The Covid Diaries 87 – Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge

A review of a visit to Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. In which I discover a very special place to appreciate what it means to live with art.

Kettle’s Yard

This is the third of my posts about museums I visited on my recent trip to Cambridgeshire. The first two were of course IWM Duxford and the Fitzwilliam. Kettle’s Yard, like the Fitzwilliam, is under the care of Cambridge University. It is not a museum in the traditional sense, however. Rather, it is a home. The former home of Jim Ede and his wife Helen, more specifically. Jim Ede, who felt the effects of a WWI gas attack all his life, was a curator at the Tate Gallery. Through this work, he got to know many important artists of the day, including Ben Nicholson. He began to amass an admirable art collection including work by Nicholson and other modern artists like Hepworth, Brancusi, Gaudier-Brzeska (of whose work he was an early champion) and more.

After taking early retirement from the Tate, Jim and Helen Ede travelled extensively including to Morocco and the USA. In 1956 they returned to the UK and settled in Cambridge. Kettle’s Yard was then a row of slum cottages, a survivor of redevelopment and under threat. The Edes renovated the cottages, retaining the exterior appearance but creating modern, more open spaces within.

Jim Ede was a very particular man apparently. In 1966 he gave the house and contents to the University of Cambridge. There were various stipulations, however. The Edes were to continue to live there (until they left for Edinburgh in 1973); they needed some staff to help run the place; they wanted an extension which should include a concert space; and many very specific rules about where to display each piece, down to always keeping a single lemon on a pewter dish to make an Alfred Wallis work pop. So from an initial ‘open home’ concept where anyone could drop by for a guided tour by Ede himself, Kettle’s Yard evolved into the time capsule museum we see today.

Living With Art

‘Living with art’ is a phrase that you hear quite often. In the case of Jim and Helen Ede, however, I feel it genuinely applies. Kettle’s Yard in its entirety is an artistic statement by Ede. Each piece is meticulously chosen and placed, and he had a wonderful eye for creating ‘conversations’ between different objects. Shapes in a painting are echoed by driftwood displayed nearby; the famous lemon (pictured above) brings out Alfred Wallis’s little cottage. It is very harmonious and relaxing to visit. It may have been a nightmare to live somewhere so controlled; we would have to ask Helen to be sure.

The modernist extension to the cottages continues the flow of the house remarkably well. It is here that concerts were staged, and some of the artworks seem to have been made for their chosen spots. Ede’s sense of humour is in evidence here as well. He at one stage swapped a Gaudier-Brzeska cast in his possession for a work by Henry Moore. Moore insisted on his works being displayed with attribution labels. Ede abided by this rule, while also doubly subverting it – he turned the plinth so Moore’s name was at the back, and gave his own nearby ‘found object’ sculpture made from a burned out tree its own label (the only two labels in the collection).

Visiting Kettle’s Yard

This is one time when I feel very fortunate to have visited during Covid restrictions. It wasn’t easy to get a ticket (our days in Cambridge were initially booked out, but luckily we picked up tickets after a cancellation). But once we arrived, we were in a small group escorted through to the house. Rather than having a visitor host in each room, we had one guide take us through the whole property. He was hugely knowledgeable, and built up the story as we went along. I don’t think we would have had such a rich experience asking an attendant questions in the normal way.

Kettle’s Yard was for me the highlight of my trip to Cambridge. Where the Fitzwilliam is a good but fairly typical regional museum, Kettle’s Yard is a unique and refreshing experience. I adored the mid-century vibes and modern art, and the eclecticism of Ede’s collecting. A new standard has been set in terms of aspirational lifestyles – check it out for yourself here in this virtual tour.

On its own merits: 5/5
Implementing Covid rules: 5/5

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