Tulse Luper at Compton Verney

 

 

 

I attended the opening of the Tulse Luper at Compton Verney exhibition. The house, gardens and lake are nice. You can even take a gondola ride on the lake. On entrance to the building the first thing you see is a young woman asleep in a suitcase. This is a real woman with her eyes closed who hardly moves, although she did give a slight smile as people talked about and glared at her (I visited again recently and the woman was gone). In the adjacent suitcase is a dead pig. Other suitcases contain diverse items such as body parts, dolls, love letters, etc. Footage of The Moab Story and Vaux to the Sea is projected onto walls. Other rooms are in the dark with many suitcases on show, including Suitcase 92 which displays 92 objects of Luper's life history on a large table in the center of the room (see below for a list of the 92 objects). The highlight of the exhibition was a room with many suitcases hanging on wires from the ceiling, each with a light on them. These lights flash in tune with audio of birds and water that is played from speakers. The exhibition catalogue is impressive. It's well worth a visit.

 

 

 

92 SUITCASES 

  1. COAL

  2. TOYS

  3. LUPER PHOTOS

  4. LOVE LETTERS

  5. CLOTHES

  6. CLOTHES

  7. VATICAN PORNOGRAPHY

  8. FISH

  9. PENCILS

  10. HOLES

  11. MOAB PHOTOGRAPHS

  12. FROGS

  13. FOOD DROP

  14. DOLLARS

  15. COINS

  16. LUPER'S LOST FILMS

  17. ALCOHOL

  18. PERFUME

  19. PASSPORTS

  20. BLOODIED WALLPAPER

  21. CLEANING FLUIDS

  22. DENTAL TOOLS

  23. CHERRIES

  24. HONEY

  25. NUMBERS & LETTERS

  26. LUPER UNIFORMS

  27. DOG BONES

  28. LOCKS AND KEYS

  29. LIGHT-BULBS

  30. PLACE-NAMES

  31. BOOTS AND SHOES

  32. ZOO ANIMALS ARK

  33. IDEAS OF AMERICA

  34. ANNA KARENINA NOVELS

  35. CANDLES

  36. RADIO EQUIPMENT

  37. CLEAN LINEN

  38. WATER

  39. CODE

  40. A SLEEPER

  41. EROTIC ENGRAVINGS

  42. 92 OBJECTS TO REPRESENT THE WORLD

  43. RAINBOWS

  44. PRISON MOVIE FILM-CLIPS

  45. MANUSCRIPTS FOR THE BABY OF STRASBOURG

  46. HOLOCAUST GOLD

  47. CHILDREN

  48. DEAD ROSES

  49. TRAINS

  50. SEWING NEEDLES

  51. SHOWER-HEADS

  52. 55 MEN ON HORSEBACK

  53. CHINA DOGS

  54. BRUSHES

  55. DRAWINGS OF LUPER

  56. MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

  57. SMOKED CIGARS

  58. BODY-PARTS

  59. INGRES PAINTINGS

  60. BROKEN GLASS

  61. MOITESSIER GOWNS

  62. CRABCLAWS

  63. FEATHERS AND EGGS

  64. YELLOW PAINT

  65. TENNIS BALLS

  66. BOTTLE MESSAGES

  67. GREEN APPLES

  68. PIG

  69. SPENT MATCHES

  70. SAUCEPANS

  71. FLOWER BULBS

  72. RESTAURANT MENUS

  73. 92 ATOMIC ELEMENTS

  74. VIOLIN SPLINTERS

  75. FIRE

  76. LEAD

  77. OBELISKS

  78. ROMAN POSTCARDS

  79. HOLY EARTH

  80. GREEN FIGS

  81. LIGHT

  82. NOTES ON DROWNED CORPSES

  83. MAPS

  84. BOARD GAMES

  85. INK & BLOOD

  86. LUPER STORY MANUSCRIPTS

  87. ICE

  88. MEASURING TOOLS

  89. TYPEWRITER

  90. DOLLS

  91. THE PHRENOLOGICAL BOOK

  92. LUPER'S LIFE

 

SOME FAKE, APOCRYPHAL & UNAUTHENTICATED SUITCASES

 

93.  LIVE SQUID

94.  WHISTLES

95.  HUMAN ASH

 

 

SUITCASE 92 LUPER'S LIFE 

  1. a battered bicycle-wheel from Dinard

  2. blue feathers from the dancer's dress on board the Portuguese passenger ship

  3. photos of Virginia Woolf

  4. Postcards of the Ingres paintings of Madame Moitessier

  5. broken pieces of china dogs

  6. Monsieur Moitessier's photographs of his lover

  7. female clothing Luper wore at Dinard

  8. the revolver used to shoot Madame Moitessier in Dinard

  9. cherry-stones

  10. the spiked-collar from Strasbourg worn by the dog Titan

  11. film-stills of Joan of Arc

  12. pink and blue cinema tickets from the Arc en Ciel

  13. packets of black and white 35mm film-clips (held up to the light)

  14. manuscripts of The Baby of Strasbourg

  15. the water-logged watch once belonging to the twin Paul

  16. a dried and withered bunch of roses from the cinema in Strasbourg

  17. bleached and gnawed dog bones

  18. postcards of Strasbourg Cathedral

  19. Radio parts from Vaux with station-identity dials showing exotic locations

  20. the Kodak camera belonging to Mrs Haps-Mills and many of the photos she took of German soldiers in the park at Vaux

  21. a metal fly swat

  22. Manchester Guardian from 1940

  23. an erotic print by Goltzius

  24. Luper's manuscript of The Pairing

  25. the quilted nightdress of Charlotte des Arbres worn by Cissie at Vaux

  26. the eleven photos of Figura's children

  27. a Belgian Fascist Cadet Force uniform

  28. a silver whistle threaded on a cord

  29. desert sand from Moab packed in a brown envelope

  30. Moab Mormon maps

  31. three dead locusts

  32. newspaper cartoons of Rupert Bear and Tiger Lily

  33. bundles of love letters sent from Luper's father to his mother

  34. the lump of chalk used by the 10-year old Luper to write on the Newport wall, wrapped together with string with the lump of coal used by Martino to do the same

  35. a medical model of the human brain

  36. Monsieur Moitessier's cigarettes

  37. Luper's red dress from Dinard

  38. a set of child's distressed red building blocks

  39. a cork-stoppered bottle of water

  40. a perfume bottle from Paris

  41. a distressed and browned human skull

  42. a bundle of used pencil stubs wrapped around with string

  43. a ceramic egg-cup in the shape of a chicken

  44. a snowstorm toy of Milan cathedral

  45. a pack of used playing cards

  46. a triangular kaleidoscope - the kind with mirrors

  47. a child's model of a stork carrying a baby in a sling from its beak

  48. a glass eye in a blue glass eyeglass

  49. a toy bath

  50. a dried eidelweis flower

  51. a black and white portrait photograph of Raoul Wallenberg

  52. a small squat bottle of black ink

  53. an Anna Karenina novel in any language other than Russian

  54. a bar of brown carbolic soap

  55. a blown ostrich egg dated 5th April 1942 in black indian ink

  56. a bunch of dried lavender tied with a pink ribbon

  57. a bold red ribbon

  58. a 1940s black telephone

  59. a large false moustache

  60. a dental tool with vicious intent

  61. a pair of World War II motorcycle goggles

  62. a transparent envelope of white dust

  63. a rusty spring

  64. a toy or miniature easel

  65. a red dyed handkerchief

  66. a much-used leather football boot

  67. pieces of coloured glass from a stained window

  68. a pair of metal handcuffs

  69. a green-painted wooden apple

  70. a school hand-bell with a wooden handle

  71. a man's leather trouser-belt with a metal buckle coiled like a snake

  72. a framed and glazed photograph of the bearded Charles Darwin

  73. an abacus distressed from over-use

  74. a circular hand mirror in a wooden frame

  75. a man's blue folded shirt with chest pockets

  76. a wooden police truncheon

  77. a vinyl gramophone record of dance music still in a cardboard sleeve

  78. a heavy metal model sphinx that can be used as a paper-weight

  79. a pair of sugar tongs

  80. a small microscope suitable for a child or a beginner studying biology at home

  81. a bunch of keys

  82. a bunch of glass grapes

  83. a sheet of pink blotting paper blotted with blue fountain-pen ink

  84. a metal mask for the eyes

  85. a crucifix

  86. a blue ceramic teapot

  87. a wooden chair leg turned on a lathe

  88. an English dictionary published before 1950

  89. an empty bottle of Dom Perignon champagne

  90. a large sheet which could be a shroud or then again a make-piece screen for the projection of films

  91. an imitation Roman helmet

  92. a film-can. It is a little rusty. Inside is a 16mm film wound on to a metal spool 

Compton Verney

Greenaway interview

Greenaway interview

Greenaway interview

Essay by Bridget Elliott & Anthony Purdy

 

 

 

The Tulse Luper Suitcases

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