Edward James

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Edward James (disambiguation).

Edward James
Eton
Institut Le Rosey
Christ Church, Oxford
Occupation(s)poet, sculptor, patron of the arts
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1930; div. 1934)​
Parent(s)William Dodge James
Evelyn Forbes

Edward Frank Willis James (16 August 1907 – 2 December 1984) was a British poet known for his patronage of the surrealist art movement.

Early life and marriage

James was born on 16 August 1907, the only son of

Evelyn Forbes, a Scots socialite. He was reputedly fathered by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII)[3]: 14  and in his anecdotal reminiscences, recorded in Swans Reflecting Elephants – My Early Years, Edward James also puts forward this hypothesis.[4] In his memoirs he wrote "I was not, I was, in fact, his grandson" saying that it was his grandmother that had an affair with the Prince of Wales.[5] However, there was also popular belief that Forbes was one of the Prince of Wales's mistresses and there was a much-quoted ballad by Hilaire Belloc intimating this at the time.[6][7][8]

Edward James had four older sisters:

John Arthur James died in 1917.[10]

James's first sponsorship of note was in publishing John Betjeman's first book of poems when at Oxford. He worked with Brian Howard on the Glass Omnibus. After Oxford, James had a brief career as a trainee diplomat at the embassy in Rome. He was asked to send a coded message to London that the Italians had laid the keels for three destroyers, but got the code wrong; the message said "300 destroyers". Shortly after this he was sent "on indefinite leave".

In the early 1930s, James married Tilly Losch, an Austrian dancer, choreographer, actress and painter. He had several productions created expressly for her, the most notable of which was Les Ballets 1933, which included Kurt Weill, Lotte Lenya and George Balanchine. He and Boris Kochno commissioned that year Brecht and Weill's last collaboration, The Seven Deadly Sins, which Balanchine produced, directed and choreographed.

James divorced Losch in 1934, accusing her of adultery with

Mitford sisters and the composer Lord Berners
.

Surrealism

James is best known as a passionate supporter of Surrealism, a movement that evolved from Dada and the political uncertainty and upheaval of World War I and the following years. With a mix of Dada irreverence for the traditional political, religious, and bourgeois values of western civilization that they believed had led the world (and themselves as veterans of the war) to the First World War, the surrealist explored the possibilities that had been opened up by Sigmund Freud regarding the subconscious mind, and the idea of pure thought, unfiltered and uncensored by political, religious, moral, or rational principles.[13][14][15][16]

He sponsored Salvador Dalí for the whole of 1938 and his collection of paintings and art objects subsequently came to be accepted as one of the finest collections of surrealist work in private hands. He also provided practical help, supporting Dalí for about two years. They collaborated on the Mae West Sofas and Lobster Telephones, which James had installed in his private home near West Dean House.

James appeared in two surrealist paintings, both by Magritte:

Salvador Dali put James in touch with the Belgian surrealist painter

Picasso..."[19]

In June that year, Magritte painted some portraits of James including Not to be Reproduced and The Pleasure Principle.

Giacometti, Max Ernst and Paul Delvaux.[3]: 167  Most were sold at a well-publicized sale at Christie's
two years after his death.

His intellectual interest in surrealism is demonstrated by his sponsorship of Minotaure, a lavish Surrealist magazine published in Paris. His refurbishment of Monkton House, in a part of the West Dean Estate, was a Surrealist dream.[23] It was done in collaboration with the pioneering British decorator Syrie Maugham, and has some of the most iconic Surrealist works on display, including the large Mae West Lips Sofa to which Dalí gave the form and colour of the actress's lips, and his Lobster Telephone in white. (The surrealist tradition at Monkton House was maintained when the interior designer Derek Frost did extensive work to the house and designed more custom pieces of furniture in the late 1980s.) James donated these two items (among others) to the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery.[24] James's most fantastic surrealist creation was realised in the Mexican rain forest, a surrealist sculpture garden, "Las Pozas".

New Mexico

In 1940, James stayed in Taos, New Mexico, United States, as a guest of Mabel Dodge Luhan, where he was known for his amusing, clever eccentricity and effeminate manner. In Taos, he met the Hon. Dorothy Brett, an impoverished British aristocrat and painter, who in 1941 sold him nine paintings for $580. He later invited the 70-year-old Brett (as she was known) to return to Britain and reside at West Dean, but she declined.[25]

Las Pozas

Main article: Las Pozas
The surrealist sculpture park Las Pozas, Xilitla

Las Pozas ("the Pools"), near the village of

Xilitla, San Luis Potosí, more than 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level, in a subtropical rainforest in the Sierra Gorda mountains of Mexico, is a garden created by James. It includes more than 80 acres (32 ha) of natural waterfalls and pools interlaced with towering Surrealist sculptures in concrete.[26] Massive sculptures up to four stories tall punctuate the site. The many trails throughout the garden site are composed of steps, ramps, bridges, and narrow winding walkways that traverse the valley walls.[27] Construction of Las Pozas cost more than $5 million. To pay for it, James sold his collection of Surrealist art at auction.[28]

West Dean

In 1964, James gave his English estate which included West Dean House at West Dean to a charitable trust. The Edward James Foundation comprises West Dean College, a centre for the preservation of traditional arts and crafts, through short courses and full-time Diplomas and MAs. One of only two professional tapestry weaving studios in the UK and an art gallery are housed on a 6,400-acre (26 km2) estate which is open to the public through the West Dean Gardens.

West Dean College is part of the Edward James Foundation set up in 1971 in response to James' vision of establishing "an educational foundation where creative talents can be discovered and developed, and where one can spread culture through the teaching of crafts and the preservation of knowledge that might otherwise be destroyed or forgotten".

Edward James is buried in the St Roche's Arboretum at West Dean, with the simple inscription Edward James 1907 – 1984 Poet. The stone was carved by John Skelton.

  • West Dean House, West Sussex, UK
    West Dean House, West Sussex, UK
  • St Andrew's West Dean, West Sussex, UK
    St Andrew's West Dean, West Sussex, UK
  • Grave of Edward James, West Dean, West Sussex, UK.
    Grave of Edward James, West Dean, West Sussex, UK.
  • The St Roche's Arboretum at West Dean, West Sussex, UK
    The St Roche's Arboretum at West Dean, West Sussex, UK

Writings

I have seen such beauty as one man has seldom seen;
therefore will I be grateful to die in this little room,
surrounded by the forests, the great green gloom
of trees my only gloom – and the sound, the sound of green.
Here amid the warmth of the rain, what might have been
is resolved into the tenderness of a tall doom
who says: 'You did your best, rest' – and after you the bloom
of what you loved and planted still will whisper what you mean.
And the ghosts of the birds I loved, will attend me each a friend;
like them shall I have flown beyond the realm of words.
You, through the trees, shall hear them, long after the end
calling me beyond the river. For the cries of birds
continue, as – defended by the cortege of their wings –
my soul among strange silences yet sings.

—Edward James, Poet 1907 – 1984[citation needed]

  • E. James, The Bones of my Hand, privately printed, London 1930.
  • E. James, The Glass Omnibus, privately printed, London 1934.
  • E. James, The Gardener Who Saw God, 1937.
  • E. James, "The Sight of Marble, and Other Poems", Julian Messner (New York), 1941
  • Edward James wrote a collection of four poems, Sécheresses, and Francis Poulenc set them to music for choir (mixed voices SATB) and piano or orchestra in 1937.[29]
  • — (1982). Melly, George (ed.). Swans Reflecting Elephants, My Early Years. London: Weidenfeld.

Portrait sculpture

An early marble portrait sculpture of Edward James exists, by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi.[30]

Popular culture

In a video available on youtube with the surrealist artist and singer

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
and not his lover as was widely rumoured at the time, see below.

A museum dedicated to Edward James opened its doors in Xilitla on 22 December 2022.[31] Museo Edward James contains a collection of wooden moulds used in the construction of Las Pozas, books written by James, photographs and drawings. It also features a rare painting by James, made under the supervision of his friend, Leonora Carrington. The museum is located across the road from the sculpture garden at Las Pozas.

References

  1. ^ West Sussex Record Office; Brighton, England; Sussex Parish Registers; Reference: Par 65/1/2/3
  2. ^ Dodge, Phyllis B. (1987). Tales of the Phelps-Dodge Family: A Chronicle of Five Generations. New-York Historical Society. p. 108.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-56898-612-8
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-297-77988-9
    .
  5. ISBN 9780571309283
    .
  6. ^ Magnus, Philip (1964). Edward VII. John Murray. p. 268.
  7. ^ Leslie, Anita (1973). The Marlborough House Set. New York: Doubleday & Company. p. 125.
  8. ^ Harris, Russell (2011). "Mrs William (Willie) Dodge James". Narrated in Calm Prose:Photographs from the V&A's Lafayette Archive of Guests in Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's Diamond Jubilee Ball, July 1897. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  9. ISBN 9780719560347
    .
  10. ^ "Coventry & District". The Midland Daily Telegraph. 25 May 1917. p. 2.
  11. ISBN 978-0-85667-493-8
    – via Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery and Museums.
  12. ^ Gray, Francine du Plessix (24 September 2007). "The Surrealists' Muse". The New Yorker. p. 136.
  13. ^ Breton, André (1924) Manifeste du Surréalisme. Poisson Soluble. Simon Kra, Paris.
  14. ^ Breton, André (1930) Second Manifeste du Surréalisme. Simon Kra, Paris.
  15. ^ Rubin, William S. (1968) Dada and Surrealist Art. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York. 525 pp.
  16. ISBN 0-8478-0041-5
  17. ^ The Pleasure Principle (Portrait of Edward James), by René Magritte. 1937. Oil on canvas. 79 × 63.5 cm. Edward James Foundation, Chichester, UK.
  18. ^
    ISBN 0-8109-0278-8
  19. ^
    ISBN 0-8109-1300-3
  20. ^
    ISBN 90-5544-562-2
    [note Roegiers cites René Magritte: Catalogue raisonné, Vol I–V as the source of much of his information]
  21. ^ Art Institute of Chicago, Collection, On the Threshold of Liberty
  22. ^ The Pleasure Principle
  23. ^ "Monkton House". Country Life Picture Library. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  24. ^ Rose Collis The New Encyclopaedia of Brighton, Brighton: Brighton & Hove Libraries, 2010, p. 207
  25. ISBN 978-0-531-09775-5
    .
  26. ^ "Dream Works: Can a Legendary Surrealist Garden in Mexico Bloom Again?". New York Times Style Magazine. 30 March 2008.
  27. ^ "Los Pozas – steps and falls". 2007. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  28. ^ Alhadeff, Gini (11 May 2009). "Concrete Jungle in Xilitla". Travel + Leisure. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  29. ^ Lewis, Dave. "Sécheresses, cantata for chorus & orchestra, FP 90". allmusic.com. Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  30. ^ "The Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné: Artwork: Edward James: [172]". Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  31. ^ "Museo Edward James". Museos México : Sistema de Información Cultural (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 July 2023.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edward James.


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