Exploring Kettle’s Yard: a 20th-century sanctuary of art

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What made Kettle's Yard very unique

is that it became very quickly like a gallery,

like a museum, but at the same time

it was this very, very private space

that you had to ring the doorbell and be allowed into,

and you entered the sanctuary, this vision of a couple

who were collecting contemporary art.

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I'm Virginia White,

I'm an interior designer based in London.

We are here in Kettle's Yard in Cambridge,

which was the home of Jim and Helen Eid.

And they created this in 1956,

out of unifying three slum cottages

and adding a modern section to it later on.

Jim Eid worked in the art world.

He was the deputy director at the Tate,

and the world of contemporary art was open to him

through the Nicholsons, Ben and Winifred Nicholson,

who introduced him to many contemporary artists

and opened a world that he hadn't been in before.

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The way that art and objects have been displayed

makes it so unique and different to the experience

that you might have going to a normal art gallery.

This fireplace is a good example of how Jim Eid,

in many ways was an artist himself.

He has a wonderful Ben Nicholson, it's called Black Guitar.

But below it is on the mantel shelf

are really just objects that he liked, he found,

and he felt worked really well together here.

He orchestrated almost a still life

that he felt worked very, very well

with the artwork hanging above it.

And that makes Kettle's Yard a unique museum

because it's about the balance of the objects

that he has brought together.

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You can see again, Jim Eid's quirky sense of balance

and putting things together in his original sitting room

and dining room, which is part of the original cottages.

For example, this painting by Miro called Tick Tick,

has a little yellow dot in the bottom right-hand corner,

and Jim Eid would always have had a yellow lemon

on a lovely pewter platter in this corner here,

under the lovely Alfred Wallis

and Christopher Wood painting.

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In his own bedroom, he's got a collection of pebbles,

which he's created almost like a little spiral,

quite Richard Long or Andy Goldsworthy.

And he really was a forerunner of finding objects,

simply found and arranging them

in his own little still lives.

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This part of the house is called The Bridge.

It's the area that was added between the old cottages

and the new modern wing.

It's super charming, this part,

because it's of course light-filled

and it allows the outside world

to interact with the inside world.

And then we see this wonderful prism,

which many people have covered it, including myself,

which really reflects and is permanently moving,

bringing the light in.

In the corner here, we've got the Darling Dog

by Gordia Breshkar,

and it's such a clever way of displaying an amazing artwork,

which is putting it down

where a little dog would sit normally.

The floorboards are wonderful,

you can see the old screw holes or nail holes.

They're imperfections are some of what makes them exciting.

And then the light switches

are just something quite wonderful and amusing.

But again, it's Jim Eid's love of showing materials

as they were, not hiding anything.

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Here we are in the modern section of Kettle's Yard.

This was designed in 1970 by the architect, Leslie Martin,

to get maximum light into this building.

Lighting up the treasure, lighting up the artworks,

allowing for very balanced, stable light to come through.

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This area of the modern part of Kettle's Yard

is really dedicated, more or less

to the Cornish painter, Alfred Wallis.

Jim Eid just seemingly randomly

decided to display the art low,

hovering over the skirting board.

From an interior design point of view,

this is quite an influential way of displaying art

as we know it nowadays.

You've got a white wall, you've got a lot of picture,

do an atelier hanging,

and that's really what we're seeing here.

The pictures are lively, the display of art is lively.

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One aspect of Kettle's Yard that makes it completely unusual

is that young people are encouraged to come

and share the art.

They can come to this beautiful, long refectory table.

Borrow books, work here, study here.

Jim Eid then took that even further,

and this is still a practice

that Kettle's Yard has kept even after his death,

which is they lend works of art out to young undergraduates

feeling the experience of living with an original work,

which is completely different to seeing it

illustrated in a book.

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I'm in this vast open-plan space

in the modern section of Kettle's Yard.

This was conceived as both a gallery,

a space to display modern art of a much greater

and larger nature than in the old cottages,

but also as a concert hall.

But he didn't want people to sit down,

he wanted people to move around, be upstairs, be downstairs,

be at different levels.

So this is really the forerunner of open-plan living.

Using the color of white throughout Kettle's Yard

was a genius stroke of design.

Every area looks entirely different

because the light shining into it is different,

giving a different hue of white,

and it just has a sense of serenity.

One of the reasons for the relaxed feel of Kettle's Yard

really comes from the eclectic mix of furniture

that Jim Eid put together.

This is a great example of one of them.

This is scaffolding planks that juxtaposes beautifully

with old rug, with a stone floor,

and he had wrought on legs made for it.

And here we go, it's a fabulous, desirable console table

that is going to display lots of his artwork.

Another example is the daybed.

It's really essentially just four mattresses

lumped together, and with a lovely white linen bedspread.

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I would call this, the space of the dancer.

It's really very much about this beautiful sculpture

by Gordia Breshkar.

It's called The Dancer, it was done in 1913,

which is reflected in the evening light

coming through the window up against the wall.

And it's just wonderful, it's a lovely peaceful little nook

of an area, which is between the old

and the new extension of Kettle's Yard.

It's a very, very simple space,

it's a space for contemplation

and just enjoying the play of light

on the different works of art.

And I think that really encapsulates what's so wonderful

and what's so unique in Kettle's Yard.

It's a space to be lived in

and to enjoy art as it's supposed to be displayed

in the home.

It doesn't glorify art and set it apart

and put it into glass boxes, and say no touching.

It allows you to live with them,

and that's what makes it unique.

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