Biography

Shéhérehezade's Dream

By Jane Watt
Translated by Alexander Suschenko
Photography by Richard Davis
Interiors & Design
(Russia - March 2004)

The ceramic artist Carolinda Tolstoy is among the few who have managed to subordinate all their life to a creative task. Carolinda's artistic world springs from roots far in the past of the countries of Central Asia and the East: the renaissance of Persia under the Safavids (1571-1722), the best examples of Turkish ceramics of Iznik and the ancient Russian fresco were the points of departure of the artist's creative path. Professor Ernst Grube considers that Carolinda Tolstoy's art is a modern branch of the ancient ceramic art of the Persian Empire.

The artist not only takes tradition as a basis, but creates new modern versions, using her own original technique and design. Carolinda's work is not at all like the copies of local craftsmen trying to bring back to life the traditions of Iznik and Persian ceramics: taking the very spirit of the ancient craft, Carolinda fills new forms, belonging to the modern age, with it. A light and intricate pattern streams like a tracery of ancient calligraphy over the surface, creating fanciful oriental motifs. The artist prefers to work in the abstract, although some series of her work, for example 'Persian Dream', are made in a figurative style. Inspired by miniatures and by the illustrations of ancient books, the works 'Woman in a Tree' and 'The Lover' are full of the harmony of lyrical feeling; the tender pastel tones and stylised drawing create an unhurried, contemplative rhythm. The feeling of multiplex layers of meaning and of things not expressed in full, the possibility of multiple and complex interpretation and secret, implicit meaning, inherent in the art of the East - all this is in Tolstoy's works. A tactile feeling, a special three-dimensional quality of the object, when the material comes to life under the hand, thus involving the main sensory organs, is typical of her works.

On meeting Carolinda, one is first struck by her unusually exotic appearance: before us is a youthful-looking woman with long raven hair, dark almond eyes like those on a figure on a Greek vase of the classical period smile mysteriously at something of their own held within an unusual world, inaccessible to others - the world of her art; an oriental dress of deep lilac colour, from beneath which pink, pointed-toed shoes with a gold pattern can be seen and, to complete everything, a large amount of very original oriental jewellery.

Her works, her studio and her home continue the mystery of the creation of images, taking the visitor back several thousand years to the ancient lands of the East: intricate wall-paintings embodying the artist's rich creative imagination decorate the walls of the studio, Eastern music can be heard, sweet-smelling incense burns and on the shelves and the table there are books and magazines on Eastern ceramics and art. Many sketches often made when travelling and in the most unexpected places, speak of new creative plans. Dr Stoddart Martin compares the enigma of Carolinda Tolstoy's works with the mysterious sounds of Debussy's 'L'après-midi d'un faune' in their endless, undefinable rhythm, and with the luxurious voluptuousness of Sheherazade, weaving a precious canvas of Eastern tales.

The idea of turning her house into something quite special has existed in Carolinda's imagination for many years, but it was only towards the end of 2003 that she managed to make this dream come true with the help of designers from the Company Bellhouse & Co, who took on this unusual project with pleasure.

Carolinda's house fulfils many functions: it is a ceramic artist's studio, where ceramics are fired and created, it is a study where the artist conducts correspondence and research and creative work, and it is an idiosyncratic gallery, where new works are displayed and guests can come and look at and buy her works. Unlike in ordinary houses, the kitchen and the garden also serve as a place for teaching students from Camberwell Art School, which is part of the prestigious art educational institution, the London Institute.

Carolinda Tolstoy began her creative career as a designer of accessories, working on models for such famous Paris fashion houses as Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior. Her meeting with Brian Hubbard and work under his supervision in the ceramic studio in Chelsea were to be decisive.

The artist's works enjoy wide recognition from specialists and are loved by the public. At the end of 2003, Carolinda Tolstoy's personal exhibition was held in the Luke & A gallery in London, and was dedicated to Carolinda Tolstoy's 30 years of creative activities and the publication of Ernst Grube's book 'Carolinda Tolstoy's Ceramics'. The author of the book, Ernst J. Grube, is a well-known art critic and specialist in Islamic art, the Chief Curator of Islamic art of the Metropolitan Museum and the President of the East-West Fund in New York.

The artist's works are represented in the most famous gallery of Central Asia - Dar al Fanoon (Kuwait), the Turkish Cultural Fund and the KUSAV Gallery in Istanbul (Turkey), and the artist's ceramics are included in the collection of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of London University and are also part of the permanent collection of the Garden of Eden Gallery in London. Recently the Syrian Cultural Centre in Paris warmly welcomed the opening of an exhibition of Carolinda Tolstoy's new works.

The Tolstoys' house can be distinguished immediately in the street of Victorian three-storey detached houses, typical of this part of South London: the violet-coloured front door and other arabesques show that this is a little oasis of the South under the grey sky of London. The deep and rich exotic colours of the East, pink and violet, gold and silver, the rich and complicated patterns all form Carolinda's mysterious world. The house is divided into two halves: an exotic and colourful one, where Carolinda lives, and a white one, in the style of minimalism, on the upper floors, in her sons and daughter's rooms.

A drawing room is a place for receiving guests, and in this house it is given a special place of honour, as it is also a gallery and a salon displaying the artist's works, where her friends, from London's international community, gather - people who appreciate and understand her art. All the main details of the interior - the grilles on the windows and the details of the furniture and interior - were manufactured with the assistance of Carolinda's sketch company, as she herself took the most active part in making the idea she had long had become a reality. One wall is devoted entirely to displaying Carolinda's works: niches, framed by Persian arches, cover the whole space of the room on the right. The lighting for the display was specially designed by the designer Richard Aldridge who specialises in the display of works in museums.

A huge divan, along the whole of one wall, in shades of lilac, is covered with multi-coloured cushions made by Carolinda and decorated in gold. Small wrought metal coffee tables, typical of interiors in Eastern countries, carved chairs made of dark wood and small rugs with oriental patterns complete the creation of the image of this unusual salon - Sheherazade's tent.

Heavy carved doors on the ground floor lead to the dinning-room, also in shades of pink and violet, with an enormous chandelier, serving as the centre of attraction of the whole room. Next to it is the kitchen, an artistic study in gold on black, where the whole surface of the kitchen cupboards is covered with the delicate tracery of ornament which is her "visiting card". In it there are reflections of the bygone days of the Persian Empire, motives of modern art and … unexpectedly, latently present, something Russian, springing from the painted patterns of Zhostovo and Khokhloma.

The Russian theme in art, always present in the life of the artist, who for many years linked her life to representatives of the noble Russian line of the Tolstoys, has been vividly expressed in her art in recent years. Help in the organisation and building of the Russian church in the district of Chiswick in London led to the appearance of a new series- 'Cupolas in the Sky'. The theme of the golden Russian dome, proudly rising up over church buildings and recalling their links of kinship with the architecture and art of Byzantium, came to interest Carolinda a long time ago, during her intensive and extensive travels in Russia and the Central Asian Republics. Like all the directions of Carolinda's art, this is manifested in the interior. For example, the ceramic tiles in the bathroom were decorated by the artist in the Russian manner, and the portraits in the boudoir are painted in the manner of Orthodox painting. In the whole of it one can feel a living and direct link, a simultaneous coexistence of two traditions in her work - the Oriental (Carolinda's ancestors are an ancient line from the Near East) and the Russian. Carolinda was married to a descendent of the Tolstoy family, and her children Igor, Oleg and Liubov, who are half-Russian, love and know Russian culture. Liubov has just graduated from university in Russian language and culture. For many years the Tolstoys have taken part in, cultivated and supported Russian culture in England.