What Are You Like? Michael Foreman
Ian Dejardin name drops furiously on the eve of the opening of ‘What Are You Like? ‘ the show where celebrities reveal themselves in Dulwich Picture Gallery
My job has lots of perks in terms of meeting people. Dulwich Picture Gallery attracts quite a lot of interest these days of course – why wouldn’t it, hem hem? But with the House of Illustration-curated show (What Are You Like?) about to open, with hot- and cold-running celebs providing their own drawn, or collaged, or photoshopped, self-portraits in terms of their likes and dislikes, maybe we’re about to enter a new era, he wrote, hopefully. Madonna, where are you?
What Are You Like? Guess Who
Of course, the celebrities in question in this case have been carefully chosen not for their appearances in Hallo! magazine, but as leading lights in their particular fields. One of them came to lunch last week – Margaret Howell, the fashion designer. This was in response to what was frankly almost a fan letter from yours truly. I have loved her clothes for years – I used to go to her shop in Brook Street, and now regularly call in at her beautiful Wigmore Street store. Can’t afford to buy much, but every now and then I go mad; and I was pleased to be able to wear something she had designed to meet her. I suspect I am not quite the model she would like – but at least she didn’t beg me not to wear it for fear of putting people off. Interestingly, she, like Paul Smith (another contributor to the show) is ‘big in Japan’ as they say, and I’m not surprised – there is something Japanese about her restrained aesthetic. I have spotted Charles Saumerez Smith, ex-Director of the National Gallery and now Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy, shopping in there as well.
What Are You Like? Guess Who
Margaret knows the Gallery well, visits regularly (on her bike! no ‘grande dame’ she), and if all the ‘people in the public eye’ who have contributed to What Are You Like? are as nice, then we are about to make acquaintance with some very good friends indeed.
A couple of days before, the Dutch Ambassador, Pim Waldeck, and his wife Cordula, visited (goodness, the glamour of my life, I hear you say…). The Ambassador stood as patron to the De Bray exhibition, and this was their first opportunity to visit. Naturally, I accompanied them round the show (and to the lady who barked at the charming, smiling Ambassador as I was talking bout Jan de Bray’s Anthony and Cleopatra that “SHE was trying to look at the pictures AS WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH”, I can only apologise, but not with much conviction. When did people get to be so rude?
Jan de Bray 'Banquet of Mark Antony and Cleopatra' 1652 lent by Her Majesty The Queen (Elizabeth II)
I bet Nicholas Serota doesn’t have to face that kind of thing. Hey ho). Anyway, the Ambassador and his wife loved the show, and were able to point out lots of ‘Dutch’ details that I had missed.
I do wish more people were visiting – it really is one of the shows of the year, in my opinion – but we are always a bit quiet in summer. If you’re in London and reading this…do yourself a favour, don’t miss it. ‘
Painting Family: The De Brays, Master Painters of 17th Century Holland’
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