Why History?

In 1976 I arrived from my country grammar school at the Historical shrine of Peterhouse. At the time, although the smallest of the colleges of Cambridge, it had the highest number of History dons.

The study of History was taken seriously and the effect on me was to be lifelong. The key people for me were Maurice Cowling and Brian Wormald. Sitting in front of these strange, intense men reading an undergraduate essay was profoundly challenging. Historical writing involved seeking to understand the reality behind why men acted in the way they did; and that reality was hugely complex and not to be confused with the descriptions of it in the work of historians. For those writing about the past always have an agenda. The identification and evaluation of that agenda is part of the reader’s challenge. The effort to abandon – or at least admit to – that agenda is part of the historian’s challenge.

Cambridge

font at st peter's church cambridge Went up last week to see the Christopher Wood exhibition at Kettle’s Yard. Small,but with some well-known pictures, including the self-portrait wearing a harlequin jumper. Whilst I waited for the gallery to open (it doesn’t open until 11.30), I recalled seeing previously their collection of letters from Peter Watson to Jim Ede. I also popped into the adjoining church of St Peter’s. Tiny and spartan and maintained by the wonderful Churches Conservation Trust, the main feature is the font. It is enlivened with what are described as “two-tailed mermen”, a feature only appearing on one other font in the country.

I also picked up some nice publications (free) on Cambridge sculpture trails. To my shame, one of them (there are 3) pointed out that when I was living in St Peter’s Terrace in Trumpington Street (part of Peterhouse), there was an adjacent sculpture in aluminium by Kenneth Martin, which I had never realised. From 1967, it stands at the entrance to the Engineering Faculty next door to Peterhouse.

Posted Tuesday, July 30th, 2013, filed under: Jim Ede, Kenneth Martin, Kettle's Yard, Peter Watson

Farley Farm

Went to Farley Farm in Sussex yesterday. It is a sort of shrine to the lives of two rather extraordinary people: Roland Penrose and Lee Miller. There are many Surrealist paintings by Penrose on the walls, some of them replacing his collection of works by great 20th C masters sold or moved after his death. These are interesting, especially the sequence of representations of his wives, Valentine and Lee.

Of particular interest to me, if not to any other visitor, is the fact that Peter Watson stayed at Farley Farm on a number of occasions. He knew Penrose well, from before the War. Penrose owned a Surrealist gallery called The London Gallery and he made Watson a director. It was no doubt his friendship with Penrose which led to him supporting the creation of the ICA in 1946/7.

A notable sculpture in the garden is by the great Northern Irish sculptor, FE McWilliam, whose studio at Banbridge is well worth a visit as well.

Posted Monday, July 29th, 2013, filed under: FE McWilliam, Peter Watson, Roland Penrose

James Torrington Bell at Lord’s

Another year, another roam down that obscure corridor in the Pavilion at Lord’s where they hide the more recondite 20th C cricket pictures (see last year’s entry on Adrian Allinson). Many of them appear to be amateur works showing grounds in former Imperial spots: sweet but ludicrously badly painted. A game of cricket presents quite complex spatial challenges to an amateur artist, however quaint and tempting the scene must look when they embark on these projects. Most of them fail the challenge.

So the Allinson stands out as the work of a professional and interesting artist, but so too does the delightful picture by a Scottish artist I had not heard of: James Torrington Bell. His dates were 1898-1970, but there is not much about him on the internet. There are a number of reproductions of lovely, mostly Scottish, subjects. He clearly knew how to paint and produced works that would grace any wall. The one now rather abjectly lurking in the corridor containing the physio room at Lord’s is of a subject which cannot often have been painted: a game in 1956 at the old ground in Perth, North Inch, between the Scottish counties of Perthshire v Forfarshire. This was something of a local Derby match and clearly attracted large crowds. It can be viewed on the MCC Collections website. The history of cricket on the ground appears to have come to a sad halt in 2009 due to vandalism.

Posted Wednesday, July 24th, 2013, filed under: 20th century British art, James Torrington Bell, Lord's, Scottish artists

Gerard Dillon

Alongside other 20th century Irish artists, Dillon’s prices have suffered a bit at auction recently. He had a large output across his comparatively short life and examples come up regularly at auctions in Dublin and, to a lesser extent, in London. Now a real treat has appeared. At Adam’s in Dublin there is a large Dillon exhibition during July, moving on to the Ava Gallery at Clandeboye in August. It has a large catalogue with innumerable illustrations and Dillon enthusiasts are sure to be delighted. I adore much of Dillon’s work, both in his earlier “West of Ireland” style and in his later pierrot style. As I have said before, followers of British artists of the mid-century should spend time getting to know the work of the key Northern Irish artists and this is an excellent opportunity to do so.

Posted Thursday, June 20th, 2013, filed under: 20th century British art, Gerard Dillon

More John Hayward stained glass

Another find (see earlier post regarding his glass in a City church) was to walk into St Mark’s, Regent’s Park today and see the lovely glass there. I particularly noticed Hayward’s memorial window to an earlier vicar, Hugh Stuckey (vicar from 1928-1964).

Images of the Hayward glass can be seen on St Mark’s Regents Park’s own website. They are well worth a look.

Hayward’s dates were 1929-2007.

Posted Sunday, June 2nd, 2013, filed under: John Hayward

British painters in Iceland

Interesting to note which of our group of artists worked in Iceland. One, Ravilious, is well-known for his Icelandic work and he died there in an accident in 1942. He had been there as an official War artist. His replacement was Thomas Hennell and there are gorgeous examples of his watercolours done in Iceland. By coincidence, he was another War artist killed on active service, although in his case it was to be in the post-War unsettled circumstances of the Dutch East Indies in 1945. Perhaps less well-known is that Leon Underwood painted there. I have a picture by him on my kitchen wall of an Icelandic scene. He was an exceptionally varied artist, working in many different places around the world (such as Mexico) and producing sculpture as well as pictures. Rather under-considered, there is a good book about him by Christopher Neve.Another example is Alan Sorrell. He went to Iceland in the 1930s and produced a fascinating group of pictures, some of which are illustrated in a recent book about him published by Sansom.

Posted Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013, filed under: 20th century British art, Alan Sorrell, Eric Ravilious, Leon Underwood, Thomas hennell

George Cukor and Peter Watson

Watson knew the legendary gay American film director, George Cukor, well enough to ask him to sponsor him in connection with Watson’s visa application to visit America in the later 1940s. One wonders if the American immigration authorities would have opened a file on Watson.

Posted Friday, May 17th, 2013, filed under: Peter Watson

Greta Garbo,Cecil Beaton and Peter Watson

Cecil Beaton had a well-known relationship with Greta Garbo over a number of years. It was not an easy relationship. One aspect of it which Beaton did not relish was the nexus between him, Peter Watson and Greta Garbo.

As everyone who knows anything about Beaton’s life knows,Beaton was obsessed by Peter Watson from 1930, when he met him in Vienna, to 1956, when Watson died. The obsession calmed down after about 1934, but it never disappeared. When Garbo came into Beaton’s life, he found it awkward to contemplate her meeting Watson. She was undoubtedly wary of Watson, after what she had heard about him from Beaton, whereas he, never a respecter of famous people, had little interest in her.

Generally, one suspects that Beaton kept the meetings between Garbo and Watson to a minimum and Watson appears to have been amused when Beaton, perhaps inevitably, found his relationship with the screen legend faltering. Nevertheless, at that most excruciating moment in Beaton’s life, when he received the news in May 1956 of Watson’s mysterious death, he didn’t hesitate to write immediately to Garbo to reflect on his lost love. History does not relate what she thought of the news.

Posted Wednesday, May 15th, 2013, filed under: Peter Watson

⋅ Jankel Adler ⋅ Eileen Agar ⋅ John Aldridge ⋅ Adrian Allinson ⋅ Michael Andrews ⋅ Edward Ardizzone ⋅ Arthur Armstrong ⋅ Frank Auerbach ⋅ Michael Ayrton ⋅ Francis Bacon ⋅ Wilhelmina Barns-Graham ⋅ Edward Bawden ⋅ Adrian Berg ⋅ Basil Blackshaw ⋅ David Bomberg ⋅ Louis le Brocquy ⋅ Jean Bullock ⋅ Edward Burra ⋅ George Campbell ⋅ Prunella Clough ⋅ Geoffrey Clarke ⋅ William Coldstream ⋅ Cecil Collins ⋅ Robert Colquhoun ⋅ John Craxton ⋅ Alfred Daniels ⋅ Alan Davie ⋅ Gerard Dillon ⋅ William Gear ⋅ Wilfred Dudeney ⋅ Richard Eurich ⋅ Hans Feibusch ⋅ Lucian Freud ⋅ William Gear ⋅ Mark Gertler ⋅ William Gillies ⋅ Beatrice, Lady Glenavy ⋅ Duncan Grant ⋅ Richard Hamilton ⋅ John Hayward ⋅ Thomas Hennell ⋅ Patrick Hennessy ⋅ Paul Henry ⋅ Barbara Hepworth ⋅ Josef Herman ⋅ Patrick Heron ⋅ Derek Hill ⋅ Tristram Hillier ⋅ Roger Hilton ⋅ Ivon Hitchens ⋅ David Hockney ⋅ Frances Hodgkins ⋅ Robin Ironside ⋅ Augustus John ⋅ David Jones ⋅ Karin Jonzen ⋅ Eric Kennington ⋅ Laura Knight ⋅ Peter Lanyon ⋅ Wyndham Lewis ⋅ Laurence Lowry ⋅ John Luke ⋅ Robert MacBryde ⋅ Sine Mackinnon ⋅ Norah McGuinness ⋅ William McTaggart ⋅ FE McWilliam ⋅ Bernard Meninsky ⋅ Oliver Messel ⋅ Colin Middleton ⋅ John Minton ⋅ Henry Moore ⋅ Cedric Morris ⋅ Rodrigo Moynihan ⋅ John Nash ⋅ Paul Nash ⋅ Christopher Nevinson ⋅ Algernon Newton ⋅ Ben Nicholson ⋅ Sir William Nicholson ⋅ Winifred Nicholson ⋅ Daniel O’Neill ⋅ Eduardo Paolozzi ⋅ Victor Pasmore ⋅ John Piper ⋅ Eric Ravilious ⋅ Alan Reynolds ⋅ Ceri Richards ⋅ William Roberts ⋅ Michael Rothenstein ⋅ Kenneth Rowntree ⋅ William Scott ⋅ Matthew Smith ⋅ Stanley Spencer ⋅ Gilbert Spencer ⋅ Rowland Suddaby ⋅ Graham Sutherland ⋅ Julian Trevelyan ⋅ Fred Uhlman ⋅ Leon Underwood ⋅ Keith Vaughan ⋅ Edward Wadsworth ⋅ Alfred Wallis ⋅ Evan Walters ⋅ John Ward ⋅ Carel Weight ⋅ Gerald Wilde ⋅ Kyffin Williams ⋅ Edward Wolfe ⋅ Bryan Wynter ⋅ Jack Yeats ⋅

20th Century
British and Irish Art

Art Commentator and Historian
Adrian Clark