THE 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley is standing in the central hall of his ancestral home, studying the flagged floor. Next to him is the towering form of Sir Antony Gormley, who is overseeing the installation of 100 life-size iron figures for Time Horizon at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, which opens to the public on April 21. They are discussing the placement of one of the sculptures close to where they stand. It will only be visible from the waist up and, to achieve this, they must cut a hole in the floor. ‘I am slightly apprehensive,’ says Lord Cholmondeley with a smile, but he seems more excited than worried. For he is well known for commissioning sculptures by the world’s leading artists—from Dame Rachel Whiteread to James Turrell—and, although Sir Antony’s is the largest work to date to be installed at Houghton Hall, the Marquess seems genuinely delighted by the challenge.
Sir Antony is known for his rigorous explor- ation of what it means to be a body in space. Since the early 1980s, he has been using his own form as ‘forensic evidence of a moment of lived human time’, casting it standing, sitting, crouching and sleeping. His body sprouted wings for The Angel of the North and endures the sea’s relentless ebb and flow in Another Place on Liverpool’s Crosby Beach. It has been reduced to cuboids in his most recent public sculpture, True, for Alan Turing, in Cambridge, and transformed into near-absence in Quantum Cloud at London’s O2 Arena. Yet, although Sir Antony always uses his own body as the base for his work, his figures speak to us all about the human condition and our own place in the world.
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Denne historien er fra March 27, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
