James Holland, 20th Century Artist

Inspiration from the Avignon Festival

The summer of 1977 Holland spent time at Mas Gouge with his family - I remember it not least as the news that Elvis had died had to be gleaned from the Midi Libre.  Rather than drive all the way through France to get back to Pembury, Holland decided to put the car on the train, so our final evening in the South was spent at Avignon, waiting for the time to meet up with the train as it came up from Italy.

The Avignon Festival didn't seem to be the major event it is today, or perhaps we were not so well tuned in to the French cultural scene at the time.  In any case it was over in August, but the Fringe goes on for weeks after, which is why our final meal, in a restaurant near to the Pope's Palace turned out to be quite so memorable.  We sat out on the terrace to enjoy the balmy evening and watch the people go by, and were rewarded with an amazing array of street performers throughout the meal.

The Fire Eaters were perhaps not what we needed when tucking into our first course, as the accelerant they swilled around was very pungent.  They were however particularly dramatic and made a great impression on me, not least as I was only 13 at the time.  There were also singers, jugglers and a trick cyclist of varying ability, but the most inspirational for Holland were the Comedia del Arte clowns.  Their costumes were vivid, their act more suited to an adult audience, their make up very stylized and with the fading light, made a truly dramatic final evening of our holiday.

Holland made a number of "napkin" sketches, and once back home set to work, driven by what he had seen.  There are lino cuts of fire eaters, dingy Spanish singers, a trick cyclist and a "normal" clown, but the Comedia del Arte clowns/dancers inspired a dramatic painting.

This oil on board painting has not been properly framed but mounted on a piece of white board, with a fine pine outer frame, and is in a private collection.  However it was so admired and discussed that Holland did do a lino cut version, with a limited print run done at home.  This does not have the range of colour of the original, but retains the liveliness and drama of the original.

Three colour lino print, limited run, some copies still available.

 

Seagulls

There is an occupational hazard and a feature of sketching and painting by the sea which cannot be ignored - seagulls!  In later years, Holland generally worked outside wearing a floppy hat against sun and other things, so was spared some of the more unfortunate accidents that can happen.  However he did find that seagulls tended to pose rather.  In this painting of Cancale harbour, the seagull in the centre would apparently not move until he had been painted.

 
[Cancale, Brittany, 1986, oil on board, signed, framed, exhibited at the Art Connoisseur Gallery, London 1997, available to purchase.]

This earlier lino cut of a seagull was derived from sketches done in England, France and Holland.  The clever part of this particular lino cut is that it was designed to be printed on dark paper, so only the green, white and yellow blocks were made.  This was used as a Christmas card in the 1960s.

 
[Seagull with fish, 3 colour lino cut on black sugar paper, undated, unsigned.]

The final gull picture has something of a history attached.  When he finally took retirement in about 1980, Holland started an art class for friends in the Tunbridge Wells area.  When the weather was favourable, the group would visit gardens and set up their easels.  On a couple of occasions they went off to southern France, where some members had properties.  During the winter, finding subjects was less easy however.  People could be persuaded occasionally to sit for their portraits, although not always flattered by the results.  Sometimes class members worked from photographs.

Frequently Holland would resort to setting up still life groups as subjects, and anything was suitable for this - dolls, musical instruments, flowers, fruit, bottles, drapery.  Occasionally supper would be commandeered for the purpose - game in feather or fur, fish, on one occasion a very large Savoy cabbage.  One week a friend produced something that could only be described as road kill that he had found in his garden, thinking it would make a good subject for the class.  Sadly he produced the item on a Thursday, and that week there was no Friday class, only a Wednesday group, for which it was too late.  My mother refused to have it in the house for long, so Holland painted a loving portrait of the bird, and then with his friend, buried it away from the ravages of foxes and dogs.  The art class missed out on a memorable subject.

 
[Herring Gull, 1987, oil on board, signed, framed, exhibited at the Art Connoiseur Gallery, London 1997, available for purchase]

 

 

Lowestoft lino cut

As indicated in an earlier post, Holland was fascinated by the fishing port at Lowestoft, and did a major series of paintings of it.  He also explored showing the harbour in other media, including this study done as a lino cut.

 

He created three blocks for this print, one for black, one for red and one for green, and sent copies to his friends as a Christmas card.

Lowestoft Harbour, lino cut in three colours, one of a number of copies, c. 1973.