The archaic smile

John Fowles described the archaic smile in The Magus as being

'full of the purest metaphysical good humour'...

'timelessly intelligent and timelessly amused.'

With this hovering smile, Greek archaic sculptors were thought to be

suggesting that their subject was alive and infused with a sense of well-being.

Well the Millesgården certainly had the same effect on me.

The sculptor Carl Milles and his wife Olga a painter,

came to live in Stockholm in the early 20th century.

The house, sculpture garden, and gallery

were donated to the Swedish nation in the late 1930s.

The breakfast nook in their kitchen with Olga's decorative paintings

on the cupboards inspired by the Delft tiles on the walls.

Sadly behind a window, with some touristy bod

(you know who you are P) reflected in the glass,

Anne's house, built for Anne Hedmark, Carl's assistant,

who lived there after his death in 1955.

The furniture is designed by Josef Frank.
I could have settled quite happily into the armchair
by the fireplace, perhaps listening to this

We visited Svenskt Tenn of course,

where I would happily have chosen any number of lampshades

were it not for their eye-watering prices,

so after a rather sobering discussion with the very cool sales staff

I came away with these scraps

rather specifically described as breadbasket liners.

I will not be burying them under my bread rolls.

A strange thing happened to my camera
while I was there.

It decided to take pictures in black and white for a while.

 I rather like them.
Here is Glenn Gould in black and white.