Charleston in Sussex was the home and studio of painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant as well as a kind of rural HQ for the Bloomsbury groups various members. Now it is launching a campaign called Studio 100 to raise money to ensure the studio's survival.
The studio, originally built in 1925 from what had once been a chicken shed, was never designed to last and now shows significant signs of wear. Urgent conservation is required including repairing the roof, windows and doors as well as stabilising fragile painted walls and floors created by Bell and Grant. New environmental control measures will also be installed including environmental monitoring systems to reduce humidity and stabilise temperature alongside new sun blinds and infrared window film to manage light and heat. The total project cost is £470,000.
"The studio was never built to the same structural standards as the main house," said a spokesperson. "It now needs our care and attention." Arts Council funding has already been forthcoming and now organisers hope to raise another £250,000.Startin in November next year, a special exhibition of items from the studio's collection will go on display at a major Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant show at Tate Britain to raise funds and awareness.
Nathaniel Hepburn MBE, Director and Chief Executive of Charleston, said: “The
studio at Charleston is a place of global importance, a space where
art, life and community came together in radical new ways."
Photo: Lewis Ronald
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