Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin Read online

  As at Old Hall School, Chatwin concentrated his best efforts on acting. He was Secretary of the Shakespeare Society and played the Mayor in Gogol’s The Government Inspector, Mrs Candour in Sheridan’s The School for Scandal and James Winter JP in L. du Garde’s The White Sheep of the Family. His interpretation of Winter, ‘an expert burglar’, revealed to the critic of the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald‘considerable acting ability; his speech and movement were well-defined and throughout the whole performance he seemed perfectly at ease’. Less impressive was his performance in class. In 1955, following a blow on the head while playing rugby, Chatwin had to miss the Michaelmas term. He struggled to catch up. ‘He still finds his term away rather a handicap,’ wrote his favourite form master, Hugh Weldon, the following summer. His report for Michaelmas 1957 was typical: ‘Thoroughness and consistent concentration do not come easily to him. Too often in school and, it seems, in preparation, he is led astray and his mind goes off at a tangent, usually interesting but usually irrelevant.’ Towards the end of his time at Marlborough, Jack Halliday, Chatwin’s housemaster at B2, put pressure on him to think about a career. ‘The undoubted success he had on the stage in Memorial Hall shows that he is extremely capable at organising other people, while the undoubtedly unsatisfactory reports in this folder show that he is not very capable at organising himself. In the holidays Bruce simply must get to grips with himself and, with his father’s aid, must evolve a plan for his future.’ Halliday proposed the Law and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, but Chatwin was quite sure that he did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps. In his third year, he planned to try for a place to read Classics at Merton College, Oxford – the college of his grandfather and also of Robert Byron, an Old Marlburian writer whose work Chatwin already revered. But then National Service ended, the university had to find space for an extra generation of students and Chatwin might have to delay coming up for two years. Instead, he proposed a stage career following his successful production of Tons of Money. Charles, however, was adamant that neither of his sons should go directly from the sheltered life of boarding school to student digs in London, and declined Chatwin’s ambitions for RADA, countering with a suggestion that he might consider the family profession of architecture. Chatwin was not prepared to study the science of building. His next idea was a job in Africa, following the example of his best friend at Marlborough, Raulin Guild, who had gone to work in Northern Rhodesia, but Margharita objected: Africa was where Uncle Humphrey had met his sad end. Then she read an article in Vogue about a firm of fine art auctioneers.‘What about Sotheby’s for Bruce?’ So Charles contacted an old school friend Guy Bartleet, a chartered surveyor who had sold at Sotheby’s a Monet of ‘a train going over a bridge’, to effect an introduction to Peter Wilson, the Chairman of Sotheby’s.

  To Peter Wilson

  Brown’s Green Farm | Hockley Heath | Birmingham | 15 April 1958

  Dear Sir,

  Mr Bartleet has been good enough to give me the enclosed letter of introduction to you.

  I am very anxious to learn the best way of making a career in Fine Art. If you would find time to see me before I go back to school on May 1st, I should be most grateful, and would hold myself ready to come at any time at short notice,

  Yours Faithfully,

  C. B. Chatwin

  A date was fixed for 3.30 Tuesday 29 April. The meeting went sufficiently well for Charles to give notice to Marlborough that Bruce would not be returning.‘I shall miss that cheerful and accomplished boy,’ wrote the registrar Reginald Jennings by return, on May 2. On 7 May Wilson wrote to Charles:‘I very much enjoyed meeting your son and shall look forward to seeing him again during the summer.’

  To Peter Wilson

  B2 | Marlborough College | Wiltshire | 13 June 1958

  Dear Sir,

  When I came to see you in April, you said that I should write to you again in June, by which time you would probably know if there was a place for me at Sotheby’s.

  If there does happen to be a job available, I am very keen to take it. If you would like to see me again, I could easily arrange to come up to London at any time except from the 7th July for about a fortnight, when I am taking my exams.

  Yours Faithfully,

  C. B. Chatwin

  Eventually, Wilson saw Chatwin in September and offered him a job as numbering porter in the Works of Art Department for £6 a week.

  CHAPTER TWO

  SOTHEBY’S: 1959-66

  Chatwin was lucky to join Sotheby’s at a time when Peter Wilson was expanding the auction house from four departments to fifteen. He rode the crest of this expansion.‘There is no doubt in my mind that Sotheby’s was the main stimulus of Bruce’s life,’ says David Nash, an Old Marlburian who worked alongside Chatwin in the Impressionist and Modern Art Department, and travelled with him to Afghanistan. He learned from Wilson, and from the Antiquities Department adviser John Hewett, how to look at and handle a work of art, describe it concisely and to judge its market value. Sponsored by Sotheby’s, he visited countries where these objects had originated and, ‘slavishly’ aping Robert Byron’s itinerary, tracked his footsteps through Greece and Afghanistan.

  Hugh remembers how, at Brown’s Green Farm, Chatwin’s family marvelled at his work-life pattern: ‘his freedom to fly to Athens, thence to visit the sights, and the sites of digs, and his cosmopolitan friends at their island homes – journeying as if a university professor on long vacation and not an auction house trainee aged 20!’

  Sotheby’s enabled Chatwin to meet a network of aesthetically minded, rich enquiring dealers and collectors like Robert Erskine, Christopher Gibbs, John Kasmin, Teddy Millington-Drake, Edward Lucie-Smith, George Ortiz, Simon Sainsbury and Cary Welch.

  It also introduced him to his wife.

  For his first two months in London, Chatwin lodged with his uncle John Turnell, at 111 Cleveland Road in Ealing. He next moved to digs in St John’s Wood, before signing a lease in August 1959 on a mews flat behind St George’s Hospital. To share the rent, he took in Anthony Spink who worked at the family firm of coin dealers. The only friend Spink recalls Chatwin inviting home was Ivry Guild.‘She was here a lot.’

  Ivry (b.1937) had met Chatwin on a bright sunny morning in his last term at Marlborough. On Sunday 20 July 1958 the Oscar-winning film-maker Emeric Pressburger had driven her down from London in his greeny-yellow Bentley. Ivry, dressed like a 1920s flapper, sat in the front seat wearing a green suede hat. ‘We alighted in the centre of Marlborough College courtyard and caused a sensation,’ she recalls. ‘Emeric brought a huge chocolate cake specifically ordered from Madame Prunier in St James’s for Raulin, and some smoked sturgeon from The Czarda in Dean Street, along with horseradish cream that we all ate for lunch.’ Ivry’s brother Raulin was Head Boy and Captain of Games, and a close friend of Chatwin. ‘Raulin took us in the afternoon to Bruce’s study because he wanted me to see what fascinating furniture and objects Bruce had collected from local shops.’

  Ivry became for Chatwin the epitome of London glamour; he was to keep in touch with her for the rest of his life and inscribed her copy of On the Black Hill to ‘my abiding friend’.

  To Ivry Guild

  Beirut | Lebanon | 21 March 1959

  This place is blissful – rather like the south of France. I am sitting on my balcony overlooking deep blue sea & snow-capped peaks. Wish you were here. I hope you are well & behaving yourself. I should be back in two or three weeks. I look forward to seeing you then. XXX Bruce

  To Charles and Margharita Chatwin

  Postcard, The Gulf of Porto Conte | Sardinia | 24 July 1959

  Had an amusing time in Paris & Rome, and met people. Arrived Alghero in blazing heat. Went coral fishing with a crew of Neapolitans for a whole day yesterday. Bicycled to rock cut necropolis this morning. Food good but wild boar out of season. Arrived Sassani this evening by diesel. Met in Alghero squadron yachts from Majorca. No wind far out to sea but always breeze on coast in August. Invited aqualunging by
German couple at Golfo di Aranci.

  To Charles and Margharita Chatwin

  Postcard, Figorolo Island | Golfo Aranci | Sardinia | 29 July 1959

  As I rather hinted in the last card, Sardinia, though fascinating is quite impossible in this heat without a car.31 And rather than go to the south, which is the wrong direction, at a cost of over £12 in travelling expenses,32 I have decided to go from here to the mainland. Stay for a few days in Tarquinia and explore the Etruscan painted tombs and really leave Sardinia for another time. 10 minutes swimming in this sun produce one ‘inglese arrosto’,33 as my friends call me. They are going back today. My nose bled solidly for no apparent reason the day before yesterday for 1½ hrs. B

  In May 1960 Chatwin invited his mother to the Balmain sale at Sotheby’s.

  To Margharita Chatwin

  18 Grosvenor Crescent Mews | Belgravia | [May 1960]

  Mummy Dear,

  Am not lunching so can you have it with me. Spring cleaners are here all day today and are doing stairs to-morrow. Phone me as soon as you get in.

  XX B

  Within a short space, Chatwin held the reins in both Antiquities and Impressionists and Modern Art, or ‘Imps’. In the summer of 1960 he was also involved in the sale of a small panel painting by Fra Angelico, one of two owned by Edward Peregrine, who had taught him Latin at Old Hall School. The painting of St Benedict, 15⅜ inches by 5⅜, was part of the collection of Peregrine’s grandfather, physician to the Duke of Wellington; the other panel portrait was of St Anthony Abbot. Chatwin was given the sale to handle because he had known Peregrine and proved‘a very useful friend at court’. Archives, incredibly, are non-existent for this period, and Chatwin’s correspondence affords a rare glimpse of Sotheby’s behind the scenes. Employees of the auction house were not supposed to do private deals with Sotheby’s clients, and what is going on remains elusive, but the tone suggests a Byzantine intrigue.

  To Edward Peregrine

  Sotheby’s & Co. | 34 & 35 New Bond Street | [May 1960]

  Dear E.F.P.,

  It was very nice to see you too the other day, even though the occasion was not as happy as could be.34

  I am sorry that this should have cropped up. However the decision has now been made, and the one panel is being shown to prospective buyers, and Mrs G35 is confirmed more than ever that the decision is the right one. So I think that the best thing to do is just for all of us to relax until we come to the question of a reserve price just before the sale.

  Hoping for the best, Bruce

  To Edward Peregrine

  18 Grosvenor Crescent Mews | Belgravia | 9 May 1960

  APOLOGIES FOR DELAY IN WRITING SALE DATE 22 JUNE WILL WRITE SOON WITH MORE DETAILS BRUCE

  To Edward Peregrine

  Sotheby’s & Co. | 34 & 35 New Bond Street | 10 May 1960

  Dear E.F.P.,

  I must apologise for the frightful delay in replying to your letter but I have been away and the sale date has only just been fixed.

  Mrs Gronau is at the moment on the Continent and does not return until Monday 16th May and there are one or two points that have arisen which she would like to discuss with you personally. I had a word with her on the telephone this morning and she wonders if you, Mrs Peregrine or both of you, could possibly manage to come up to lunch on Monday 16th May and talk them over directly with her. Could you give us a ring or drop a line to let us know?

  Looking forward to seeing you.

  Yours ever, Bruce

  To Edward Peregrine

  Sotheby’s & Co. | 34 & 35 New Bond Street | 16 June [1960]

  Dear E.F.P.,

  Many thanks for your letter. With regard to the question of the reserve price, I wonder if you would fill in the slip that was enclosed with the catalogue for £6,000, at the same time making the provision that we can increase it at our discretion nearer the sale.

  The old gentleman is at the moment sitting on an easel on a table in the entrance gallery and is attracting a lot of attention.

  Looking forward to seeing you on the morning of the 22nd.

  Yours, Bruce

  At the auction on 22 June, the panel sold to an American dealer for £9,500.

  To Edward Peregrine

  18 Grosvenor Crescent Mews | Belgravia | 30 June [1960]

  Dear E.F.P.,

  In the present state of the market the price of £9,500 was a very good one and is by most people considered to have been the highest relative price in the sale. I think that the way to approach them is to inform them that having sold the other successfully at auction you are now rather reluctantly prepared to sell the other quickly privately. You must emphasise the fact that they are absolutely unseen and that the restoration was carried out by Mr Lank entirely on your instructions. Sotheby’s name must on no account be used in connection with St Anthony Abbot and it must appear that the decision to sell only one stems entirely from you.

  I do not think it would be wise to withdraw the picture from Sotheby’s until you find out whether they are still prepared to buy, as you would burn your boats here and all the contacts that this place affords.

  With regards to the question of price my own feelings are that you should start off at £8,000 and be prepared to come down reluctantly to £6,500 if need be, but one simply doesn’t want the thing stranded on one’s hands with nobody interested.

  However, I think it would be unwise to hurry the matter and please would you not do anything without my being in the picture as it would not make things easy for me here.

  Enclosed is a photograph for you to have, but it is essential not to show it to anyone yet.

  Looking forward to having your comments.

  Regards to Mrs P.,

  Yours,

  Bruce

  To Edward Peregrine

  Sotheby’s | 34 & 35 New Bond Street | 19 July [1960]

  Dear E.F.P.,

  Very many thanks for your letter. I think that the way is all clear for you to write to Rawlinson36 and find out if their American client is still interested.

  Enclosed is a full and I think complete cataloguing description of St Anthony Abbot which will I hope lend weight to its authenticity.

  Should he be no longer interested, do please let me know quickly, because I think that I may be able to arrange something else. If Rawlinson does fail you though, I think we should urge Mrs Gronau into activity first. If they are interested may I please somehow see you with the picture before showing it to them?

  I am going to Greece for a month on September 7th which should be marvellous.

  Regards to you both, Bruce

  In September 1960, following Robert Byron’s traces, he travelled through the Greek islands on his way to Crete. His enthusiasm for Byron was a constant that remained undimmed. Ten years later he talked about the writer to Robin Lane Fox. ‘No way did he model himself on Byron, who he described as childish and irresponsible; what he admired was Byron’s ability for brilliant descriptions of objects before him, combined with a slight transporting sense of another world.’

  To Charles and Margharita Chatwin

  Postcard, Cape Sounion | Temple of Poseidon | Greece | 15 September 1960

  It rained today for the first time this summer. Spent weekend on island of Aegina where I met O Marlburian. Food very good. Xenias Melathron v. expensive and not as good as Tambi, at a third [of the] price. I had no cheque book so please will you pay for table-cloth and I’ll pay you back, B

  To Charles and Margharita Chatwin

  Postcard, windmills at Rhodes | [September 1960]

  So that’s what you took a pot at!37 you naughty fellow! Yacht trip to temple at Lindos with Lord Merthyr (R.C.C.)38 and British Ambassador + Jill Kannreuther. B

  To Charles and Margharita Chatwin

  Postcard, Dionysus mosaic | Delos Island | Mykonos | Greece | 19 September [1960]

  Do come here, but for God’s sake not in the boat39. Blows force 8 at least all the time from the North. Last night from Rhodes, asleep on
deck when wave came right over me taking with it my hat and a little bag that I bought. Full. Am going back to terra firma and shall go to Crete by AIR. B

  Margharita wrote to Hugh at Marlborough about Chatwin’s postcard from Mykonos. Hugh says: ‘I appreciated it as part of Bruce’s studied sense of filial duty to educate his parents in all matters Hellenic. Three years before, he had expounded to me, sotto voce, that Charles and Margharita had served more than their fair time as Birmingham worthy-plus-squaw – should widen their horizons, should see Rome, should experience the Lascaux wall paintings, the flamingos of the Camargue and the Glories that were Greece. Bruce’s encouragement worked real wonders upon Charles. That winter, he announced to his disbelieving law partners (and to me) that, although only in his early fifties, he needed to earn less money instead of more, precisely so that he and Margharita could set forth on travels of their own. The outcome was that both parents followed in his footsteps and they became happier with themselves and each other for so doing.’