BOOK REVIEWS
I have dispensed with my 'Books of the Year' postings which covered the years 2009 and 2010, and now attempt to review a selection of books that I have read both good and bad, in editions old and new. Much of what I buy is often based on suggestions by others, or some train of thought that makes me think "maybe I should try..." so they are not necessarily all strange/supernatural fiction.
With many small press books costing around £35-£40 each, and some seemingly worthy tomes changing hands on the second hand market for many times that, these reviews may also give the potential purchaser some indication of what they might receive for their money. Needless to say, my opinions should not be given any great value as I bring my own foibles to every review and these may change at any time.
Robert Ansell (edits)
'The Exhibition Catalogues Of Austin O. Spare'
Fulgur 2012
pp317 £30.00
Many reading this will already know of my love of the artist Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956). His fine draughtsmanship, often created from 'automatic drawing' where the pen wanders at will as well as his subject matter grotesque satyrs/demons, unearthly landscapes and 'psycho-real' portraits have won him something of a cult following over the last forty years or so.
Spare was also an occultist, and developed his own techniques which he primarily promoted in two books, 'The Book of Pleasure' (1913) and 'The Focus of Life' (1921) and has been both a blessing and a curse for his legacy. On the one hand, it was largely through the occult world that Spares' flame was kept burning. On the other, the (often beautifully produced) volumes produced since his death have been orientated towards that market, thus deterring the more casual buyer. Perhaps this volume will alter that- though it is something of a curious beast.
The editor (Robert Ansell) is a Spare expert, and gives an excellent overview of Spare himself and the development of his art. Ansell is attempting to provide some sort of checklist and overview of Spare for collectors and gallerists, using the catalogues to contextualize the images that follow.
The catalogues span the years 1907-1952 and are reproduced in facsimile. Thus a fair proportion of the book is consists of lists of items shown with their prices. Some have titles; but many do not, so we have:
#92 £1 10,
#93 £1 01, etc.
Its as boring as it looks on this page.
However, and its a big 'however', this is still a wonderful book for the general reader, and here is why.
Firstly a number of the catalogues have introductions or appreciations of his work by friends and patrons such as Grace Rogers, Oswell Blakeston, Kenneth Grant, Dennis Bardens and Spare himself. These are, of course, laudatory, but they present clear and concise summations of Spares' biography, philosophy and personality in language directed at 'the man in the street' -perhaps a Mayfair street or, as Spare fortunes declined, a south London one. There is certainly enough to give you an overview of the above, and this is great for someone new to Spare who doesn't want (or need!) to know fine detail of Spares life, or delve deeply into the magical underpinnings of his work. Not that Spare admirers will be disappointed, for these pieces are by his friends and one can get a sense of them and their relationship to Spare in a way that an academic text cannot.
Spare himself comes over as warm, generous and down to earth. For example, presenting a show in which everything was under priced at a guinea to allow his art to be available to all, or mocking the larger art world; ""Looking within, to the depths of ones' soul" is another inverse cliché: personally, my experience of "looking within" has been exactly like looking onto an empty bucket!"
There are also reproductions of various contemporary newspaper reviews of the shows. These are also interesting, as although they are universally admiring his ability they also often show bafflement at Spares' content, an issue that seemed to beset Spares' career.
Finally there are the artworks themselves. Seventy-five pages presented chronologically from 1901-1956 together with photos of Spare himself. These cover the entire range of his output from his early b/w drawings through delicate pencil nudes, grotesques, imagined landscapes, pastel portraits and beyond to semi-'cosmic' abstracts, ceramics and stained glass. Ansell has a vast range of contacts in both the art and occult worlds and has used them to locate superb images - many of them reproduced for the first time.
There are over 130 of these, all beautifully reproduced in full colour - this alone fully justifies the (very reasonable) price tag. It is the same format at the recent Phil Baker biography of Spare (reviewed here) and they certainly complement each other nicely.
Fulgur are justly known for their (very) high production values and I believe to be this their best book to date. I doubt there will be a better general overview of Spares work for some considerable time and hopefully the relatively large print run, of just under eight hundred copies, will expose more people to this wonderful artist.
Fulgur are here.
