Try the Wilderness First - Eric Gill and David Jones at Capel-y-Ffin — Try the Wilderness First

Disgrifiad Cymraeg / Welsh Description

Yn Eric Gill and David Jones at Capel-y-ffin mae Jonathan Miles yn archwilio'r pedair mlynedd y treuliodd Eric Gill a David Jones yng nghymuned grefyddol a chelfyddydol Gill yn y Mynyddoedd Duon yng Nghymru, cyfnod arwyddocaol iawn ym mywydau'r ddau. I David Jones bu'n gyfrwng dychwelyd adref yn ddiwylliannol, ac i Eric Gill bu'n gyfnod o arbrofi rhywiol ac ysbrydol.

Disgrifiad Saesneg / English Description

In Eric Gill and David Jones at Capel-y-ffin Jonathan Miles explores the four years which Gill and Jones spent in Gill's religious and artistic community in the Black Mountains of Wales and discovers that it was hugely significant time for both. For Jones it was a cultural homecoming. For Gill it was an opportunity to experiment spiritually and sexually.

Dosbarthu

Byddwn yn dosbarthu eitemau sydd mewn stoc o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith, fel arfer drwy Royal Mail Tracked 48. Ar gyfer archebion o flaen llaw, byddwn yn dosbarthu’r eitem o fewn 3 diwrnod gwaith ar ôl ei derbyn gan ein cyflenwr.

Dispatch

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Adolygiad y Cyhoeddwr / Publisher Review

Try the Wilderness First is a detailed and thoughtful study of the life and work of Eric Gill and David Jones during the period 1924-1928, when the two men were both based mainly at the community Gill established at the old monastery of Capel-y-ffin, in the isolated Ewyas Valley in the Black Mountains of Wales. The setting was significant: both men had converted to Catholicism and were devout in their belief, attending Mass each morning at the makeshift chapel set up in the monastery’s old cloisters; and they were both seeking seclusion from the outside world. Relationships at the community Gill had previously set up in Ditchling had become strained, and he was seeking a place ‘away from prying eyes and challenging egos’. (It was Fiona MacCarthy’s 1989 biography that first revealed Gill’s insatiable and aberrant sexual appetites – an aspect of his life that Jonathan Miles addresses with calm objectivity here.) Jones, a young man deeply marked and troubled by his experiences in the trenches during the First World War, had been living and working at the Ditchling community, where Gill was teacher, inspiration and father figure to him. He was also engaged to Gill’s daughter, Petra. As Miles says, ‘At Ditchling, Gill provided Jones with a home, a place to work, a fiancée and a fertile environment in which to develop his thinking about art. It was, therefore, not surprising that shortly after Gill moved to Capel-y-ffin, Jones followed.’ It was a period of intense output for both men in various disciplines: they both continued with their drawing, painting and engraving; Gill continued to sculpt, write and design typefaces (a field in which his contribution is ‘unquestionably of great and lasting importance’, with his Perpetua and Sans Serif or Gill Sans still popular with printers today); and it was at Capel-y-ffin that Jones 'scribbled his first ideas for an “attempt” at an extended writing’. This eventually became In Parenthesis , which was hailed as a work of genius by both T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden. In the end, however, the minimalist living conditions and isolation of Capel-y-ffin became too much of a good thing. Both men needed to be closer to London for their work, and both spent less and less time at the monastery. Also, in 1927, Petra broke off her engagement with Jones, who returned to live with his parents in Brockley, though he still spent time at Capel-y-ffin. In the same year, Jones had his first exhibition, with Gill, of his watercolours. Gill, always generous of spirit and humble about his work, wrote to Jones from France: ‘I don’t profess to draw well […] so please accept my apologies and let us both pray that the collaboration won’t harm you.’ No harm was done, quite the opposite. ‘From this startling debut in watercolour […], it was clear that a major talent was coming rapidly to maturity’ – a talent that had been quietly fostered by Gill, his family, and the rural seclusion of Capel-y-ffin. Try the Wilderness First has been structured with care and clarity to provide a vivid picture of the Capel-y-ffin years. There are chapters dedicated to each year, from 1924 to 1928, in which Miles, a cultural historian, gives details of the men’s lives and work. These alternate with chapters that critique their creative output and discuss their beliefs. There are black-and-white reproductions of their works throughout. It is a fascinating study, dense with information about two great artists and the intimate relationship between them. In the photo on the front cover of the book, the two men could almost be father and son.