Thursday & Friday : V&A Alexander McQueen - Portobello Road - Holland Park - Chelsea

Today I return to the Victoria & & Albert museum to visit the  

Alexander Mac Queen exhibition "Savage Beauty"

Lee Alexander McQueen (1969 - 2010)'I'm a romantic schizophrenic'

 Alexander McQueen's dashing creativity was expressed through the technical artistry of his designs and the dramatic intensity of his fashion shows. 

Drawing on avant-garde installation and performance art, these were also emphatically autobiographical. McQueen fearlessly challenged the conventions of fashion. Rare among designers, he saw beyond clothing's physical constraints to its conceptual and imaginative possibilities. 

It was a fabulous exhibition, and since photographing was forbidden, I took the above pictures from the internet).   I couldn't resist buying catalogue.

From there I took the tube to Noting Hill and  Portobello Road.

Portobello Road, in Notting Hill is the world’s largest antiques market with over 1,000 dealers selling every kind of antique and collectible.

Portobello Road has been a market since the 1800s but became particularly famous for its antiques in the 1950s. Now there are numerous stalls offering everything from fruit and bread to posters, clothes, ceramics and music.

Along Holland Park Road, close by one of the entrances to the park, is a statue of St Volodymyr, or Vladimir the Great of Kiev, a 10th Century prince of Novgorod who conquered Kiev and the surrounding lands and established Christianity in the region. The statue stands on a granite plinth with inscription, noting it was erected by Ukrainians in Great Britain in 1988, and the signature of the sculptor, Leo Moll, on the base gives the date of the work as 1987.

The Royal Borough’s largest park with 22.5 hectares of gardens, children’s play facilities, sports areas, a cafeteria and large areas of woodland abundant with wildlife. 

I had a a nice chicken salad in  the restaurant., and spend some quiet time in the garden.

Contained within the park is the beautiful Kyoto Garden; a Japanese garden donated by the Chamber of Commerce of Kyoto in 1991.

Holland Park provides facilities for tennis, football, golf practice nets, cricket practice nets and netball.

Holland Park is also the base of the borough's Ecology Service. 

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

For at least a millennium Kensington and Chelsea developed separately; each with very rich and unique histories.

The names Kensington and Chelsea are Anglo-Saxon in origin, giving us a tantalising if uncertain glimpse into their early development. Chelsea derives from Chelchehithe, Anglo-Saxon for chalk and landing place, corrupted by the 16th century to the more familiar Chelsey. Cyningholt, meaning kingswood, is the modern Kensal previously the outlying portion of Chelsea. Kensington probably derives from Chenesitun, ‘town’ of Chenesi’s people. Today some historians believe that all three places were one and owned by early kings, possibly as a residence, as Chelsea was a known meeting-place. What is beyond doubt is that by 1086 the Manor of Chelsea was owned by the Earl of Salisbury and Kensington by Aubrey de Vere.

The Saatchi Gallery for contemporary art opened in 1985 to exhibit Charles Saatchi’s collection to the public. 

It has occupied different premises before acquiring the Duke of York’s HQ building in Chelsea.

Saatchi's collection—and hence the gallery's shows—has had distinct phases, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the Damien Hirst-led Young British Artists, followed by shows purely of painting, and then returning to contemporary art from America in USA Today at the Royal Academy in London. A 2008 exhibition of contemporary Chinese art formed the inaugural exhibition in the new venue

The gallery has been an influence on art in Britain since its opening. It has also had a history of media controversy, which it has actively courted, and has earned extremes of critical reaction. Many artists shown at the gallery are unknown not only to the general public but also to the commercial art world; showing at the gallery has provided a springboard to launch careers.

In 2010, it was announced that the gallery would be given to the British public, becoming the Museum of Contemporary Art for London

"Our" Luc Tuymans exhibited here a few years ago.

I visited the exhibition 

 PANGAEA: NEW ART FROM AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA

Diego Mendoza Imbachi "Grafis - Natura"

Ephrem Solomon

Back home with the bus

The next morning I decide to return to Chelsea to finalize my walk,  I take the bus (ideal means of travel and see London)   See pictures taken from the bus.

Old Town Hall

Bluebird, now a noted restaurant and retail space,  had its origins as a noted Art Deco garage complex built for the Bluebird Motor Company.

Old Church

Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII and Catholic martyr, came to Chelsea in 1520 and built a house, later known as Beaufort House. In More’s day two courtyards were laid out between the house and the river and in the north of the site acres of gardens and orchards were planted. 

It was from here in 1535 that More was taken to the Tower and beheaded later that year. Beaufort House was demolished in 1740 and in 1766 Beaufort Street was built on part of the site.

The house itself was torn down over two hundred years ago.

The More chapel, built by him in 1528 for his private worship, was the only part of Chelsea Old Church to survive the 1941 bombing along with his tomb. His London home, Crosby Hall, was moved ‘brick by brick’ from Bishopsgate to Chelsea in 1908.

Chelsea Nursery School

On my way back  to Westminster, I stop for a rest in the park of St. George's square.

In the evening I have arranged to meet one of my former Carnaud Metalbox colleagues at  Green Park.

We visited some pubs in Mayfair, and then had a wonderful dinner at  "Pescatori " in Dover Street.