DRAWING ROOM DISPLAYS The Brian Sewell Archive An Introduction 8 May - 8 September 2017 Item 22 Introduction This display features material from Sewell’s early childhood to the the Brian Sewell Archive which end of his days. From passports to was donated to the Paul Mellon diaries, press-cuttings, postcards, Centre in July 2016. The work photographs, programmes, letters, of reviewing the collection has and even a portrait [see item 1], it is been ongoing since it entered the all here: the rich tapestry of a life. building and—whilst this task is not This display contains only a small yet complete—the key aim of this selection from the huge volume display is to provide an introduction and wealth of material. Alongside to the archive. With the display now a biographical section, the items open and the archive collection chosen fall into three main themes available for consultation, this is the which reflect, perhaps, some of the first time that any of the items have most important aspects of his life been seen by the public. and the contents of the archive. Despite a cull undertaken by These are: “the Blunt affair”; travel; Sewell as his health deteriorated, and art criticism and controversy. the archive contains material from There was, of course, a across his life, thereby reflecting huge amount that did not the Centre’s current acquisition make the “final cut”. A more policy in this area.1 When the detailed summary can be found material was transferred to the in the boxlist available on our Centre, it comprised a total of website, but a few highlights seventy bankers boxes. It was include material relating to: The already known that the first forty of Transatlantic Review, the literary these contained material relating to magazine run by Sewell’s friend Sewell’s journalistic output, with the Joseph F. McCrindle (including contents having been meticulously letters from John Updike, Iris arranged by him into two main Murdoch, Samuel Beckett etc.); sequences: the largest concerning Sewell’s extensive research art and the arts and a smaller group on fakes and forgeries; his of material concerning his writings television, radio, and theatre on any other subject matter. The work; his huge and diverse range remaining thirty boxes contained of friends and acquaintances a diverse range of completely (including John Craxton, Tom unorganized material dating from Keating, and Charles Saatchi, to 2 name but a few) as well as, of Wall, to left of display text course, his love of dogs and cars. The archive documents not 1 only Sewell’s own life and work, Zsuzsi Roboz, “Brian Sewell—Stormy but also reveals much about Weather”, 2002, sanguine and the art world in the UK from the charcoal on paper, 66 × 51cm AR: TN1 1950s to the 2010s. This fact was clearly recognized by his friends during his lifetime. A letter sent to Sewell in 2012 from Julia Gahlin, an independent dealer and friend, implores Sewell, “please do not destroy your papers. The future may have a use for them that we alive in our present cannot conceive of” —a sentiment with which all who have worked on the collection would wholeheartedly agree.2 The Brian Sewell Archive is yet to be catalogued in detail, but if you are interested in consulting it, please contact collections staff by emailing collections@paul-mellon- centre.ac.uk 3 Upright Display Case Brian Sewell: A Biography Brian Sewell was born Brian Perkins Sewell’s early years were on 15 July 1931. He was brought up dominated by trips to the theatre, in Kensington, West London, by his ballet, opera, galleries, and mother Mary Jessica Perkins and— museums of London, where he from 1936—his stepfather, Robert was exposed to a wide range of Sewell. Although the relationship artistic and cultural experiences. with his mother was not always It was on one of these trips, at a happy one, he was incredibly the age of four, that he was taken close to her throughout her life. to the National Gallery and was Significantly, the archive contains held spellbound by Murillo’s The not only material compiled and Heavenly Earth and Trinities and collected by Sewell, but also a Dürer’s The Madonna with the volume of material generated by his Iris. The programmes for these mother. Alongside items she sent to events—often marked “Brian & him [see item 2], there is material Mammy” and with the names that she carefully collected, cut out of anyone else in attendance, and set aside for his interest, as together with the date—were well as the records she made of the clearly important to him as they events in his life [see item 10]. survived the cull and have been Educated at home until the age carefully preserved [see item 3]. of eleven, Sewell’s childhood was unconventional and somewhat disjointed. He grew up not knowing the identity of his real father, changing his name from Perkins to Sewell in 1942. It was only on his mother’s death that the identity of his real father—the composer Philip Heseltine, whose pen name was Peter Warlock—was revealed to him. Warlock killed himself seven months before his son was born. Item 2 5 Item 3 At the age of eleven Sewell became compulsory National Service and he a day boy at Haberdashers’ Aske’s, an received his commission in 1953, at independent school in Hampstead. He the rank of Subaltern. Demobilized in was a reluctant and wilful pupil who did 1954, he described his two years in not always make a good impression on the army as one of the happiest times his masters. By the age of seventeen of his life. There he learned how to he was studying English, History, Art, get on with people and formed lasting and French. His school reports from friendships with some of his fellow this time—preserved in the archive— soldiers, in particular John Peile and hint at the skills that were later to earn Nigel Hensman [see item 5]. him a living [see item 4]: Sewell was offered a place to read history at Oxford, but chose instead English: “the liveliness of his ideas to enrol at the Courtauld Institute and quickness of appreciation are of Art in London—a decision that pleasing” altered the entire course of his life. Excelling at his studies, he developed English History: “most of his a keen eye and a passion for the written work is very promising subjects that were to fascinate him but some of his essays are wild for the rest of his life. In 1955 he went and uncontrolled.” travelling with five fellow students on a mini “grand tour” [see item 6]. In 1952 Sewell joined the Royal Army Service Corps to complete Item 5 It was also at the Courtauld that unofficial spokesperson and he first came to the attention of sheltered him from the press. Anthony Blunt (Director, 1947–74). Material in the archive reveals that Sewell found Blunt an inspiration media coverage of this episode and the two formed a strong was extensive. It also shows how friendship that was to last for the invasive this was for Sewell: on rest of their lives. Material from 17 November 1979, for example, the archive reveals that from 1958 Sewell’s mother noted that there onwards Sewell regularly sought were sixteen callers (phone and Blunt’s advice on professional in-person) to the house [see item matters and they frequently 10]. For more about this episode dined together and spoke on the see pages 16-19 and the small telephone [see item 8]. display case. After graduating Sewell took It was Sewell’s honesty and a job at Christie’s, where he outspokenness throughout the specialized in Old Master paintings “Blunt affair” that led to his first and drawings [see item 7]. He job as a critic. Tina Brown, editor enjoyed the work of attribution, of Tatler magazine, offered him but was never entirely happy in £100 to write a thousand words the position, believing that “the for the magazine ten times a job is not really worth doing” [see year. His first piece, a review of item 8]. In 1967 he established an exhibition of works by Dalí at himself as an independent dealer, the Tate Gallery, was published and continued buying, selling and in June 1980 [see item 11]. collecting art for the rest of his life [see item 9]. It was Sewell’s friendship with Blunt that first brought him to public attention. In November 1979, when Blunt was exposed as the fourth man in the Cambridge spy ring, Sewell acted as his Item 4 9 Item 10 Sewell remained at Tatler until the route many Grand Tourists of 1990, but had meanwhile secured the eighteenth century would have additional writing responsibilities. taken. To listen to an excerpt from Most significantly, in 1984 he this programme please scan the became a critic for the Evening QR code on page 15 [see item 15]. Standard, and was commissioned In this excerpt Sewell discusses to write on both the arts and the city of Turin (which was often a multitude of other subjects. an early sojourn on the itinerary) He was hugely successful in the and its abundance of churches. He role, winning many awards and visits the Church of San Lorenzo publishing two compendium and describes what it would have volumes of some of his best work been like for a young Grand Tourist [see item 12]. For more about to be faced with the grandeur of a Sewell’s journalism see pages 24- Catholic church for the first time, 32 and the large display case.