Modernists and Mavericks Read online

  Acknowledgments

  This book has been a long time in the making. The earliest conversations folded into this text are now over twenty-five years old. A slightly eerie, though fascinating, part of the process was listening again to recordings of my own voice questioning and responding to others, some now dead, decades ago. Their thoughts and memories fill Modernists & Mavericks and are, in a way, its subject.

  I should like to thank again all those I have talked to over the years, and most of all those who helped me generously during the gestation of this project: Frank Auerbach, Gillian Ayres, Frank Bowling, Anthony Eyton, David Hockney, Kasmin, James Kirkman, John Lessore, Richard Morphet, Henry Mundy, Rachel Scott, Angus Stewart and John Wonnacott.

  In addition, Gillian Ayres, Frank Bowling, David Dawson, Catherine Lampert, Allen Jones and Daphne Todd kindly read sections of the text and made many invaluable suggestions. A student of mine, Maggie Armstrong, taught me a lot about Sandra Blow. My son Tom gave stalwart assistance in reading early drafts and my daughter Cecily also contributed crucial advice. The members of the team at Thames & Hudson, particularly Michela Parkin, Julia MacKenzie, Poppy David, Maria Ranauro and Anna Perotti, have done a marvellous job of editing, picture research and design. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with them.

  Index

  Page numbers refer to the 2018 print edition

  Page numbers in italic refer to the illustrations

  Abstract Expressionism 35–36, 45, 88, 89, 141, 144, 160–74, 175, 198–99, 202, 203, 289, 299

  Abstraction 88–106

  Ambiguity 187–90

  Bacon and 178–79

  hard-edge paintings 182–84, 192, 230

  Hilton and 100–4

  Pasmore turns to 94–98

  Royal College of Art and 198–99

  ‘Situation’ exhibitions 186–87, 192–93

  Action Artist (film) 165, 166

  action painting 160–62, 165–8, 170–74

  Adams, Robert 103

  Agnew’s 37

  Aitchison, Craigie 247

  Alloway, Lawrence 103–4, 139, 141–43, 145, 146, 175, 182, 185, 186, 192–93, 204, 268

  Altamira cave paintings 334, 335

  American Embassy library 137, 152

  Andrews, Michael 2, 228, 247, 248, 249, 251–55, 338

  All Night Long 252

  Colony Room I 251–52, 251

  The Deer Park 252

  Good and Bad at Games 252

  Portrait of Timothy Behrens 253–54, 254

  Angelico, Fra 285

  Annesley, David 301

  Art informel 89

  Artists International Association (AIA) 93, 100, 170, 171

  ARTnews 166–67, 186

  Arts Council 89–91, 120

  Atlas, Charles 152

  Attlee, Clement 8, 93

  Auden, W. H. 44

  Auerbach, Frank 7, 8, 15, 129, 144, 158, 189–90, 247–50, 249, 255, 266

  and Abstract Expressionism 160, 164–65

  on attitudes to painting 25, 197

  on Bacon 22, 37, 107

  on Bomberg 61, 64–68

  on Coldstream 50

  on ‘crossing the border’ 366

  early life 127–28, 133–36

  exhibitions 130, 134–36, 204–5

  and Freud 76, 115, 220–21, 259

  on Hockney 269, 289

  and Kossoff 125–27, 128, 130–31, 136

  in the 1960s 259–63, 335

  E.O.W. Nude 133–34, 135

  E.O.W., S.A.W. and J.J.W. in the Garden I 261

  Mornington Crescent with the Statue of Sickert’s Father-in-Law III 262, 263

  Rebuilding the Empire Cinema 126

  Summer Building Site 133

  Austin Reed 184–85, 185

  Auty, Giles 178

  Ayer, A. J. 67

  Ayres, Gillian 8, 10, 174, 278, 338

  and abstraction 93, 100, 101–3, 187–90

  action paintings 168, 170, 171–74

  at Camberwell 41–42, 49, 50–4, 54, 56, 137

  exhibitions 169, 170, 186, 192–93

  on the Independent Group 141

  Cumuli 187, 188

  Hampstead Mural 171–74, 172–73

  Ayrton, Michael 19

  Bachardy, Don 286–7, 288

  Bacon, Francis 2, 8–10, 21, 26, 42, 49, 59, 116, 189–90, 247–48, 249

  and abstraction 164, 178–79

  Bomberg on 61–62

  destroys paintings 37, 112, 113

  early life 25–39, 79

  exhibitions 22–23, 37, 51, 83, 168, 177, 206–7, 211–12, 337

  and Freud 114–17

  influence of 162, 203, 311, 335, 337

  John Berger and 153

  Kitaj and 321–23

  make-up 30

  in the 1950s 107–14

  in the 1960s 206–16

  obsession with paint 27–33

  opposition to ‘illustration’ 120–22, 210, 321

  Picasso’s influence 23–25, 36, 108, 211, 224

  and photography 81–82, 210, 212–16, 336

  portraits 108–12, 250–51

  relationships 85–86, 109–12, 176–77

  in St Ives 176–78

  screaming popes 85–87, 113

  on shadows 107

  studios 80–81, 80

  travels 79–80

  Van Gogh paintings 177

  working methods 113–14

  Crucifixion 36, 38, 141, 209

  Figure in a Landscape 27, 28–30, 29

  Figure Study II 33

  Figures in a Garden 38

  Heads 79, 83–7, 84

  Painting 1946 32, 33–35, 37, 38–39, 79, 209

  Portrait of Lucian Freud 117

  Sketch of reclining figure 181

  Study for a Portrait 110, 111

  Study for Portrait of Henrietta Moraes 215

  Three Studies for a Crucifixion 206–11, 208

  Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion 22–23, 24, 25, 27, 33, 35, 38, 212

  Three Studies of Lucian Freud 6

  Wound for a Crucifixion 37

  Balla, Giacomo 291, 292

  Balthus 322

  Banham, Reyner 139–41, 146

  Barber, Chris 142

  Barker, George 17

  Barr, Alfred H. 39, 78–79

  Baselitz, Georg 267, 335

  Bath School of Art and Design 189

  Battleship Potemkin 83, 85, 86, 212

  Baudelaire, Charles 81, 330

  Bauhaus 25, 291

  BBC 163, 233

  The Beatles 185, 185, 330, 333

  Beaux Arts Gallery 134–36, 154–55, 246–48, 250, 252–53

  Behrens, Timothy 2, 248, 249, 250, 253–54, 254

  Belcher, Muriel 212–13, 251

  Bell, Graham 50

  Bellamy, Richard 228

  Bellingham-Smith, Elinor 164, 212

  Belmondo, Jean-Paul 239

  Belton, Ron 176, 178

  Berger, John 55, 131, 153–54, 155

  Berger, Mark 269

  Bergman, Ingmar 123–24

  Berkeley, Bishop 63–64

  Berlemont, Gaston 118

  Bernard, Bruce 14, 19, 250, 251–52

  Bernard, Jeffrey 14, 250, 252

  Birtwell, Celia 289

  Blackwood, Caroline 114

  Blake, Peter 142–45, 147, 230–33, 239, 240, 311, 338

  Got a Girl 143

  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 330, 333

  Self-Portrait with Badges 231–33, 231

  Blake, William 68, 202, 289

  Bloomsbury Group 23

  Blow, Sandra 88, 90, 98, 168

  Construction, Rock and Water 98

  Painting 1957 98, 99

  Boccioni, Umberto 62, 292

  Bolus, Michael 301

  Bomberg, David 44, 59–68, 95, 125, 128, 130, 165, 204, 289, 335

  Evening in the City of London 66, 66

  The Mud Bath 62

&n
bsp; Self-Portrait 60

  Bonnard, Pierre 178

  Booker, Christopher 306

  Borough Polytechnic 59–62, 65–68, 125

  Boshier, Derek 195, 199, 203, 233–36, 269, 275, 330

  England’s Glory 235

  Special K 234, 235–36

  Botticelli, Sandro 71, 239

  Boty, Pauline 199, 233, 236–42, 241, 243

  The Only Blonde in the World 238, 238, 240

  Scandal ’63 239–41, 241

  With Love to Jean-Paul Belmondo 239

  Boucher, François 239

  Bowen, Elizabeth 127

  Bowling, Frank 10, 179, 195, 198, 199, 202, 228, 242, 243–45, 308–12, 322, 328, 338

  Cover Girl 243–45, 244

  Mirror 308–12, 310

  Bradford School of Art 201

  Brancusi, Constantin 141

  Braque, Georges 125, 185

  Bratby, John 154–57, 154, 235

  The Toilet 155, 156

  Braun, Felix 20

  Brausen, Erica 39, 79, 177

  Britten, Benjamin 44, 89

  Bronowski, Jacob 68

  Brown, Oliver 14

  Brownjohn, Robert 227

  Buhler, Robert 114, 197

  Burgess, Guy 58

  Burri, Alberto 88–89, 98

  Burroughs, Edgar Rice 284

  Calder, Alexander 205

  Camberwell School of Art 40–42, 49, 51, 53–54, 56, 93, 137, 142

  Camden Town Group 154, 260

  Campbell, John W. 142

  Canaday, John 306

  Canberra, SS 267

  Cardin, Pierre 243

  Carnaby Street 184, 301

  Caro, Anthony 9, 204, 290, 300–1

  Early One Morning 300

  Carone, Nicolas 88

  Carrà, Carlo 62

  cars 149, 149, 152

  Caulfield, Patrick 9, 313, 325–31, 338

  Corner of the Studio 329, 329

  Santa Margherita Ligure 326–27, 327

  Wine Bar 328

  Cavafy, C. P. 275

  Cézanne, Paul 76, 93, 144, 200, 255, 263, 322, 328, 335

  Chardin, J.-B.-S. 82

  Chatwin, Bruce 315, 316

  Chomsky, Noam 97

  Chrysler Corp 147–49, 152

  Churchill, Winston 121–22, 121

  Cimabue 209

  Clark, Kenneth 18, 22, 38, 51, 94–95, 96, 123, 222

  Clark, Ossie 199, 275, 288–89

  Claude Lorrain 187

  clothes 184–85, 194, 243, 301–6

  Clough, Prunella 54–56

  Cranes and Men 57

  Cochrane, Peter 205

  Cocteau, Jean 77, 78, 165

  Coffin, Pat 306

  Cohen, Bernard 230, 278–79

  Alonging 280

  Coldstream, William 8, 48, 54, 69, 147, 189

  approach to painting 43–49, 52–53, 59, 76–77, 96, 101–3, 108

  early life 18, 42–51

  and photography 74, 81–82

  at the Slade 50, 253–55, 256, 335

  teaches at Camberwell 49

  St Pancras Station 46, 47, 50

  Coleman, Roger 182, 185

  Collages 139, 147, 150, 152, 184–85

  Colony Room 250–52, 251, 254, 317, 322

  Colour 194–95, 300–1

  colour field painting 178, 233, 243, 246, 273, 298

  Colquhoun, Robert 11, 12, 17–18, 18, 19

  Communist Party 51, 153

  Connolly, Cressida 73–74

  Connolly, Cyril 19, 50, 69, 155

  Constable, John 31, 187, 263

  Constructivism 89, 94, 98, 103

  Cordell, Frank 145

  Cork, Richard 63

  Corot, J.-B.-C. 316

  Courbet, Gustave 221, 308–11

  Courrèges, André 243

  Cragg, Tony 337

  Craxton, John 12–17, 19–21, 22, 28, 43, 69, 71, 77

  Beach Scene 70

  Dreamer in Landscape 19–20, 21

  Creffield, Dennis 61, 67, 68

  Crosland, Anthony 171

  Cubism 23, 125, 338

  Cuthbertson, Penelope 224

  Dada 139, 169

  Dalí, Salvador 77, 269

  Darwin, Robin 179, 201, 270–71

  Davie, Alan 161–62, 168, 202

  Birth of Venus 161

  Dawson, David 224

  de Kooning, Willem 160, 162, 255

  de Maistre, Roy 27

  de Sausmarez, Maurice 292

  Deakin, John 2, 18, 109, 212–13, 214, 217–19, 218, 248–50, 249, 252

  Debord, Guy 169

  Degas, Edgar 200

  del Renzio, Toni 139, 146

  Delaunay, Robert 62

  Denny, Anna 190–91, 191, 318

  Denny, Robyn 144, 145, 159, 166, 169, 170, 175, 176, 180–82, 186, 190–92, 191, 210, 227, 229, 258, 300, 318, 339

  Great Big Biggest Wide London 184–85, 185

  Diamond, Harry 118–20

  Dine, Jim 145, 228, 330

  Doré, Gustave 219

  Dubuffet, Jean 203

  Duchamp, Marcel 85, 147, 150, 197, 334

  Dyer, George 112, 212, 337

  Eardley, Joan 9

  Eisenstein, Sergei 83

  Elgar, Edward 89

  Eliot, T. S. 200, 320

  Elizabeth II, Queen 245

  Ellis, Clifford 189

  Encounter 117, 120, 122, 155

  Epstein, Jacob 73

  Ernst, Max 139

  Escher, M. C. 299

  Euston Road School 41–42, 49–54, 67, 76, 96, 108, 147, 159

  Eyton, Anthony 48–49

  Fairlie, Henry 170

  Farson, Daniel 211–12, 217–18

  Fauvism 195, 270

  Fawkes, Wally 41

  Feigen, Richard L. 306

  Fellini, Federico 331

  Feminism 304–5

  Fenton, Rudolf 240–41

  Festival of the Arts (1951) 89–91

  Festival of Britain (1951) 89, 95, 96, 97–98, 133

  Festival Pattern Group 98

  films 138, 150, 165–66

  Finch, Christopher 325

  Fischer, Harry 206–8, 322

  Forge, Andrew 246, 253, 295

  Formby, George 16

  Fraser, Robert 330–33

  Frederick’s of Hollywood 302–3, 304

  Freeman, Betty 277

  Freeman, Robert 225–27

  Freud, Lucian 2, 6, 8, 13, 37, 56, 158–59, 247–51, 266, 336

  and Bacon 22, 27, 30, 33, 86, 111, 112, 114–17, 212–13

  early years in London 11, 12–21

  exhibitions 78, 91, 217, 338

  financial problems 216–17

  friendship with Auerbach 259

  in Greece 69, 71–72

  John Berger and 153

  and Kitty Garman 72–76, 78, 115

  in the 1950s 114–24

  in the 1960s 216–24, 335

  nudes 221–24

  observation 76–77

  opposition to ‘illustration’ 120–21