Lauren Booth’s Electric Menagerie is a series of 14 site-specific artworks which illuminate the grounds of Waddesdon Manor, with colour, humour, fantasy and history. In some cases she has exploited existing structures, presenting them in a wholly new way. The work is inspired by the real and fantastical animals associated with Waddesdon and the Rothschild family. From painted dragons and tropical birds living in the Aviary to Walter Rothschild’s zebras, animals are everywhere at Waddesdon both inside and out.
Booth is a mixed-media artist, (b. 1969) who creates sculptures and installations. Her passion for making art was born thanks to a drawing course she took as a teenager, where she found herself liberated in the space where the imagina- tion is freed and art emerges. In 1997, she relocated to London and did a degree in sculpture at the Kensington and Chelsea College. During this time she started experimenting with resin, which soon became a favoured material. She began working regularly with neon and light in 2004, after making a neon sign as a Valentine’s Day gift. One of her pieces, Sea, 2010, made of deep blue resin and a neon strip is part of the Rothschild Foundation collection and is on display at Windmill Hill, Waddesdon Manor. Booth’s work is in permanent collections of The Mattatuck Museum and The Norman Foster Foundation as well as a number of private collections.
Light and light art has become an important aspect of the contemporary art programme at Waddesdon. From the earliest days of its creation by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild from 1874, the Manor has embraced new technology. Built in the style of a French Renaissance chateau, Waddesdon, sits on top of a hill in rural Buckinghamshire, a kind of fairy-tale castle, a stage set for the living of history. Ferdinand wanted to combine the luxury of 18th-century French interiors with the comforts of modern living. It was one of the first houses of its generation to use electric light – when Queen Victoria visited in 1890, she was reportedly so delighted by the innovation that she spent some time turning the lights on and off.
Light, and the control of light has always played an important role in the interiors, whether through the magnificent collection of 18th and 19th-century chandeliers, the clever use of mirrors, skylights and stained glass or the specially-designed picture lights made to blend in with their surroundings and which were amongst the first cooler, low-wattage capsule bulbs.
This tradition of collecting, architectural patronage and innovative approaches to display and light continues today through Lord Rothschild who has headed the man- agement committee for Waddesdon since 1988. The Manor was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957 by James de Rothschild.
The first piece of contemporary art commissioned for the interiors of Waddesdon, in the Blue Dining Room, was a chandelier made of fragments of broken white porcelain Porca Miseria (2004), by the Munich-based designer Ingo Maurer. The most recent commission of contemporary art in the grounds, Lafite (2015) by the Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos – are two large sculptures in the form of candlesticks made up of hundreds of wine bottles from Chateau Lafite Rothschild that light up in the dark, dramatically standing in for the 19th-century gasoliers in front of the main entrance to the Manor.
Electric Menagerie is a commission for the Winter Light at Waddesdon programme, which has also included work by artists Bruce Munro and Julius Popp and creations by Woodroffe Bassett. The Christmas season is our busiest time of year and Winter Light is a key element that showcases the work of exciting artists working with light while offering a unique experience to our visitors. Art that uses light as a medium recalls a long history of spectacle, as the manipulation of light either with fireworks or illuminations has always featured in grand celebrations and festivities. Lauren Booth’s Electric Menagerie is a modern take on this tradition, using neon and electricity to illuminate the gardens and grounds whilst celebrating the animals of Waddesdon. It has been a pleasure to work with Booth and we are delighted to be displaying her work.
Rachel Jacobs (Curator, Waddesdon Manor), 2017