Turner by Vasile Nicolescu

Turner by Vasile Nicolescu

Abbey; First Translated Edition (January 1, 1979)

A dramatist of light, the artist felt intensely the need and the hope of unfettering it. By overturning the real into the depth of dreaming he raised in fact dreaming to the heights of the real.  By decanting fleeting, impressions, subliming sensations, superimposing the colours with a technique which has remained unknown to this day, operating with that visionary impression, as was said characteristic of his art, Turner subordinated his sensibility to that painful urge to snatch the light from colour, to give it vivacity, the freshness, the relief and the power of expression of truth itself. - Visalia Nicolescu

We have acquired this book from the estate of Mollie and Graham Dark.

Mollie & Graham met in Wimbledon in 1978. He, a Cornishman, born in Gulval in 1930, acquired an early appreciation of art visiting Newlyn Gallery with his family. In his early career Graham worked in London writing for the Daily Express and he was responsible for one of the first Arts columns in a tabloid paper, but in 1960 he opened an antique shop in Chelsea.

Inspired by trips to Italy, he displayed early furniture and antiquities in an uncluttered modern setting, a technique he later utilised in his own home. The Darks moved back to Cornwall in 1980 and at their home in Flushing, and later Truro, curated an impressive body of art and antiquities with a particular focus on Cornish artists such as Paul Feiler and Terry Frost, who both became close friends.

The paintings were displayed alongside mid-century modern designer furniture by Eames, Bertoia and Magistretti, and arrangements of antiquities, thought of as 'ensembles' by Graham. Warm, charming, and generous hosts, they entertained their artistic circle of friends in their exquisitely arranged home, and it is a privilege for us to handle their beautiful possessions today.

Graham Dark 1930-2015, Mollie Dark 1928-2024