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‘Scribe’
The House of Words, Dr Johnson’s House, London Summer 2006
The House of Words was conceived as a collection of narratives that, through the personal constructions of seven artists, added to orthodox versions of events and in ways that reflected different perspectives. The distinctive setting of Dr Johnson’s House provided the essential context for these site-specific artworks, and each of the artists was selected for their ability to introduce a different kind of experiential dimension within the House. Some of the specially commissioned works encouraged the viewers to adopt the perspective of the dreamer and to imaginatively project themselves into a narrative scene: Clare Twomey evoked the presence of Johnson’s scribes in the Dictionary Garret.
In response to the House and the former use of its garret, Clare Twomey produced a poetic dream-like narration: a strange blue-coloured dust formed a heavy veil over an accidental configuration of artifacts, similar to those once intrinsic to the mental and physical activities of Johnson and his amanuenses in this same space. The accumulation of the mysterious matter de-familiarised the objects, forcing us to examine them in detail, while the entire tableau brought with it a heightened sense of the layering of time. We were also caught up in sheer metaphysical wonder at how the material world could have been so magically transformed.
Twomey’s choice of material - a special and valuable dust of Wedgwood blue Jasper clay – also offered a mediating experience in time and space: the clay body, an innovation of the 18th century developed by Josiah Wedgwood, has a roughly corresponding history in the field of material culture to Johnson’s work in English language and literature.
Johnson was kind as well as curmudgeonly; he was interested in the arts and fashionable life; he seemed to like the company of women just as much as that of men; he continues to be relevant to 21st century life and is widely quoted by many people who do not know who he was. It is fortuitous that of all Samuel Johnson’s London dwellings this house is the one that has survived: It is the House of Words, the house where the dictionary was compiled, and the one where Johnson’s spirit is almost tangible.
‘Scribe’
The House of Words, Dr Johnson’s House, London Summer 2006
When we first visited Dr Johnson‘s House in late summer 2006 we were immediately struck by two aspects of the house that made it different from many other historic houses. The first was an almost palpable sense that Dr Johnson had really lived there; secondly it was free from didactic displays that are designed to educate the visitor but in reality often stifle the sense that it is a house and forbid the exercise of the imagination.
The first point may seem obvious; this is the only property left in London of the 17 in which Johnson is known to have lived. The fortunate rescue of the house by the Harmsworth family and their inspired dictum that they would take nothing away that was old and add nothing unnecessary that was new has guided nearly a hundred years of careful curation, keeping the House as intact as possible.
There have only been six curators since the House was opened to the public in 1912 and we have to thank Isabella Dyble, Phyllis Rowell, Betty Gathergood (three generations of the same family), Margaret Eliot, Natasha McEnroe and Stephanie Pickford for their dedication. Their names and contributions to the story bring us to a third point: Dr Johnson’s House was the home of many other people besides Johnson. His’ nest’ was full of fascinating characters and they seem as present as he does as one explores the House.
Through our research for the exhibition and this book we learnt much about Johnson that disabused us of our received opinions: He was kind as well as curmudgeonly; he was interested in the arts and fashionable life; he seemed to like the company of women just as much as that of men; he continues to be relevant to 21st century life and is widely quoted by many people who do not know who he was.
So one of the delights of this project was introducing the artists and writers to the house, which none of them had previously visited. The artists, Caroline Broadhead, Jason Cleverly, Robert Dawson, Chris Kenny, Jane Prophet, Clare Twomey and Era Vati, welcomed the opportunity to work in such an inspiring and idiosyncratic building. Esther Leslie and Calum Storrie have responded to the House by writing evocative essays. | 
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As curators we are particularly interested in working within non-art spaces to explore the potential of contemporary art to enhance a visitor’s experience of a building and its history, to intrigue and involve them and to challenge their preconceptions. It is to acknowledge art as a discursive practice that can assist the reasoning and understanding of artist and audience alike. The House of Words is thus conceived not as a series of illustrations of Johnson’s life and work, but as a collection of narratives which, through the personal constructions of seven artists, add to orthodox versions of events and in ways that reflect different perspectives. The distinctive setting of the House provides the essential context for these site-specific artworks, all of which must be discovered and experienced first hand.
Each of the artists was selected for their ability to introduce a different kind of experiential dimension within the House. Some of the specially commissioned works encourage the viewer to adopt the perspective of the dreamer and to imaginatively project themselves into a narrative scene: Clare Twomey evokes the presence of Johnson’s scribes in the Dictionary Garret and Erika Vati creates an enigmatic scenario involving two former residents. Caroline Broadhead, Jane Prophet, Robert Dawson and Chris Kenny all invite the viewer to make cultural associations, Broadhead and Prophet by setting up insistent echoes of objects and ideas, Dawson through the manipulation of familiar domestic items and Kenny by employing the power of ‘found’ and minutely curated texts. In the case of Jason Cleverly’s interactive dictionary project the visitor is directly and necessarily engaged as a collaborator.
It is fortuitous that of all Samuel Johnson’s London dwellings this house is the one that has survived: It is the House of Words; the house where the dictionary was compiled, the one where Johnson’s spirit is almost tangible.
Tessa Peters and Janice West, Exhibition curators
‘Scribe’
The House of Words, Dr Johnson’s House, London Summer 2006
‘When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.’ That well-known opinion of bon viveur, man of letters and influential father of the modern English dictionary Dr Johnson, reverberates in the inner ear as you step over the threshold of his house. Gough Square, now the preserve of corporate London, was in Johnson’s time, situated conveniently near the printing presses of Fleet Street.
He believed language could ‘fix meanings’ and over a period of nine years, with the help of six amanuenses, carried out the feat of completing his celebrated work ‘A dictionary of the English Language’.
300 years on from his birth in 1709, the exhibition House of Words highlights the interplay of words and meanings. A group of contemporary artists has been inspired by his cultural legacy, charisma, wit and the space in which he compiled the work for publication in 1755.
The title of the show refers to the house as the location for the compilation of the dictionary and Clare Twomey has evoked the process. Located in the attic, her piece entitled Scribe is an installation comprising books, paper and quill pens. Presented in a vitrine, they are simply the tools of his trade but when the viewer looks more closely at the blue dust that covers the objects it takes on a poignant, ghostly quality.
Jason Cleverly reaches out to the spectator through his Interactive Dictionary Project. On first glance the beautiful hard wood table does not look out of place in the Georgian interior. Then the game of the piece becomes clear, etched onto the table are a series of definitions and the viewer is invited to take the ‘quill pen’ from the centre of the table to create one’s own piece of a dictionary which is then displayed on a screen behind.
Tables as works of art are a recurrent motif, objects that literally become part of the furniture. Ceramic artist Robert Dawson’s Parlour Table breathes a modern air into an old fashioned room with a work coated in crisp blue and white geometric patterns. The references to Willow Pattern recall to us Johnson’s use of this space to receive a varied collection of guests including bankers, artists, prostitutes and murderers, stimulated by fashionable tea drinking.
Era Vati’s multi-media time-based video installation adds and eerie dimension to the visit. Leaning on a mantle piece is a flickering portrait of a black man dressed in period costume. This man, who we know to be Johnson’s servant Francis Barber, lingers a few moments before dissolving and being replaced by a swirling vision of fragmented letters.
Words and the books that hold them are playfully examined by Jane Prophet in a series of pieces that use a laser cutting technique to tamper with the venerable tomes. The word ‘Ignivomous’, meaning vomiting fire leaps out of the page as a tumble of laser cut flames. If Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language, itself a homage to learning, humour and eccentricities, is a true picture of the man himself, Prophet’s combines them via his profile cut into a dictionary.
The seven commissioned artists have responded to the physical environment of the house as much as the character of the man to produce works that reflect different perspectives on Johnson and his world. Though Johnson’s lexical achievement was generally admired, his idiosyncratic definitions were criticised, as were a handful of celebrated inaccuracies, which on occasion he wittily defended as ‘Ignorance, pure ignorance’. Wandering casually through the great man’s house, the viewer is provoked to think how language, meaning and context are inextricably bound.%u2028%u2028
Maeve Hosea, freelance writer on arts and culture Crafts Magazine Reviews | |