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Map
Tite Street & Fulham Road
Studios, London

Tite Street
  London Directory

 
1916

No.29 Percy Bigland, artist
No.29 Robert Fowler, artist
No.31 John S. Sargent RA, artist
*No.33 Guy Little
*No.33 Frank Waldo Murray, artist
No.35 Miss Douglas

1917

No.29 Percy Bigland, artist
No.29 Robert Fowler, artist
No.31 John S. Sargent RA, artist
No.33 Guy Little
No.33 Frank Waldo Murray, artist
No.35 Miss Douglas

1918

No.29 Percy Bigland, artist
No.29 Robert Fowler, artist
No.31 John S. Sargent RA, artist
No.33 Guy Little
No.33 Frank Waldo Murray, artist
No.35 Miss Douglas

1919

Volume missing

1920

No.29 Percy Bigland, artist
No.29 Robert Fowler, artist
No.31 John S. Sargent RA, artist
No.33 Guy Little
No.33 Glyn Warren Philpot ARA, artist
No.35 Miss Anabel Douglas

*although It appears by 1916 Sargent had given up his 33 Tite Street,  There are interior photographs of 33 Tite Street which have been dated 1920. Maybe Sargent was leasing part of it out to these other artists thinking since giving up portraits his Fulham Road was all he needed in the way of studio space. Wow! I wonder what's up?

 
 
 
 

Tite Street Studio
31, 33 Tite Street, Chelsea,
London
 
This is Sargent's Tite Street studio. He first took a lease here in June of 1885 and it would remain his home the rest of his life. 

13 Tite Street, later changed to 33 Tite Street (the building on the right).  He would eventually expand to 31 Tite Street (to the left) in 1900, combining both by cutting a hole in the wall and he would use 31 as his residence and keep 33 as his studio. 

 
"31 Tite Street" 
Max Beerbohm 

From: Bert -- the Pragmatic Romanticist  
Date: July '00  

[Editor's Note-- Bert wrote 3 letters over 4 months] 

It's truly remarkable who all lived with a moments walk of JSS. Peter Warlock the composer lived on the same street as did - as you know - Oscar Wilde and Whistler. Mark Twain was nearby on his stay in London. Turner lived around the corner. Milne - the Winnie the Pooh creator walked down Tite Street on his way to school as a boy. Ian Fleming placed James Bond's home a few streets away. Mick Jagger has lived in the neighbourhood. Both Turner and Whistler painted the original Battersea Bridge.  I've got the address and pricing of a flat to rent for tourist at the north end of the street. It's an enchanting area from all I can gather ........ god, I want to go there........:).....and I will before I perish..... The man who lives at 33 Tite Street now, Julian Barrow,  is also an artist.  

The National Army Museum and the Royal Hospital are directly north east of 33 Tite Street. The whole area is bathed in a bohemian history that beckons ever so seductively ...........*sighs*......... I can't stop researching but wonder about the merits of all this and how the hell am I going to present it. Who cares......I'm having fun......  

Date: 9/26/00 

 . . . I continue more research on the Tite Street / Chelsea project . . .  You've no idea how this whole thing has ballooned and I'm loving the areas it takes me to. I've bought a useful Michelin map of London at a decent scale that gives block by block house numbers making it very useful for isolating locations. Through all this I'm inhaling facts and figure by osmosis which will hopefully pour out in a cogent web site some day when my work permits. At one time I had over 75 books out from the library directly related to the whole venture. It is a joyous sojourn and gives me a rationale to read and look it the most diverse and perverse of books.  

Date: 10/21/00  

Item One - JSS on Tite Street -  
Alfred Egerton Layton ("Cooper") was Sargents Assitant -- what gives? 

I read the following: 

Cooper showed artistic talent early, exhibiting (for the first of forty times) at the Royal Academy at eighteen and graduating on a scholarship from London's Royal College of Art in 1911. While still a student, Cooper entered a competition for which John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) was one of the judges. . . .  Impressed by the young artist's work, Sargent voted for Cooper, who came in second. Fortuitously, Sargent asked Cooper to work with him at his studio, the famous 31-33 Tite Street in Chelsea which had belonged to James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Cooper spent about a year there as Sargent's assistant, doing backgrounds and details for his paintings. What the master passed along to his disciple is evident on our cover. 
(http://www.winstonchurchill.org )
 
I have not found any references to Layton in any Sargent book but am fascinated that someone else had a hand in the masters work. Which ones did he assist in? What role did Cooper play? Why is he never mentioned in any of the literature? 

Item Two - Princess Diana in Tite Street. 

As you know, I've found out that Julian Barrow - an artist - is the current resident of [33] Tite Street. 

Apparently he loans out the studio. 

From: The Artist Sudio 

[The Tite Street studio]  was in Chelsea, by the River Thames, which was outside the city and quiet. Many other artists, including J. Whistler, Boldini, Furse and later, Augustus John, were also moving in that direction due to the growth of the city. . .  

Today, Sargent's studio is not a museum and is privately [occupied] by Julian Barrow. He has lived there for over thirty years and knows much about the history of Sargent and others from that area.  Barrow is an accomplished landscape painter and portraitist. He is quite English – pleasant but private. Occasionally, he will loan out the studio for sittings, such as Nelson Shanks' painting Princess Diana or Margaret Thatcher 
(The Artits Sudio)

From: Time International 
THE PENSIVE PRINCESS  
While painting the life-size oil of PRINCESS DIANA in 1994, U.S. artist Nelson Shanks says, "I had to take into account the fact of her life--she was being barraged from all angles, and the fantasy-land situation just didn't exist any longer." The public can see the portrait for the first time when it goes on view at New York City's Hirschl & Adler Galleries next week as part of an exhibit of Brits painted by Americans. Shanks, 58, found Diana both pensive and optimistic, saying, "Physically, she's no shrinking violet--she's very strong physically and, I think, mentally as well." Before sittings began, Shanks assumed that they would take place in Kensington Palace, where the Princess lives. A friend had offered him the use of a studio in Chelsea, and, he recalls, "I gave her the option, and she said, 'Oh, let's do it there. I'd love to get out of here.'"  
(TIME International, April 22, 1996 Volume 147, No. 17)
Diana at [33] Tite Street. 

I've looked at various pictures of the Tite Street studio trying to match what one sees at the right side of the picture below with little luck. Still, I'm fascinated that the rich and famous are still getting their "paw traughts" done at Tite Street.  


 
(The Thatcher and Diana portraits done at 33 Tite Street) 

Take a look at some of Nelson Shanks work. This man is marvelous 

Nelson Shanks' art.
Item Three - "..wonderful possibilities" 

Question:  How is my work going on my Sargent in Tite Street site?  

Answer: Endlessly trapped in research mode. 

I have,  however, come up with a name for it (at least it's today's name) My current mood is to name it  "..wonderful possibilities" 

Why? Read on. 
 
 
From the book "Walks in Oscar Wilde's London" 

Sargent was indirectly responsible for Wild's choice of Tite Street as a site for the house he built to live in with his bride. During the short period Wilde had shared Tite Street quarters with Miles, he witnessed Ellen Terry arriving at the Sargent's nearby studio, costumed for his famous portrait of her as Lady Macbeth. Wilde wrote "The street that on a wet and dreary morning has vouchsafed the vision of Lady Macbeth, in full regalia magnificently seated in a four wheeler, can never be as other streets; it must always be full of wonderful possibilities."
Warmly 

Bert 

From: Michael Del Priore
7/16/2004

I have had the privilege in seeing and working in Sargent’s studio at 33 Tite St. I’m a personal friend of Richard Ormond (Sargent’s Great Nephew) and Julian Barrows (occupant  of 33 Tite Street). (go to)


Michael Del Priore -- Painting Richard Ormond in Sargent's Studio 33 Tite Street Chelsea, London


 
Notes: 
 

  
 
 
 
 
Photo's  

 
View looking West studio 
 
 
  

 
North Studio Window 

 
Current Photos  
 

 
 
Alfred Egerton Cooper 
English Portrait Artist (1883-1974) 
 
Study for a Churchill portrait 
 
 
 
Nelson Shanks 
American Portrait Artist (1938- living) 
 
Princess Diana 
1994 
(painted at Tite Street Studio) 
 
 
 
John Singer Sargent 
 
Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth  
1889 
 
 

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By:  Natasha Wallace
Copyright 1998-2005 all rights reserved
Created 11/28/2001