Commerce has always deferred conversationally to art. It’s assumed that painters and writers are fascinating talkers, but from the Mermaid to the Colony room, I think they’ve only ever had one subject: money and their lack of it, or the outrageously unfair amounts of it bestowed on (naturally) less talented peers.
The legendary wit of the Algonquin was a myth fabricated to cadge martinis: Dorothy Parker and Scott Fitzgerald weren’t doing anything at the Round Table other than slagging off their agents”.
One effect of the credit bore though, is to induce a positive perkiness amongst creative types. At dinner at silkmaker Felix Spicer’s boho-baroque railway arch last week, a rather alarming optimism prevailed. For once, instead of moaning, four artists, two writers a composer and a film director merrily predicted a recession renaissance. People are bound to get more serious minded, spending their hoarded cash on literary novels and staying at home to listen to Lutoslawski. Or maybe it was just the need to keep feeling different. Now everyone is moaning about money, artists are obliged to discuss art.
Lisa Hilton is a biographer and historian who will be contributing regularly to Coffee House over the coming weeks. After five years in Paris, New York and Milan, Lisa has just returned to live in London. Her most recent book is “Queens Consort: A History of England’s Medieval Queens“
Comments