Beside me, on my desk, sits a book. Published 1959. It is a 'celebration' of the short life and works of Christopher Wood (1901-1930), artist, featuring twenty coloured plates of his works and a text by a devoted follower.
I know nothing of the gentleman, but then I'm not an art historian. But, as you will see 'Kit' Wood has forced his way into my life ...
The paintings illustrated in the body of the book seem to me to be nice, but nothing more. However, clearly I'm no judge, for the text tells us that those illustrated in the book are from the collections of HM Queen Elizabeth, the Tate Gallery, the Fitzwiliam, Cambridge, John Gielgud (unsurprisingly, 'Nude Boy in a Bedroom'), Noel Coward, the Toledo Art Gallery, the Earl of Sandwich, Richard Attenborough, Whitney Straight ...
Well, one that wasn't illustrated (perhaps Kurt Gänzl and Ian Bevan didn't stand up alongside such glamorous names) was the one I've just dug out of my cupboard. We inherited it from a member of the Redfern Gallery circle ... sigh, he had some nice paintings, why did he leave this one to us? I have never liked it. It went straight into a folder, and has remained there ever since.
And now, the folders are being emptied ... so is it someone's collection or a Gerolsteiner bonfire .....
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