my father and his life, I come to think about and search for the characteristics of an eccentric.

That my father was an eccentric - was no doubt about it, a man from the old school, a man with a definitely nonconforming attitude. 

My father brilliant, handsome and charming belonged to a different world - an eccentric world of thoughts and behavior. He did not ever conform to society.

You will ask - How do I really know he was an eccentric?

Very simple answer indeed - he had no idea that his behavior was anything but absolutely normal...

Others were different.

So, I read as follow; "according to studies, there are fifteen distinctive characteristics that differentiate a healthy eccentric person from a regular person (although some may not always apply). The first five are in most people regarded as eccentric:" The outcome? 


My father had thirteen of the fifteen characteristics.  The two characteristics he did not have - he was not a bad speller or single. 

Nomadic Jaguars in the Cheviot Walk, Northumberland.

Lady Isabella Cawdor with three of her four children, Eleanor, Jean, and James, at Carnoch, Invernesshire, in the Scottish Highlands.

The Characteristics are:

1 - Nonconforming attitude

2 - Creative

3 - Strongly motivated by curiosity

4 - Idealistic

5 - Happy obsession with a hobby or hobbies

Snowfall in the summer at Eglingham Hall, in Northumberland, owned by the Bewicke family.

6 - Known very early in his or her childhood they were different from others

7 - Highly Intelligent

8 - Opinionated and outspoken

9 -Noncompetitive

10 - Not in need of reassurance or reinforcement from society

Dame Vivienne Westwood, unconventional fashion designer, in the old Camden Palace, in London.

 11 - Unusual living or eating habits

12 - Not interested in the opinions or company of others

Three Guinness heirs.

13 - Mischievous sense of humor
14 - Usually the eldest or an only child
15 - Bad spellers

Guinness heir Garech Browne at Luggala, the family estate in County Wicklow, Ireland, where he has put white sand around his black lake so that it resembles a glass of Guinness.


To be continued 
click here for Part II

Sir Edward James (1907 - 1984), his gardens, "The Bamboo Palace", and " El Castillo" in Xilitla, Mexico

Time for a great eccentric to enter in

to this blog - Scottish born Sir Edward James who arrived in Xilitla in 1945 a town set in the Sierra Madres , Mexico. A wild mountain range with an incredible tropical forest. Here did Sir Edward establish a home where he could and did capture the beauty and splendor of this scenic paradise.

Here is some more fantastic photos;

pbase.com/billie_mercer/xilitla

Sir James was educated briefly at Eton, and then at LeRosey in Switzerland, then at Christ Church, Oxford. A friend of Magritte and Dali. Great supporter of the arts and also had the world's greatest collection of surrelist art. Dali has once called him "the incarnation of surrealist life".

The Sitwells - One of the most aristocratic and eccentric British families

Renishaw Hall - The Home of the Sitwell Family

The Sitwells with their three children.

Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet,1892 - 1969. His elder sister was Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell and his younger brother Sir Sacheverell Sitwell. They devoted their lives to the arts and literature. Facinating family - I use to read Sir Osbert Sitwells - Left Hand Right Hand, Great Morning, Tales my father taught me, and Noble Essences etc. Dame Edith wrote an excellent piece on English Eccentrics - these books are still part of my travel literature around the globe.

http://www.sitwell.co.uk/

Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell (1887 – 1964)

Edith Sitwell by Percy Wyndham Lewis, 1943