“This painting presents a narrative puzzle that continues to be frustratingly elusive. In a way, it mirrors our image of Harold Gilman himself as, while we know some biographical facts about him from contemporary accounts, we are hampered by the lack of primary source material.
A member of the Camden Town Group of post-impressionist artists, Gilman is overshadowed by his mentor and co-member, Walter Sickert. But there are more than 60 of Gilman’s works in public collections.
This exhibition focuses on the last decade of Gilman’s life and features paintings where he seemed to be hitting his stride. He changed artistic course during his career, but died of Spanish flu a day after his 43rd birthday in 1919. So we will never know if he might have altered his painting style more radically.
There’s no escaping the fact that this picture was painted during the first world war. A childhood accident had left Gilman with a limp and exempt from service. Two unchaperoned women are sitting down for tea in a bedsit scene far removed from the battlefields of Europe, but there’s an eerie stillness in the room. They are looking away from each other. Could somebody have said something unsatisfactory? Could they be in mourning?
Part of the puzzle is in how the table is set for four, but there’s no food or cutlery. The chair on the left looks like it has been pushed back, suggesting someone has recently left. What we do know is that this was painted in Gilman’s bedsit at 47 Maple Street in Fitzrovia, London, and the woman on the right is Sylvia Hardy, who the artist married in April 1918.
The other woman could be a fellow artist, as Gilman usually painted his friends and family, but there’s no way of knowing if these figures should be seen as real people or characters he created.
Late in his career Gilman took great inspiration from the post-impressionists – a strong influence of Van Gogh is evident in Gilman’s use of colour in this picture. It is notable that Gilman is one of the artists chosen to illustrate Van Gogh’s wider influence in the current Van Gogh and Britain exhibition at Tate Britain, London.
The other outstanding feature of this picture is the colour blue, particularly the wallpaper, which, along with the angles of the walls and ceiling, creates a sense of claustrophobia. Gilman’s friend Louis Fergusson called it a “bilious hue” when he wrote an appreciation of the artist after his death.
Gilman painted different versions of scenes and this picture is displayed side by side in the exhibition with its smaller companion piece from a private collection. The other version is even more oppressive, with heightened composition and looser brushwork. It also features another figure on the left. It’s as if Gilman was creating stage sets for untold stories.”
Interview by John Holt. Harold Gilman: Beyond Camden Town is at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, until 9 June
A member of the Camden Town Group of post-impressionist artists, Gilman is overshadowed by his mentor and co-member, Walter Sickert. But there are more than 60 of Gilman’s works in public collections.
This exhibition focuses on the last decade of Gilman’s life and features paintings where he seemed to be hitting his stride. He changed artistic course during his career, but died of Spanish flu a day after his 43rd birthday in 1919. So we will never know if he might have altered his painting style more radically.
There’s no escaping the fact that this picture was painted during the first world war. A childhood accident had left Gilman with a limp and exempt from service. Two unchaperoned women are sitting down for tea in a bedsit scene far removed from the battlefields of Europe, but there’s an eerie stillness in the room. They are looking away from each other. Could somebody have said something unsatisfactory? Could they be in mourning?
Part of the puzzle is in how the table is set for four, but there’s no food or cutlery. The chair on the left looks like it has been pushed back, suggesting someone has recently left. What we do know is that this was painted in Gilman’s bedsit at 47 Maple Street in Fitzrovia, London, and the woman on the right is Sylvia Hardy, who the artist married in April 1918.
The other woman could be a fellow artist, as Gilman usually painted his friends and family, but there’s no way of knowing if these figures should be seen as real people or characters he created.
Late in his career Gilman took great inspiration from the post-impressionists – a strong influence of Van Gogh is evident in Gilman’s use of colour in this picture. It is notable that Gilman is one of the artists chosen to illustrate Van Gogh’s wider influence in the current Van Gogh and Britain exhibition at Tate Britain, London.
The other outstanding feature of this picture is the colour blue, particularly the wallpaper, which, along with the angles of the walls and ceiling, creates a sense of claustrophobia. Gilman’s friend Louis Fergusson called it a “bilious hue” when he wrote an appreciation of the artist after his death.
Gilman painted different versions of scenes and this picture is displayed side by side in the exhibition with its smaller companion piece from a private collection. The other version is even more oppressive, with heightened composition and looser brushwork. It also features another figure on the left. It’s as if Gilman was creating stage sets for untold stories.”
Interview by John Holt. Harold Gilman: Beyond Camden Town is at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, until 9 June
Lara Wardle is the co-curator of Harold Gilman: Beyond Camden Town