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This book, first published in 1995, is now re-issued in a handsome, lavishly illustrated format by Seren, to whose list of art-books it is a valuable addition. The authors are distinguished arts practitioners and curators and one, Derek Shiel, has written extensively and authoritatively on David Jones, now considered the greatest painter-poet since Blake.
They present here not only a fresh account of his life, drawing on correspondence that has only recently come into the public domain, but also an in-depth study of his art. The oeuvre is vast and various: sketches done when Jones was still a boy, carvings done under the tutelage of Eric Gill, delicate paintings, engravings and inscriptions, including the wonderful calligraphy of his mature period such as the magnificent ‘Cara Walia Derelicta’ or ‘Dear Wales all buggered up’, as he once interpreted it for me, a lament in Latin and the Welsh by Gruffudd ab yr Ynad Goch for Llywelyn, the Last Prince of independent Wales.
The most important events in Jones’s life were his service in the trenches during the First World War and his conversion to Roman Catholicism. Both are given their due weight in this expert study, together with discussion of the artist’s relationships with women, notably Petra Gill and, when in his sixties, with Valerie Wynn-Williams, with whom he was infatuated, even after her marriage. His friendship with Saunders Lewis and Aneirin Talfan Davies, on whom he relied for much of his knowledge of modern Wales, is also taken into account.
Also highly relevant to the development of his vision of Roman Britain were his enquiries into matters Celtic and classical, what he called ‘the matter of Britain’, in which he, as the son of a Welsh father and English mother, had a passionate and abiding interest. The London Welsh are the heroes of his epic poem, ‘In Parenthesis’.
Jones lived in Wales only briefly, at Capel-y-ffin in the Black Mountains, where he belonged to a community of artist-craftsmen presided over by Eric Gill, and his acquaintance with the contemporary realities of Wales was pretty slight. He regretted, in particular, his lack of Welsh, his father’s language.
What is new here are the revelations about the artist’s suppressed sexual and emotional life, which led to his mental breakdown which, in turn, obliged him to live virtually within the confines of rooms at Harrow-on-the-Hill where he spent the latter part of his life.
I once visited him there. Seeing a copy of Welsh Nation, Plaid Cymru’s paper, on a table, I commented that it was perhaps too strong for him, to which he replied, ‘On the contrary, not strong enough’.
Meic Stephens
It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.
Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.
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