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The Colony Room
The Colony Room Club was a private members' drinking club at 41 Dean Street, Soho, London. It was founded and presided over by Muriel Belcher from its inception in 1948 until her death in 1979. The artist Francis Bacon was a founder and lifelong member, and the club attracted a mixture of Soho's low-lifes and its alcoholic, artistic elite, including George Melly, Jeffrey Bernard and Lucian Freud. Visiting non-members included many names from aristocratic, political and artistic circles, including Princess Margaret, William Burroughs, David Bowie and Henri Cartier-Bresson. The club attracted the Young British Artists in the 1990s.Coffield, Darren; Koons, Emin.Drink-Up Pay-Up F-Off: Tales from the Colony – London’s Lost Bohemia. ''Artlyst'', 9 May 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2022 1948–1979 Muriel Belcher In 1948, Muriel Belcher secured a 3pm-to-11pm drinking licence for The Colony Room Club as a private members club (public houses had to close at 2.30pm). The room was operat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lady Rose McLaren
Lady Rose Mary Primrose McLaren (née Paget; 21 July 1919 – 1 November 2005) was a British aristocrat, the fourth daughter of the 6th Marquess of Anglesey. The Paget family (the Marquesses of Anglesey) resided in Plas Newydd and Beaudesert in Staffordshire until the house was demolished in 1931, due to financial difficulties. Lady Rose Paget, as she was before her marriage, was the fourth of five daughters — her eldest sisters Caroline and Elizabeth shared the dark good looks of their mother (the former Lady Victoria Manners, eldest daughter of the 8th Duke of Rutland). Her brother was the 7th Marquess of Anglesey. Another of Paget's sisters, Mary, was brain-damaged, and Paget made herself responsible for her sister's welfare until her death in 1996. In her teens, Paget trained as a ballet dancer with Marie Rambert, and under the name Rose Bayly made her debut at Sadler's Wells in Swan Lake in 1937. After being largely educated at home, Paget led an unconventional ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joshua Compston
Joshua Richard Compston (1 June 1970 – 5 March 1996) was a London curator and progressive thinker, whose company Factual Nonsense was closely associated with the emergence of the Young British Artists (YBAs). Early life and career beginnings Compston was born in Putney. The son of a judge, he was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford. Encouraged by his parents, Compston became an enthusiastic collector of antiques and ephemera. In his adolescence, he developed a friendship with Sir Peter Blake, and would bring him gifts of found ephemera. Compston studied Art Foundation at Camberwell School of Art, followed by History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. At Camberwell, Compston was the contemporary of Darren Coffield, who later became his biographer. At the Courtauld he soon became frustrated that the academic lecturing staff were taking insufficient interest in the work of living artists, and that as a result students were ignorant of major figures in 20th century art ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Associate of the Royal Academy, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, Neon lighting, neon text and Appliqué, sewn appliqué. Once the "enfant terrible" of the Young British Artists in the 1980s, Tracey Emin is now a Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academician. In 1997, her work ''Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995'', a tent appliquéd with the names of everyone the artist had ever shared a bed with, was shown at Charles Saatchi's ''Sensation (exhibition), Sensation'' exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Academy in London. The same year, she gained considerable media exposure when she swore repeatedly in a state of drunkenness on a live discussion programme called ''The Death of Painting'' on British television.(18 March 2005)Tracey Emin – Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Lucas
Sarah Lucas (born 1962) is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s. Her works frequently employ visual puns and bawdy humour by incorporating photography, collage and found objects. Life and work Education Lucas was born in London, England in 1962. She left school at 16, returning to study art at The Working Men's College (1982–83), London College of Printing (1983–84), and Goldsmiths College (1984–87), graduating with a degree in Fine Art in 1987.Sarah Lucas Museum of Modern Art, New York. Work Lucas was included in the 1988 group exhibition '' Freeze'' along with contemporary artists including |
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest living artist, with his wealth estimated at US$384 million in the 2020 ''Sunday Times'' Rich List.Richard Brooks,It's the fame I crave, says Damien Hirst, The Times, 28 March 2010 During the 1990s his career was closely linked with the collector Charles Saatchi, but increasing frictions came to a head in 2003 and the relationship ended. Death is a central theme in Hirst's works. He became famous for a series of artworks in which dead animals (including a shark, a sheep, and a cow) are preserved, sometimes having been dissected, in formaldehyde. The best-known of these was ''The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living'', a tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a clear display case. He has also made " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Wojas
Michael Wojas (9 August 1956 – 6 June 2010) was an English nightclub owner who ran The Colony Room Club in Dean Street in London's Soho district, from 1994 until he closed it in 2007, having inherited it from Ian Board who took it over from Muriel Belcher, who founded the private drinking club in 1948. Early life Wojas was born in London on 9 August 1956. He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Hertfordshire, and graduated in 1981 from the University of Nottingham with a degree in chemistry. The Colony Wojas worked at The Colony Room Club as a barman and "Board's sidekick" for 13 years, and was bequeathed the club by Board at his 1994 death. He attracted a new generation of artists to the Colony including Young British Artists such as Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas, singer Lisa Stansfield and fashion designer Pam Hogg. In 1997, the film-maker John Maybury directed '' Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon'' a biopic of the life of C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Groucho
The Groucho Club is a private members' club formed in 1985 located on Dean Street in London's Soho. Its members are mostly drawn from the publishing, media, entertainment and arts industries. The club has rooms on several floors, including three bars, two restaurants, an enclosed terrace and 20 bedrooms available for members or their guests, a snooker room, and four event rooms available for hire. History The club opened 5 May 1985. Its name was in reference to Groucho Marx's telegram saying he did not want to be a member of any club that would have him. The club was owned from 2006 to 2015 by Graphite Capital, who sold it to a group of investors led by Isfield Investments and Alcuin Capital Partners. In 2022, the Groucho Club was purchased through Manuela and Iwan Wirth's Art Farm, which owns a group of boutique hotels and restaurants, for £40 million ($48.9 million). Members Anyone may apply for membership, but applications are favoured from individuals working in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gargoyle Club
The Gargoyle was a private members' club on the upper floors of 69 Dean Street, Soho, London, at the corner with Meard Street. It was founded on 16 January 1925 by the aristocratic socialite David Tennant, son of the Scottish 1st Baron Glenconner. David was the brother of Stephen Tennant who was called "the brightest" of the "Bright Young People" and of Edward Tennant, the poet who was killed in action in World War I. Before Tennant This elegant house, 69 and 70 Dean Street, a pair of Georgian residences, was built on the Pitt estate in 1732–1735 by John Meard, the carpenter who helped standardise the Georgian town house. *Later occupants of No. 70 included : :* Sir William Wolseley, 5th Baronet, 1734–5 :* Robert Marsham, second Baron Romney, 1736–40 :* Sir Thomas Wilson, knight and 'agent', 1761–74). *Later occupants of No. 69 included : :* George Wandesford, 4th Viscount Castlecomer (1687–1751), in 1750; :* Sir John Wynn, 2nd Baronet, 1755–73 :* Baron Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Coach And Horses, Soho
The Coach and Horses at 29 Greek Street on the corner with Romilly Street in Soho, London, is a grade II listed public house. In the 20th century the pub became notable for its association with the columnist Jeffrey Bernard, the staff of ''Private Eye'' magazine, other journalists and as a haunt for Soho personalities. Through their writings its former landlord, Norman Balon, became known as "London's rudest landlord".''You're Barred, You Bastards!', The Memoirs of a Soho Publican'', Norman Balon with Spencer Bright, Sidgwick & Jackson, London 1991 Early history There has been a pub on the site since the 18th century. The current building dates from the early 19th century and is Grade II listed with Historic England. 20th century In the 20th century, the landlord for over 60 years was Norman Balon, who developed a persona as "London's rudest landlord". He began to work at the pub in 1943, when he left an engineering course to serve at the bar, after his father became the landlo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The French House, Soho
The French House is a pub and dining room at 49 Dean Street, Soho, London. It was previously known as the ''York Minster'', but was informally called "the French pub" or "the French house" by its regulars. It sells more Ricard than anywhere else in Britain, and only serves beer in half-pints except on 1 April, when a recent custom has been that Suggs serves the first pint of the day. History The pub was opened by a German national named Christian Schmitt in 1891 and traded as "York Minster". Schmitt died in 1911. His wife, Bertha Margaretha Schmitt, continued to run the pub until 1914. With the outbreak of the First World War, Bertha Schmitt sold the pub to a Belgian, Victor Berlemont, who had moved to London in 1900. The bill of sale is posted on a wall at the French still today. He was succeeded by his son Gaston Berlemont, who was born in the pub in 1914, and worked there until his retirement in 1989. After the fall of France during the Second World War, General Charles d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molly Parkin
Molly Parkin (born Molly Noyle Thomas, 3 February 1932) is a Welsh painter, novelist and journalist, who became most well-known for her work on ''Nova'' magazine, newspapers and television in the 1960s. Early life Parkin was born on 3 February 1932, the second of two daughters, in Pontycymer in the Garw Valley, Glamorgan, Wales. She and her family moved to London to live with her grandparents when the Second World War began in 1939. She went to Willesden County Grammar School (now Capital City Academy). During the war, without her parents' knowledge, at the age of 12 she worked on a paper round in Dollis Hill, London, in the evenings. She told her mother that she was studying art after-hours at school. Her grandfather saw her delivering papers, however, and reported this to her mother, who prevented her from continuing with the job and punished her by making her do housework. After this, Parkin earned a little money from a Mr Hill, their lodger, who took pity on her and paid her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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