Shock and awe at the V&A

摘要

In the late 1930s, Le Corbusier famously daubed bright murals on the plain white walls of E-1027, the villa in the south of France designed by Eileen Gray. This seemingly aggressive act pales into insignificance compared with what the celebrated painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler got up to 60 years earlier when he created the Peacock Room in the London-house of his patron, Frederick Leyland. The story goes that Whistler was unhappy with the interior design of the room where his painting The Princess from the Land of Porcelain was hung. This room was being created at great expense by the architect Thomas Jeckyll to showcase Ley-land's collection of Chinese porcelain. With Leyland away and Jeckyll unwell, Whistler was consulted on colours and seized the chance to instead spend months completely re-painting the room to his own resplendent designs, to the astonishment of Leyland, who was left with a hefty bill from the money that Whistler had charged to his account. The two formerly great friends fell out irredeemably; poor Jeckyll had a nervous breakdown shortly afterwards and was destined for an early death in an asylum. However Leyland did keep the room, with its splendid golden embellishments, as it was - even if he didn't want to pay for it. The room's name refers to Whistler's wall painting of two golden peacocks representing the artist and Leyland, the latter with tail feathers showering coins.