David Jones was a lovely man.

David Jones (British, 1895-1974)

The Lee Shore
pencil, crayon and watercolour
38 x 57 cm. (14 7/8 x 22 3/8 in.)
Painted in 1961

Footnotes

Provenance
Gifted from the Artist to Valerie Price
Private Collection, U.K.

Exhibited
London, Tate Gallery, David Jones, July-September 1981, cat.no.138

Literature

Jonathan Miles and Derek Shiel, David Jones: The Maker Unmade, Seren, Bridgend, 1995, p.274 (ill.)

Thomas Dilworth, David Jones, Engraver, Soldier, Painter, Poet, Jonathan Cape, London, 2017, pp.301-302 (col.ill)


The present work is accompanied by an explanatory letter from the artist to Valerie Price dated 1973, extensively detailing the symbolism of the work. In it he comments:

"The open casement windows were drawn direct from those windows at Northwick Lodge, the round topped [arch] in the middle was added as the drawing proceeded, as I found I wanted a further opening, I believe a ship with coloured sails can be seen through that opening"

"The high-tide & the sea has flung up over the windowsill, some stones & (I think) shells & parts of the tackle and cordage of one of the vessels smashed in the sea battle & some ill aimed or stray arrows from the battle also drive in through the casement, on the ledge of which some of Gwener's vestments has been hung out to dry"

"The Gulls as they swirl in become doves as they approach the Goddess, because the dove was one of the creatures sacred to her. As you know, Eros or Cupid, was the son of the Goddess and carried a bow that discharged arrows. I decided that his bow should be a cross-bow, & his 'arrows' would be 'bolts', hence the cross-bow left under the coverlet mixed with flowers"

"The cat at rest on the couch is because in the Nordic mythology a goddess, more or less equivalent with the classical Venus- Aphrodite, had white cats that drew her car across the blue heavens, but I don't happen to much like white cats & so I made a tabby one."

The present composition was printed in limited edition by the Curwen Press.

NB

Thomas Dilworth's book about David Jones is excellent.

self-portraits ... part v ...

edward steichen,  1902 and  

bunny yeager, 1950s

zofia kulik, 1992 and 1997

juno calypso, 2015ish to 2022ish

marina abramovic 2010ish

zanele muholi, 2019 and 2022

egon schiele, no dates yet

leon spilliaert, 1907-ish

pauline boty, 1958 and 1960-ish

gilbert and george 1988 and 1991

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2088692305301470

charlotte bracegirdle 2020-ish, and 2026

luca giordano,  

edgar degas, 1856, 1857

chuck close,  1968 and 2005

girodet, 1790 and 1795

kent monkman c2020

Helene Schjerbeck, 1885 and 1921

ottavio leoni, 1595 and 1624

marie bracquemond, 1870 and 1892

stuart davis, both 1919

john dugdale, i'm guessing the nineteen-nineties

WILLIAM BOUGUEREAU, 1850-ish and 1879

Honore Daumier, 1855 and 1870 maybe

oskar zwintscher, 1897 and 1900

to be continued, as and when ...