Page 69 - Studio International - July August 1968

to escape. The plan winds away from the main
gallery like passages from the centre of a maze.
The mood is more relaxed. The ceiling is lower and
flat. One might almost be, for a second, in some
kind of Spanish farm house and the strange
shadows on the bronze shutter to a corner window
(5), an essential release of space at this point, are a
reminder that there is a world beyond, although
out of reach—one is still so gripped by the mystery
of the place. But this window also records a per-
sonal note that is critical to the quality of the
interior. Scale walks a tight-rope in this building:
the simplicity and austerity of the surfaces that
extract the full richness from the paintings are
perfectly balanced with the more domestic and
private setting that is imagined out of the details—
the light filtering in through the slats, the thread of
Portland stone that marks out corners and doors,
and the broad handrail in the aquarium calm of
the Print Room. And it is, of course, through the
abandonment of such details that the outside shows
an order and scale that is correct for the garden and
classical surroundings in which the building is
situated.
This gallery was opened on May 2. On the same
day, paradoxically, the exterior, which can only be
glimpsed from inside and which makes the kind of
magic that real architecture is all about, was closed
to the public. Only the windows of neighbouring
buildings and the Dean and his visitors will be able
to see it. But I suppose this is right. It was never
intended to be seen. This again is part of the
fantasy. The gallery had to be, so to speak, buried
twice. q