PAST AUCTION
14 February 2019 at 10:00 GMT
Paul Reeves
An Eye for Design Featuring Textiles as Art II | 548
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E.W. Godwin
Over a period of twenty-five years Edward William Godwin is thought to have produced around four hundred eclectic designs, many executed in the Anglo-Japanese style which he is credited for popularising
An Interview With Paul Reeves
Following the success of the ‘Textiles as Art’ sale in February 2017, Paul Reeves and Lyon & Turnbull were pleased to collaborate again in 2019 on ‘An Eye for Design’, an auction of pieces from Paul’s collection including furniture, metalwork, lighting and more. John Mackie, Director of the Decorative Arts & Design Department, visited Paul at his home in the Cotswolds to find out more about his collecting life.
Early on I also collected Art Nouveau and Deco, but by the time I was in my mid-20s I had honed my collection and nearly all of it was British from the mid nineteenth century onwards.
Yes. The key interest is still core but I’m now more appreciative of a wider range of things. I’m interested in the source material and the culture it came from. I was recently in Glasgow visiting a Charles Rennie Mackintosh exhibition and of course I love Mackintosh, but my favourite thing in there was actually a Japanese textile wall hanging which had been given to Glasgow museums in 1878. It was salmon swimming up a waterfall. The salmon, which were not wholly shown were represented as movement and I thought it was the most stunning piece of art.
Yes, although his influences extend beyond the east. When most people think of him it is probably for his Anglo-Japanese designs for furniture including his justly admired sideboard. However in the 1860s he was a champion of the Gothic Revival architecture and furniture, with his great friend William Burges. He also designed in the Old English style. He was very eclectic and I think that's why I really appreciate him. He was an architect foremost, a furniture and textile designer, he did theatre design, he did costumes. He was a real polymath, if that's the correct word.
Definitely also eclectic, although obviously with a bias to British design of the last two centuries. If something appeals I will buy it, regardless of its supposed pedigree. As I get older, I find it increasingly frustrating that people buy by name and not by look. Just because something is by a particular artist or designer in my view doesn't make it good in itself. I think you have to look at an object or work of art first. I respect collectors who do that.
Textiles are something we all use every day and most people aren't really aware of them. I think the variation of designs and again the sources are so varied that is hard to get bored with them. Then there are the techniques themselves, a wonderful weave or print or whatever - it's really a limitless area to be interested in.
I actually believe you're born with it. I think it can then be encouraged and as you go through life you nurture it. I'm slightly fatalistic, but not ridiculously so. I think you're presented with the cards and how you play them is up to you.
What motivates me is certainly not money, and that's not being glib. I like the fact that money can buy you a certain amount of freedom, but money has never been my guiding force. A major part is the thrill of the chase! I think to be an antique or art dealer is to lead a rather charmed life and I wouldn't have swapped it for anything.
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