ART FOR ART'S SAKE

The Creation of Eve, Mark Gertler, 1914.

This painting made a great impression on DH Lawrence, who used it as the basis for a picture of the same name in 'The Rainbow':

'Adam lay asleep as if suffering, and God, a dim, large figure, stooped towards him, stretching forward His unveiled hand; an Eve, a small, vivid, naked, female she, was issuing, like a flame towards the hand of God, from the torn side of Adam', while a bird 'on a bough overhead, lifted its wings for flight'.

Compare Gertler's painting to this by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel:

"And God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man"

(Genesis 2:21–22)

Natalie Bevan was a painter and ceramicist of considerable charm and dazzling good looks who befriended and inspired many of the most prominent British artists of the last century.

Supper (Natalie Bevan) 1928-1929

(By Mark Gertler)

"Gilbert Cannan at his Mill, 1916"

Gilbert Cannan was a British novelist and dramatist, who at one time was secretary to J.M. Barrie.

The mill was at Cholesbury in Buckinghamshire, where Cannan was living in 1916, and which attracted a number of his intellectual circle (including D.H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda)

The picture also shows the Cannan's two dogs, Sammy on the left and a Newfoundland dog Luath whose coat was copied for Nana, the dog who served as the Darling children's nurse in "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" (J.M. Barrie)

(This painting is now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.)

There have been many paintings of the Queen of Sheba, but I think this one by Mark Gertler is diffent.

She is nude, rather than clothed and 'rounded' - 'voluptuous', not 'fat'?

What do you think?

The Queen Of Sheba

"After the stridency of Merry-go-round and other war-time paintings, Gertler's work became gentler during the 1920s, using subtle colour schemes and more persuasive rhythms. He began to concentrate on still-lifes and nudes."

Several of my commenters to this blog are becoming sick of Sickert and his gloomy paintings (pardon the pun), so I am moving on to another painter, Mark Gertler (1891-1939)

"He was born in Spitalfields, London and went to study at the Regent Street Polytechnic between 1906 and 1907.

At the Slade, Gertler was considered the best draughtsman since Augustus John. He was awarded a Slade scholarship in 1909. His contemporaries included Nevinson, Spencer and Dora Carrington.

During 1912 to 1914 Gertler’s compositions centered around his Jewish background. It provided him with a means of disconnecting himself from bourgeois art and re-discovering his origins.

In a letter to Edward Marsh in October 1913 he wrote; 'If God will help me put into my work that passion, that inspiration, that profundity of soul that I know I possess, I will triumph over those learned Cambridge youths.'"

(click on image to enlarge)

"This work was painted at the height of the First World War, which seems to be its subject. Men and women in rigid poses, their mouths crying in silent unison, seem trapped on a carousel that revolves endlessly.Gertler was a conscientious objector. He lived near London’s Hampstead Heath, and may have been inspired by an annual fair held there for wounded soldiers. The fairground ride, traditionally associated with pleasure and entertainment, is horrifically transformed into a metaphor for the relentless military machine. He explained, ‘Lately the whole horror of war has come freshly upon me’."

(From the display caption July 2007)

D.H. Lawrence said: "I have just seen your terrible and dreadful picture Merry-go-round This is the first picture you have painted: it is the best modern picture I have seen: I think it is great and true. But it is horrible and terrifying. If they tell you it is obscene, they will say truly. You have made a real and ultimate revelation. I think this picture is your arrival."

Mornington Crescent nude, contre-jour 1907

(Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide)

"This is one of a series of works that Sickert painted following the murder of a prostitute in Camden Town, the rough North London neighbourhood where he lived and had a studio.

It has been argued that the real subject of this work is in fact the effect of natural light.

The French term contre-jour means lit from behind that is, almost producing the effect of a silhouette."

I have had to 'brighten' this Sickert painting as, like much of his work, the original looks as though it was painted in a darkened room, with the light off!

L'Américaine 1908

'Despite its French title this is a painting of a London 'costergirl', a woman who worked selling food from a barrow. Sickert was exhibiting paintings both in France and in London, and the title was probably given after it had been shown with his dealer Bernheim Jeune in Paris. He wrote 'Here I am deep in two divine costergirls - one with sunlight on her indoors. You know the trompe l'oeil hat all the coster girls wear here with a crown fitting the head inside and expanded outside to immense proportions. It's called an 'American sailor'(hat)'."

(From the display caption September 2004)

You probably know the theory that Walter Sickert was "Jack the Ripper" who, in 1888, notoriously murdered up to 12 prostitutes in the Whitechapel district of London.

Sickert certainly became fascinated with the subject and in 1908 he began work on a series of paintings centered on a murder that happened in Camden Town the previous year.

The victim was Emily Dimmock, a prostitute, who was found murdered, lying naked on a bed in her lodgings, with her throat cut.

The method of killing and the situation (a prostitute found murdered on her own bed) was strickingly similar to the "Jack the Ripper murders" of 1888.

The following two paintings are from Sickert's series "The Camden Town Murder":

“L’Affaire de Camden Town” 1909.

This painting was based on newspaper headlines.

The viewer is left in ambiguity as to what precisely is going on in this painting, with the male standing over this nude woman and the chamber pot clearly visible under the bed.

“Dawn, Camden Town,” c. 1909.

Sickert first called this painting “Summer in Naples” - a perverse title given its dark, sordid and ambiguous meaning.

Again we are struggling to guess what is happening. What is the relationship between the couple?

One thing is quite clear, there is a degree of tension in existence. The male looks as though he is weighed down by some burden. But unlike the other painting, here the roles are reversed: the woman is the dominant figure.

Victor Lecour 1922-24 (The City Art Gallery, Manchester)

I thought this man looked important, or self-important, and I wondered who he was.

A little research revealed that he was the proprietor of the "Auberge du Clos Normand", a hostelry much visited by Sickert.

Sickert misspelt his subject's surname, which was in fact 'Lecourt'.

The portrait was painted in Sickert's apartment overlooking the promenade at Dieppe.

Another of Sickert's 'social' paintings.

The Little Tea Party: Nina Hamnett and Roald Kristian 1915-16

NOTE: Nina Hamnett (14 February 1890 – 16 December 1956) was a Welsh artist and writer, and an expert on sailors' chanteys, who became known as the Queen of Bohemia.

Nina Hamnett died in 1956 from complications after falling out her apartment window and being impaled on the fence forty feet below. The great debate has always been whether or not it was a suicide attempt or merely a drunken accident. Her last words were, "Why don't they let me die?"

"Through the poses of the figures and title, Sickert evokes the aftermath of a domestic row. The woman’s clasped hands and steady gaze suggest hurt emotions and resignation, while her husband takes refuge by leaving for the pub.

The male model is ‘Hubby’, whose real name is unknown. A reformed alcoholic, he joined Sickert in 1911 to help around the studio and modelled for a number of pictures. When Hubby turned to drink again in 1914, Sickert had to dismiss him. He wrote ‘It is like death, only worse, and I will miss his kind silly old face and his sympathetic pomposity’ ".

(From the display caption February 2004)

A Marengo circa 1903

Here is another interesting work from Sickert - not so much in the painting itself, but in the background story.

Aubrey Beardsley 1894

"This painting is believed to be based on an incident in which Beardsley was seen walking through Hampstead Church graveyard after the unveiling of a memorial to Keats.

At this time Beardsley was suffering from tuberculosis, the same disease which had killed the Romantic poet.

The elegantly dressed, yet emaciated figure, set against a subdued background, adds to the poignancy of the image; Beardsley died four years later."

(From the display caption September 2004)

Baccarat - the Fur Cape 1920

Sickert lived in Dieppe on and off throughout his life and in 1920 he painted several pictures of the casino, the focus of fashionable life in the summer.

I think this one really gives the sense of being an onlooker - looking over the shoulder.

At this period Sickert spent much of his time in France, especially in Dieppe where his mistress, and possibly his illegitimate son, lived.

'Bathers, Dieppe', Walter Richard Sickert, 1902

"This composition features a viewpoint without a horizon and a daring off-centre positioning of the figures. This is intended as an immediate, almost snap-shot capturing of a moment of reality.

Sickert was greatly influenced by his friend Degas. He was the most powerful of the British artists working in the Post-Impressionist style.

This and several other pictures were made as interior décor for a Dieppe hotel. The owner disliked them and sold them off."

More info:

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/picture-of-month/displaypicture.asp?venue=7&id=261

I think this work shows how a painting can often bring something to a subject that a photograph can never do.

(click on the image for a much larger view)

Sickert first visited Venice in 1895 where he painted a series of canvases depicting St Mark’s Cathedral in differing conditions.

The façade of the basilica was one of his favourite aspects of the building, and one he painted time and again.

This focus on a single subject was a characteristic of his work throughout his career.

Versions of this view can be found in the collections of Tate, London www.tate.org.uk and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk..

This work is currently on loan to the National Trust and is displayed at Coleton Fishacre in Devon:

"Arts and Crafts style house with elegant Art-Deco influenced interior, set amid gardens in a spectacular coastal setting."

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-coletonfishacrehouseandgarden

'The Seducer' is an example of Sickert's late work which he called 'echoes'. These were subject pictures and portraits based on and 'echoing' black and white 19th century prints and illustrations. Sickert's father had been an illustrator and the 'echoes' are replete with a sense of nostalgia for the Victorian era. This example is based on an original by Sir John Gilbert (1819-97) whose romantic and melodramatic narratives Sickert admired.

(From the display caption August 2004)

I thought this Sickert painting might be an advertisement for a breakfast cereal!

LAZARUS BREAKS HIS FAST

I like the title he gave to this nude study!

JACK ASHORE

A few weeks ago Jenray suggested that the next artist I should feature on this blog might be the German-born English Impressionist painter Walter Richard Sickert (1860 - 1942).

I will tell you a little more about him tomorrow but, in the meantime, here is one of his paintings for you to comment upon.

Cicely Hey
1922-23

Note: Cicely was the daughter of the painter Dr Darwin Hey. She met Sickert in 1922 and remained friendly with him until he left London in 1934. In 1924 she married the Daily Telegraph art critic (later editor of the Burlington Magazine) R R Tatlock. The sitter remembered Sickert making several drawings of her which were squared up and traced onto the canvas, although no such drawings are known today. The portrait was painted in Sickert’s studio at 15 Fitzroy Street in London.

For a few days I am continuing with Abstract Art - just to gauge your reaction!

"Midnight Jazz"
Original Art by Carl (CAKUart)
Acrylic on Canvas - 91.4 x 91.4

Today we are leaving China and moving on to abstract paintings from various artists.

Here is the first.

I am not sure who painted this, but it is on sale for €1,200 (reduced from €1,900)

It is part of a series called "Waterfront Reflections" and is painted with Industrial Oils on Canvas 70x100 cm.

Some of my recent Chinese paintings have not been particularly well received, so today I am playing safe with this still life.

I don't think it will offend anyone but, on the other hand, it may not pleease too many either.

It is well executed, but really doesn't do much more than a good photograph.

Wu Guanzhong 'Zhouzhuang Village', ink-and-colour, 1985.

"Wu Guanzhong, 89, is a living legend on the Chinese art scene. When the veteran artist speaks, people listen; when his paintings are auctioned, people rush to buy."

The waterside township of Zhouzhuang is a popular tourist destination in Southern China. It is noted for its profound cultural background, the well preserved ancient residential houses, the elegant watery views and the strong local colored traditions and customs. It has been called the "Venice of the East".

Here is another more conventional painting of the town, by the same artist.

Which do you prefer?

FLAMING PASSION

Zhang Guanghai 2000

CLOUDS IN MY DREAM

The Family