00:00Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely this morning
00:06to speak to Damien Barne. Now, Damien, you've got a fascinating book, The Two Roberts, and you will
00:12be in conversation at Pellant House Gallery on Friday, September the 5th, from 6 to 7,
00:17tickets from the gallery, in conversation with Pellant House Gallery director Simon Martin
00:22about the book, and then there will be an exhibition at Charleston from October the 15th
00:28about The Two Roberts. So, for those that don't know, The Two Roberts, who were they? Why do we
00:33need to consider them now? Especially given they have been, to an extent, neglected, haven't they?
00:39Yes, they have been neglected, and I'm not happy about that. They are two brilliant Scottish artists,
00:46they're real people, they were born just before the First World War in Ayrshire, and they met at
00:51Glasgow School of Art in 1933, and they went on to become huge stars in the art world of London
00:56during and after the war. So, friends of theirs were Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud,
01:02Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham, Elizabeth Smart, lots of names that you will recognise, and you probably,
01:07or maybe, don't know the names of the robbers, or you've stumbled across them as footnotes
01:11in art history. And actually, at the time, they were the stars. Bacon, Freud, all those people
01:16were hanging around them, they were in their orbit. And they were hugely talented, they were
01:22called McBrack and McPicasso in their lifetime, which they pretended not to like. But they
01:27were collected by Tate, by MoMA, photographed in Vogue, filmed by Ken Russell. They were hugely
01:34in demand, and for a brief time, very rich and very famous. But they both died very young,
01:41and by the time they died, they were very poor, more or less unhoused, but maybe on the brink
01:51of a comeback. So, I wanted to look back at these two artists who had been relegated to footnotes
01:57and put them back at the centre of the story, where they belong. And Sussex is a really big
02:01part of their story, actually.
02:03And you sense that the time is coming again?
02:05Well, I think it is. I mean, the exhibition that I'm doing at Charleston and Lewis is because
02:13the two Roberts were based in Lewis for several years. They were guests of the Ladies of Millers
02:17and they did lithographs. They also designed outfits and sets for a ballet called Donald
02:23of the Burthens, which was owned at the Royal Opera House. And it was the first time bagpipes
02:27had ever been heard in the Royal Opera House. And they did lots of book designs and things
02:32while they were there as well. So, Pallant House has some of their works, and I've seen
02:37them. I went to look at them when I was doing research for my novel. So, it's really exciting
02:42to be able to go to the gallery and talk about them. I should say, I'm also doing a launch
02:46in Sussex via City Books, which is bringing an independent shopping home, on the 27th of
02:52August. So, that's actually going to be the first opportunity that people have to hear
02:56me talk about it. And after that, I'll be with Simon on the 5th.
02:59Fantastic. Well, it sounds a fascinating book. Good luck with that. Good luck with the exhibition
03:05in Charleston. Really lovely to speak to you. Thank you.
03:08And to you.
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