Art in Isolation: Philip Mould


Excellent series of short films made by the art dealer Philip Mould during the Coronavirus lock down.

As of today (10 April) there have been 10 films all set in Mould’s beautiful 17th century house and featuring works of art from his own collection. It has been delightful to watch the series develop as he and his son Oliver, the cameraman, learn new techniques and introduce little competitions. I love the appearances by Cedric, the whippet, especially the action shot in the opening credits which appeared in about episode 4.

The introductory film gave you a history of the house and showed you two pictures from the time of its construction in about 1620. It’s lovely to hear a bit more about why Mould bought the pictures so there is a King Charles I portrait because he wanted a picture of the monarch of the time and a portrait of the owner during the Civil War which he found by chance shortly after he bought the house.

I was delighted in episode 7 to discover a new contemporary artist, well new to me, Roger Wagner when Mould showed two pictures by him featuring the cooling towers of Didcot Power Station. Having been born and brought up in Didcot is felt quite a visceral moment to see the picture in the current context. Certainly an artists to look out for when life opens up again.

This week’s sequence ended with three films on Cedric Morris featuring a plant painting, a landscape and an early still life etching. Oddly enough I had just been downloading photographs of the lovely Morris exhibition that Mould curated at the Garden Museum last July, so it was topical for me to see the plant picture in particular described in more detail.

There are more films promised next week when Philip Mould will be answering questions posted on his twitter feed and I can’t wait!

Review
Telegraph

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