Cornelissens, a few minutes’ walk west from the British Museum, is a treasure trove of artists’ materials. Set up in London by Belgian lithographer Louis Cornelissens in the 19th century, it moved to its present site in 1988.
Armed with my tiny dolls house sized dustpan and brush, and with the agreement of the manager of Cornelissens, I went on a dust hunt, which led me to drawers full of Sennelier pastels. Their colours glowing on beds of delicate tissue, Sennelier soft pastels were a favourite of Edgar Degas and many other artists, and although I couldn’t visit the Sennelier headquarters in Paris this time, I was enchanted by my discovery of their chromatic delights in Cornelissens.
Some had shed drifts of vibrant powder in corners of the drawers, which filled my miniature dustpan, soon carefully decanted into a bottle ready to join the Museum of Dust currently on display at Swedenborg House. Can this tiny bottle evoke the delight of earlier artists’ pastel drawings, or encourage others to add to their creative adventures?
Years ago Cornelissens was an important destination for reasons other than for supplying paints, papers and a vast variety of artists’ materials. After a rent increase in his Drury Lane shop, Philip Poole aka His Nibs would stand at the back of Cornelissens giving advice about anything pen related, and was to be seen there until the late 1980s. Whenever I had enough money I’d buy a supply of my favourite Waverley nibs, which I’ve used throughout my career.