while in eloquent exile on the island of guernsey, victor hugo arranged these interiors to create a setting filled with dreams. an such it was. the french writer conceived an audacious vocabulary of exotic and symbolic effects. mostly done by himself; scavenging from local antique and second hand stores, hugo literally carved his idea onto an interior of romanticism and orientalism. i’ve missed my calling. i should have been a decorator! he said, but his lack of concern for objects and their proper use often carried him to the limits of bad taste. as a political figure consumed with spiritualism it seems inevitable that victor would have created such a fantastical labyrinth filled with secret and fantastical arrangements wherein he could conceal his writings and more. the enchantment and eccentricity abounds. after about 20 years in the norman enclave of guernsey, he returned from his exile to paris - he left her as the great french poet and returned as a legend.
AD 9/79
