Kate and I went to 94 Clarence Avenue again on 3 January 2014, two months after our previous visit. Last time, we went through the daily diaries and bagged a lot of rubbish. This time was about the artworks.
We had decided to collect everything and take it away to Kate's house. This felt like it would allow us to look at the work away from the oppressive atmosphere of the flat. Though we spent hours there last time, I realised now that I couldn't wait to get away, to the extent of suggesting we take the stuff in two loads even though we eventually managed to fit it all in the back of the car in one trip. When we got back to Kate's, we took all of the boxes and bags and piles to the back of the garden and put them in the new cabin office.
Then we had to decide what to do with everything we had collected. We now know there are about 1000 full sketchbooks, so if the average number of pages is 50, there are 50 thousand sketches.
There were also stacks of framed pictures and many brown paper packages fastened with string that contained even more. We unparcelled these and separated the sketchbooks from the framed pictures and decided to start with the books. Kate (assisted by Mattie a lot of the time) flipped through every book and I alternated between looking in books and taking selected pages outside to photograph in the daylight.
The sketchbooks are generally thematic. Some are packed with sketches made in the street; others show just objects around the house. Many of the books are full of life drawings which, as far as we can guess, were drawn from real models. There are so many of the pictures which so accurately capture the human figure, I can only imagine that Auntie Audrey attended life classes. She also repeats the same pose, which you would do if you were drawing from life. In fact, I'm not sure she ever drew or painted something which wasn't in front of her. Almost all of the pictures are signed AJA.
Most of the models are female; occasionally there is a man. We know that Auntie Audrey worked very fast; in one session she could easily draw 20 or 30 figures. Inevitably there are failures, but so many times one is enchanted by a single line which represents a whole limb in a familiar attitude. Sometimes the sketches are coloured, though rarely within the lines. As you immerse yourself in the world of AJA, you find that even the hastiest scribbles can be beautiful.
There are other types of pictures which are done very rapidly, and in the field, as it were. She went out on expeditions around London: to Regents Park Zoo; Kew Gardens; the West End; the local park; or she stayed at home and painted what was in her garden. The subject matter is traditional mostly: people or plants, animals in the zoo or cars in the street. Usually you can see what is in the picture but if not, the subject and date are punctiliously recorded.
For the photo collection, I deliberately selected without a system, relying on instantaneous feelings on the assumption that this would give a flavour of the whole. Mattie and Kate gave me pictures they liked and I added my own. In my mind, there are two categories in the sketchbooks: drawings (whether plain or coloured in) and paintings, usually watercolours. As it happens, though we like them all, I think Kate and I are most moved by opposite types; she likes the sketches and I prefer the paintings. The result, though is a mix of the two.
And now we are finished going through the sketchbooks. I felt that looking at each one, sometimes in depth and sometimes just flipping the pages, somehow respected the work and would allow us to move on to a next stage. But what exactly should the next stage be? Having reduced the 1000 books to 100 and with the promise on a later occasion of cutting down the more manageable 100 to what? 20? 50? Suddenly I'm not so sure. Kate and I talked about discarding the 90% we 'rejected' (not necessarily because we didn't like the pictures, just as a way to cope with the volume). There has been talk of making postcards or holding an exhibition. I'm sure there isn't one right answer, as such; there are lots of ways we could go. For the moment, we are going to let some time pass, ask some opinions and then decide. Below is a selection of paintings.
Last time, we read many of her diaries and sketchbooks which often revealed shocking delusions about the world around Auntie Audrey. Though the sketches reveal different states of mind, by their obvious breakneck speeds of execution, or shaky signatures, I feel there is nothing in the art which refers to things that aren't there. However misleading Audrey's perceptions of the world around her, AJA's pictures always reflect it honestly.
We had decided to collect everything and take it away to Kate's house. This felt like it would allow us to look at the work away from the oppressive atmosphere of the flat. Though we spent hours there last time, I realised now that I couldn't wait to get away, to the extent of suggesting we take the stuff in two loads even though we eventually managed to fit it all in the back of the car in one trip. When we got back to Kate's, we took all of the boxes and bags and piles to the back of the garden and put them in the new cabin office.
There were also stacks of framed pictures and many brown paper packages fastened with string that contained even more. We unparcelled these and separated the sketchbooks from the framed pictures and decided to start with the books. Kate (assisted by Mattie a lot of the time) flipped through every book and I alternated between looking in books and taking selected pages outside to photograph in the daylight.
And now we are finished going through the sketchbooks. I felt that looking at each one, sometimes in depth and sometimes just flipping the pages, somehow respected the work and would allow us to move on to a next stage. But what exactly should the next stage be? Having reduced the 1000 books to 100 and with the promise on a later occasion of cutting down the more manageable 100 to what? 20? 50? Suddenly I'm not so sure. Kate and I talked about discarding the 90% we 'rejected' (not necessarily because we didn't like the pictures, just as a way to cope with the volume). There has been talk of making postcards or holding an exhibition. I'm sure there isn't one right answer, as such; there are lots of ways we could go. For the moment, we are going to let some time pass, ask some opinions and then decide. Below is a selection of paintings.
Last time, we read many of her diaries and sketchbooks which often revealed shocking delusions about the world around Auntie Audrey. Though the sketches reveal different states of mind, by their obvious breakneck speeds of execution, or shaky signatures, I feel there is nothing in the art which refers to things that aren't there. However misleading Audrey's perceptions of the world around her, AJA's pictures always reflect it honestly.
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