Daily Telegraph
Jul. 22nd, 2003 12:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
favorovJohnny Stuart, who has died aged 63, had no equal outside Russia as
an expert on Russian art.
The thriving market in Russian art today is largely his creation. He
founded the Russian department at Sotheby's in 1976 and over the
next 20 years built it up into a dominant position that was reflected
in Sotheby's record-breaking Russian sale of 1995.
No aspect of his field left him indifferent. Aside from his principal
interest in icons, he was equally fascinated with Russian painting of
the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, as well as with porcelain and
objets d'art.
His book Ikons, published by Faber & Faber in 1975, remains the
most accessible general work on the subject. Stuart later undertook a
far more ambitious and in-depth project, and shortly before his recent
illness, after 20 years of study, he had completed the manuscript for
Icons: The Triumph of Orthodoxy, a huge, comprehensive volume
which is soon to be published by Alexandria Press.
Yet to describe Stuart as an art historian in the modern, professional
sense did not begin to describe him. He belonged firmly in the great
18th-century British tradition of gentlemen eccentrics, polymaths
and connoisseurs. He blended high scholarship with a plethora of
interests in history, genealogy, interior design, pop culture and the
Rocker scene of the 1960s.
For work at Sotheby's he habitually wore motorcycle leathers, and he
cut a dash turning up for valuations on one of his classic bikes. His
book Rockers (1987), about the English bike scene of the 1960s and
1970s, became an international bestseller and for a time was
reputedly the most shop-lifted book in London bookshops; it
continues to do brisk trade in Japan.
John Spencer Innes Stuart was born in Aberdeen on May 20 1940
and grew up in Angus, where his father farmed after the Second
World War. Johnny loved drawing, and at Eton, encouraged and
i nfluenced by Wilfrid Blunt, his art master, he sought to learn about
the Italian Renaissance, Persian painting, and Chinese art.
While still at school he would go up to London to rummage in the
salerooms, where among other things he acquired a pair of Chinese
ceremonial brass fans, described in the catalogue as having been
looted by a British officer during the sack of the summer palace in
Peking.
Around this time, Stuart also began to show a keen interest in Roman
Catholicism. His parents, alarmed at this development, asked his
housemaster, G A D Tait, to do what he could to distract him, and so
it was that he was given a book about the Russian Imperial Family.
From there developed the great passion of Johnny Stuart's life. He
immersed himself in Russia's history, culture and art, and became
firm friends with the Russian ?migr?s Count and Countess
Kleinmichel, who stood as his godparents when, while still at Eton,
he converted to Orthodoxy.
Stuart went on to develop these interests at St John's, Cambridge,
where he read Slavonic Studies under Professor Andreyev, a follower
of the leading early Byzantinist, N P Kondakov. In his holidays he
moved in Russian ?migr? circles, and avidly sought to learn about the
closing days of the Russian empire.
After Cambridge, Stuart based himself in Notting Hill. His homes,
first in Kensington Park Gardens and then in Colville Mews - a
former industrial wareh ouse converted into a Russian neo-classical
palazetto - became meeting places for people of vastly different
backgrounds and interests.
In 1 963 he was engaged by Peter Wilson as a porter in the porcelain
department of Sotheby's, quickly moving to be an assistant in the
Russian section of the Works of Art department. T he great collector
of Russian Art, George Kostaki, remarked to Wilson that his porter
seemed to know far more than the expert in charge.
Stu art's restless and curious nature soon led him to leave Sotheby's to
go into partnership with Marina Bowater at the Bowater Gallery,
then a meeting place of the Russian diaspora in London. But he found
running a gallery too limiting, and in the late 1960s he went to Russia
to study under Adolf Ovchinnikov at the Grabar Centre for Icon
Research and Restoration in Moscow.
Helped by his great friend Camilla Gray, who was married to Sergei
Prokofiev's son, the painter Oleg, Stuart made lifelong friends among
the Russian artistic and scholarly intelligentsia. It was to be the first
of many visits, and it is fair to say that Russia became his second
home.
The process was repeated a few years later, in the early 1970s, this
time in Greece. Through another great friend and distant relative,
Elmina Rangabe, he spent a year there immersing himself in its
Byzantine heritage and the roots of Christian art.
When he returned to Sotheby's in 1976, he managed to persuade his
superiors of the need for a separate Russian department, which he
then headed for the next two decades, while also doing the research
for his second book on icons. His understanding of icons included a
formal appreciation of them as art and a knowledge of the theology
behind them. More important, it stemmed from his Orthodox faith
and his complete communion with the world that gave them birth. He
always insisted that the aesthetics of religious art could only be
appreciated by understanding the spiritual tradition that produced it.
Ever ready to discuss Patristic theology and the finer points of the
Christological disputes of the 4th century, he was, though, equally
keen to share his enthusiasm for classic British motorcycles.
His passion for large and powerful motorcycles dated back to his
schooldays. Not a day went by when he did not ride his bike and
over the years he was the proud owner of several classic machines,
ranging from a 1935 Thunderbird, via Nortons and Tritons to the
latest model Triumph.
Meanwhile, his understanding of youth culture, his enjoyment of the
glamour of the music scene, and his knowledge of street style and
fashion made him a guru for actors and pop stars. Among those he
influenced and befriended were members of the Rolling Stones, Oliver
Tobias, Zandra Rhodes, George Michael, Spandau Ballet, Gary
Numan, Steve Strange, Duran-Duran, Billy Idol, Brian Setzer of the
Stray Cats, Paul Simonon of the Clash, Huggi, and Kylie Minogue.
The makers of films and pop videos came to him for advice on
matters of style, and when the V & A held an exhibition on British
Street Style, they called on him for help in styling the show and to
lend motorcycles, original bikers' clothing, accessories and
memorabilia from the 1950s and 1960s.
Stuart left Sotheby's shortly after the Russian sale of December 1995
and formed an art consultancy with his former colleague Ivan
Samarine, advising collectors and dealers throughout the world.
Entrusted with their treasures, Stuart's home became an ever-changing
showcase of Russian art.
In recent years he fulfilled a long-held ambition - the culmination of
years of absorbing the minutiae of Russian style - by renovating a
large derelict apartment in the heart of St Petersburg on the Fontanka
river, in the house where Turgenev once lived, and turning it into a
splendid early 19th-century Russian palatial residence. Featured in
Russian Vogue, along with photographs of his home in London, it
led to other commissions in Moscow.
Johnny Stuart was handsome, charming, self-deprecating, and an
excellent host. His hospitality combined with his wide-ranging
interests gave his soirees the character of a salon.
A great raconteur, he was forever regaling his friends with
wonderfully funny stories, and could spend hours discussing the
fin er points of style, interior design and architecture. Byzantium,
Russian neo-classicism, the Ottoman world and Fifties Britain were
his favourite styles - a synthesis reflected in his own homes.
Fascinated by languages and their sounds, he spoke fluent Italian,
French and Russian. Even in languages such as Greek and Spanish,
his knowledge of which was far more limited, his talent for mimicry
often confused natives into thinking him one of their own. Gifted
with a great ear, he could render exactly the accent or vocal
mannerisms of his interlocutors, always to their great merriment.
He had the rare ability to communicate across generations and social
classes. A bachelor, he was was a highly popular uncle and godfather.
He died on July 12.
an expert on Russian art.
The thriving market in Russian art today is largely his creation. He
founded the Russian department at Sotheby's in 1976 and over the
next 20 years built it up into a dominant position that was reflected
in Sotheby's record-breaking Russian sale of 1995.
No aspect of his field left him indifferent. Aside from his principal
interest in icons, he was equally fascinated with Russian painting of
the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, as well as with porcelain and
objets d'art.
His book Ikons, published by Faber & Faber in 1975, remains the
most accessible general work on the subject. Stuart later undertook a
far more ambitious and in-depth project, and shortly before his recent
illness, after 20 years of study, he had completed the manuscript for
Icons: The Triumph of Orthodoxy, a huge, comprehensive volume
which is soon to be published by Alexandria Press.
Yet to describe Stuart as an art historian in the modern, professional
sense did not begin to describe him. He belonged firmly in the great
18th-century British tradition of gentlemen eccentrics, polymaths
and connoisseurs. He blended high scholarship with a plethora of
interests in history, genealogy, interior design, pop culture and the
Rocker scene of the 1960s.
For work at Sotheby's he habitually wore motorcycle leathers, and he
cut a dash turning up for valuations on one of his classic bikes. His
book Rockers (1987), about the English bike scene of the 1960s and
1970s, became an international bestseller and for a time was
reputedly the most shop-lifted book in London bookshops; it
continues to do brisk trade in Japan.
John Spencer Innes Stuart was born in Aberdeen on May 20 1940
and grew up in Angus, where his father farmed after the Second
World War. Johnny loved drawing, and at Eton, encouraged and
i nfluenced by Wilfrid Blunt, his art master, he sought to learn about
the Italian Renaissance, Persian painting, and Chinese art.
While still at school he would go up to London to rummage in the
salerooms, where among other things he acquired a pair of Chinese
ceremonial brass fans, described in the catalogue as having been
looted by a British officer during the sack of the summer palace in
Peking.
Around this time, Stuart also began to show a keen interest in Roman
Catholicism. His parents, alarmed at this development, asked his
housemaster, G A D Tait, to do what he could to distract him, and so
it was that he was given a book about the Russian Imperial Family.
From there developed the great passion of Johnny Stuart's life. He
immersed himself in Russia's history, culture and art, and became
firm friends with the Russian ?migr?s Count and Countess
Kleinmichel, who stood as his godparents when, while still at Eton,
he converted to Orthodoxy.
Stuart went on to develop these interests at St John's, Cambridge,
where he read Slavonic Studies under Professor Andreyev, a follower
of the leading early Byzantinist, N P Kondakov. In his holidays he
moved in Russian ?migr? circles, and avidly sought to learn about the
closing days of the Russian empire.
After Cambridge, Stuart based himself in Notting Hill. His homes,
first in Kensington Park Gardens and then in Colville Mews - a
former industrial wareh ouse converted into a Russian neo-classical
palazetto - became meeting places for people of vastly different
backgrounds and interests.
In 1 963 he was engaged by Peter Wilson as a porter in the porcelain
department of Sotheby's, quickly moving to be an assistant in the
Russian section of the Works of Art department. T he great collector
of Russian Art, George Kostaki, remarked to Wilson that his porter
seemed to know far more than the expert in charge.
Stu art's restless and curious nature soon led him to leave Sotheby's to
go into partnership with Marina Bowater at the Bowater Gallery,
then a meeting place of the Russian diaspora in London. But he found
running a gallery too limiting, and in the late 1960s he went to Russia
to study under Adolf Ovchinnikov at the Grabar Centre for Icon
Research and Restoration in Moscow.
Helped by his great friend Camilla Gray, who was married to Sergei
Prokofiev's son, the painter Oleg, Stuart made lifelong friends among
the Russian artistic and scholarly intelligentsia. It was to be the first
of many visits, and it is fair to say that Russia became his second
home.
The process was repeated a few years later, in the early 1970s, this
time in Greece. Through another great friend and distant relative,
Elmina Rangabe, he spent a year there immersing himself in its
Byzantine heritage and the roots of Christian art.
When he returned to Sotheby's in 1976, he managed to persuade his
superiors of the need for a separate Russian department, which he
then headed for the next two decades, while also doing the research
for his second book on icons. His understanding of icons included a
formal appreciation of them as art and a knowledge of the theology
behind them. More important, it stemmed from his Orthodox faith
and his complete communion with the world that gave them birth. He
always insisted that the aesthetics of religious art could only be
appreciated by understanding the spiritual tradition that produced it.
Ever ready to discuss Patristic theology and the finer points of the
Christological disputes of the 4th century, he was, though, equally
keen to share his enthusiasm for classic British motorcycles.
His passion for large and powerful motorcycles dated back to his
schooldays. Not a day went by when he did not ride his bike and
over the years he was the proud owner of several classic machines,
ranging from a 1935 Thunderbird, via Nortons and Tritons to the
latest model Triumph.
Meanwhile, his understanding of youth culture, his enjoyment of the
glamour of the music scene, and his knowledge of street style and
fashion made him a guru for actors and pop stars. Among those he
influenced and befriended were members of the Rolling Stones, Oliver
Tobias, Zandra Rhodes, George Michael, Spandau Ballet, Gary
Numan, Steve Strange, Duran-Duran, Billy Idol, Brian Setzer of the
Stray Cats, Paul Simonon of the Clash, Huggi, and Kylie Minogue.
The makers of films and pop videos came to him for advice on
matters of style, and when the V & A held an exhibition on British
Street Style, they called on him for help in styling the show and to
lend motorcycles, original bikers' clothing, accessories and
memorabilia from the 1950s and 1960s.
Stuart left Sotheby's shortly after the Russian sale of December 1995
and formed an art consultancy with his former colleague Ivan
Samarine, advising collectors and dealers throughout the world.
Entrusted with their treasures, Stuart's home became an ever-changing
showcase of Russian art.
In recent years he fulfilled a long-held ambition - the culmination of
years of absorbing the minutiae of Russian style - by renovating a
large derelict apartment in the heart of St Petersburg on the Fontanka
river, in the house where Turgenev once lived, and turning it into a
splendid early 19th-century Russian palatial residence. Featured in
Russian Vogue, along with photographs of his home in London, it
led to other commissions in Moscow.
Johnny Stuart was handsome, charming, self-deprecating, and an
excellent host. His hospitality combined with his wide-ranging
interests gave his soirees the character of a salon.
A great raconteur, he was forever regaling his friends with
wonderfully funny stories, and could spend hours discussing the
fin er points of style, interior design and architecture. Byzantium,
Russian neo-classicism, the Ottoman world and Fifties Britain were
his favourite styles - a synthesis reflected in his own homes.
Fascinated by languages and their sounds, he spoke fluent Italian,
French and Russian. Even in languages such as Greek and Spanish,
his knowledge of which was far more limited, his talent for mimicry
often confused natives into thinking him one of their own. Gifted
with a great ear, he could render exactly the accent or vocal
mannerisms of his interlocutors, always to their great merriment.
He had the rare ability to communicate across generations and social
classes. A bachelor, he was was a highly popular uncle and godfather.
He died on July 12.
