Gucci has joined forces with Chatsworth House to host an artist in residency at the historic location in Derbyshire, England. Following an initial collaboration, when Gucci’s creative director Alessandro Michele chose the property to shoot the house’s 2017 Cruise campaign, the pair invited Rachel Feinstein to stay as an artist-in-residence at Chatsworth last summer, where she was encouraged to create original works inspired by her time at the estate.
As the artist chosen to launch the residency, Feinstein visited Chatsworth on two separate occasions. A year later, the subsequent works were revealed to the public on June 24 in the Chatsworth Gardens, where they will remain on view for the next five years.
Pieces created by the American sculptor include Britannia, Feinstein’s ceramic take on the Roman personification of the British Isles, and Rococo Hut. Part of her “Folly” series, the hut is an aluminum iteration of a playhouse, which appears as though it came from a pop-up book or a fairytale illustration. Both displayed in the garden’s grotto, the sculptures emulate 18th century Rococo and Baroque art and architecture, complementing the rich ornamentation and fantasy of the Chatsworth House, as well as works from the Devonshire collection.
“The initial inspiration for Britannia came from walking among the trees, plants and rocks in the garden at Chatsworth House,” the artist said. “I started to notice that the wildflowers were not actually wild, that everything had been cultivated to look like they had grown there by accident, but it was actually a hundred years or more of conscious coaxing.”
