This was my third visit to London in the last year on Auntie Audrey business. As ever, we have crossed the gain line. Kate and I went to 94 to see how the building is progressing. I have known this house my whole life, and in one way it is the same place: it'll always be Nana's house which we stayed in as kids. But it is also transformed. The same rooms I always knew, but stripped and all painted white. Kate has done a lot of work with the builders, and now they are carrying out the plan, creating a flat for rent. Last time I was here, it was still the dank dark rooms where Audrey lived more than half her life, and where she died. Now the light of the outside world has flooded in and the darkness, real and imagined, has flown.
On Saturday, I looked at the oil paintings which are still stored in Kate and Nige's garden cabin. Like the last time I spent with AJA's art, it comes to life in the daylight. Between rain showers, I took photos of the 40 or 50 framed works which mostly originate from the time just after she studied at the RA. I looked at them several times the next day and got to know the paintings which in my mind placed themselves in distinct groups of green landscapes; models in studios; rooms in varieties of light. Sunday was a dry day and Kate, Nige and I spent a peaceful time in the sunlight at the bottom of the garden with the oil paintings, getting to know them and talking about our little discoveries in them. It was during this time that I made the connection between all of the pictures which had been painted of Norland Square where Audrey and Nana lived with Mrs Diffy before they bought the house in Clapham.
On Monday, Kate and I did some good business in relation to the 94 project. We commuted all the way out to Watford where Kate's long-time solicitor, Jeremy, has his office. In a very informative hour, we learned that the lease was drawn up in the early sixties before many lawyers knew much about this type of contract. According to Jeremy, we need to get the lease's many shortcomings superseded by a deed of variation to avoid future problems. He also said that we should probably accept the other owners' invitation to join them as freeholders, but that there are a few issues that they should sort out first, and there is no reason we should pay any money for it. If they fix the issues, we will then be able, with them, to set up a simple company for the four freeholders. Something like that.
From Watford, we trained back to Euston which was very convenient for the next appointment at the Wellcome Institute as well as my subsequent Eurostar train back to the mainland. At the Wellcome, we met Emma and Amanda, whom Kate already knew, to talk about our gift to them of Audrey's art and writings. We sat down in the new bright and airy building and they explained that the boxes of scrapbooks and ledgers from 94 have already been moved to the Deep Store in an old mine in Cheshire where they await recall to London for archiving. One scrapbook has stayed behind, though, and is being shown to art students who like its 'outsider art' food packaging collages. We signed the forms of the gift which hand over the works and books, but leave us with the copyright. I wanted to get a picture from them of what we are getting into; what they saw in the collection; and who might be interested in the collection. They said it was a very interesting group of artefacts which tell a story with medical connotations about an individual life. We talked about the phases and development of the art, how it can be seen to represent a single psyche. There are several ways that the Wellcome Foundation will put the word out about it through their newsletters and website; Amanda and Emma say it's likely there will be interest in the collection. As Kate said, we already get a fine feeling just from the idea that someone has been appreciating the single scrapbook.
We have arranged that the Wellcomes come round and pick up the boxes of sketchbooks and diaries. That will leave the framed paintings which we want to spend a little more time with before handing it over. Emma and Amanda know that we'll be selecting a small group of pictures to keep for ourselves to remember Auntie Audrey by and because they are beautiful.
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