The Weird World of Henry and Marie Clews

There is a pretty , formal garden at the Chateau de la Napoule near Cannes .

I require to severalise you the taradiddle of how it come to be created and although this has nothing to do with gardening I hope it will fascinate you as much as it intrigued me .

Henry Clews was the nonconcentric son of a full-bodied Wall Street banker . His first married woman split up him when she realised that he was never going to espouse in his Fatherhood ’s footsteps . He wanted to be an creative person . When he met the beautiful and wealthy Elsie Whelen Goelet they fell in beloved and she divorced her husband and left her 2 child behind in New York . Henry and Elsie belong to Paris so that Henry could start a young living as an artist and sculptor with Elsie as his muse . She had to have a young name to do this ; Elsie was the name of his baby who was a feminist and an intellectual and despised on both count by Henry . Marie was a much good name for his Madonna- like wife .

Caricatures of despised ‘burghers’

Henry ’s grandfather had been a Staffordshire thrower and he made blasphemous and white plates featuring Cervante ’s Don Quixote . This is the persona Henry decide to take on . His servant was mention Sancha and had to dress up in a specially project getup .

When Henry and Maria find the ruined fort at La Napoule near Cannes they moved into the villa on the site and devote themselves to turning it into a crenellated fantasy castle .

The result wait like a mark between a Disneyland and Harry Potter film set with Alice in Wonderland drop in for good mensuration . They build their own world here and exist accord to the dominion of Henry ’s unknown doctrine which he called humormystics . On the huge doors of his medieval looking dining hall he carve a scene showing the fearful effects of a ‘ Gynocracy ’ ( his watchword for a humankind where women rule . ) Here all is disorder . On the other room access is ‘ Androcracy ’ where all is concordance because men rule . One feel this is a barb direct at his baby , the feminist . The rich and noted were invited to dinner here and Henry and Maria would toy with them coiffure up in specially designed mediaeval outfit . alien skirt such as ibis , cranes and flamingos tramp the ground .

Caricatures of despised ‘burghers’

This kingdom which was foretell Mancha , as was their unfortunate boy , was fill up with monsters and grotesques carved by Henry who was clearly a very gifted sculpturer . He had his own private quarry in the nearby Esterel where 12 stonecutters made sure that he had a constant supply of the beautiful porphyritic rock and serpentine of the surface area .

Everywhere in the castling you regain Henry and Marie ’s entwined initials . Strange beasts gaze at you from pillar some with cabalistic inscription . You would think that it was a magic world to produce up in but Mancha was a lonely child who spend his life with handmaid . His father was too self- obsessed to take any notice of him and his female parent devote her life to her married man ’s art . She was also very much involve in project and overseeing the construction of their castle and the garden .

There is a Roman tower standing on the site and a Saracen one . Henry and Maria had a third tug built to house their tombs . These face each other and the doors were allow ajar so that their feeling could escape . On the top of the pillar there is a sealed room with no approach to it where there spirits could sport . Clews designed his own tomb and wrote his epitaph :

Grand Knight of La Mancha Supreme Master Humormystic Castellan of Once Upon a Time Chevalier de Marie

He should perhaps have added Certifiable Loony . He seemed to have a persecution complex and endure from period of deep depression . He felt that : ‘ Gymnocrats , scientist , democrats andburghers ’ were all to be dreaded . He also hated communist and feminists . I ’m not entirely sure what a ‘ gymnocrat ’ is , but understandably it was something undesirable .

Caricatures of despise ‘ burghers ’

Henry ’s studio apartment which he kept locked throughout his living is full of his astonishing body of work and can be visited by the public . After an exhibition of his work in America was panned by the critics he vowed never to expose again and he take out more and more into his own phantasy world . He satirised critic and intellectuals of all kinds . Because of his enormous wealthiness he never had to essay to deal his piece of work and struggle to become known .

Henry ’s studio with a photograph and his crownwork over the back of the chair . ( A entire stranger have a pic . I did n’t notice him . )

After Henry ’s death Marie looked after the castle during the warfare and buried and veil all his work so that they would be preserved from the Nazis . She died in 1959 having set up a foundation at the castle where American and French creative person can come and work .

24 Responses toThe Weird World of Henry and Marie Clews

Poor Henry , it go as if he was indeed certified . The garden seems very restful . give thanks you for telling us about his history and showing us the pictures . He had talent .

A most challenging fib Chloris . Henry and his wife do not sound the ‘ nicest ’ of people but sure left a rich bequest !

I discover it strange that any cleaning woman could support Henry ’s behavior for longsighted but perhaps the trade - off was that Marie had the freedom to express her own interest group , or perhaps she was a short crazy in her own right – I ’ll have to attend up her memoir . It ’s plausibly a estimable matter that Henry was capable to work out his preoccupations and heat in fine art rather than in some destructive form . It ’s serious to hear that the Word live his childhood with his own sanity inviolate .

wow , what a story ! and nicely exemplify with your pic .

The Weird World of Henry and Marie Clews