It doesn't contain any real-life folk musicians as far as I can see, but the magnificent Ivor Hitchens mural at Cecil Sharp House deserves a mention. From the Tate Britain website: "the artist was asked to incorporate groups of figures performing four well known English country dances (Ring Dance and Morris Dancing at left, Abbots Bromley Horn Dance and the Padstow Hobby Horse at right). A woodland setting was deliberately chosen to counteract the urban surroundings of the building. The main areas of colour were organised to take full advantage of the natural lighting, and range from cooler blues and greens on the sunnier West side of Cecil Sharp House, through to warmer shades on the North East Side. Hitchens designed the work in three main sections, glades seen between trees, balancing the more complex activity of the sides with a quieter open centre section. The centre was intended to act as a foil for the centre of the hall, which would often be crowded with dancers, and was originally to have formed the backdrop for a musicians' platform. A subsequent reversal of this plan - the orchestra now faces the mural - came when the work was nearly completed. The artist has pointed out that it was by this stage too late to take this vital alteration into consideration in terms of the purpose and structure of his design." I think there is a booklet at Cecil Sharp House which tells all. There are other paintings by mid twentieth century British artists at 'The House' if memory serves right, including one morris one (William Kimber? Jinky Wells?) And didn't the EFDSS sell one not too long ago to raise funds? Perhaps some Mudcatter knows. Sue
|