postcard from the edge

It's funny how an image can stay with you for life. This painting by Harold Gilman has been part of my personal visual library for a long, long time. So clear are its details and associations, I can go for years without seeing it but when I do it suddenly brings home all kinds of memories.

I first saw 'The Eating House' (c. 1914) soon after I arrived at Sheffield University to train as a teacher of Russian and French after my degree. I lived in a tiny room in a tiny terraced house very close to where the Yorkshire Ripper had recently been caught (which somehow put us off late nights out). I spent most of the year avoiding doing lesson-plans by listening to the radio and knitting a cabled pink mohair Patricia Roberts sweater which I subsequently never wore. When I did go out, it was often to the virtually empty Graves Art Gallery to see the wonderful collection of paintings there. And this is where I bought the postcard which occupied pride of place on my pin-board.

In between knitting and feeling very sorry for myself, I spent hours looking at this painting. I remember wishing myself into the scene so many times that I was almost convinced that it must exist somewhere in a city like Manchester or London. I loved the colours, the view-point, the anonymity, the promise of something filling to eat like pie and chips or liver and mash served with cups of steaming tea. I always felt this must be a warm place to sit and read a newspaper - something I needed to combat the freezing Yorkshire winter outside (and inside).

It was a horrible year. I was cold, heartbroken, lost, lonely and most definitely not cut out to be a teacher. But I stuck it out and used the university 'milk round' to get a job which didn't involve caring about school uniform and staff rooms. And then I tucked the whole experience away in a mental box, and got on with the rest of my life.

So today when I saw the painting once again at the excellent Tate exhibition of the Camden Town Painters, it was like being back in that student room, dreaming of a place where I would be comfortable. It's much bigger than I remembered, and the colours are still quite brilliant and unfaded. It still makes me want to abscond immediately to a place like The Quality Chop House (which I disovered with Simon, and is the closest I have come to finding Gilman's eating house) to enjoy some black pudding or devilled kidneys.

I was almost surprised that no-one else seemed to be having the same reaction as me. Surely everyone must know how wonderful this painting is? Because even though it's something of a personal Pandora's box, it also gave me the one thing I needed more than anything - the hope that things would get better. And they did.

The postcard is up on my wall where I can see it in my office (which is uncannily similar in colour) and all the bad memories are back in their metaphorical box. Where they belong.                            

Comments

[Betsy]

Wow..that is lovely. I associate songs and smells with places/events, but I'm not sure about images..

[Tamara]

Beautiful, all the way around!

[Lesli]

Why not a quilt, using those colors -- also, the shapes in the painting -- the horizontals and the verticals -- seem to lend themselves particularly to quilting. A comfort quilt!

Leslie
(I've pre-ordered your book through Amazon USA. Yay!)

[kosenrufu mama]

beautiful!!!

[m]

I loved Mrs Mounter's brown shiny teapot (and her blue wallpaper) and the texture of Ginner's long brushstrokes, like embroidery stitches. Now I want to go back for a second look before the exhibition closes!

[emdot]

What a beautiful story and I love how this painting has so much meaning for you. We should all have such paintings. And your wall color being so similar? Surely that is not a coincidence. :)

[woolcat]

I trained to be a teacher of French and Russian at Sheffield too! Did you have Bob Pullen?

For me it was a very fun year, mainly because of the friends I made; the teaching itself was a struggle and now after 12 years or so of teaching (it's French and Spanish now) the idea of not having to care about uniforms and so on does really appeal to me! Although... there are moments when the students connect with the actual languages, and that is cool.

[m]

You can almost smell the Camden Town of those paintings, can't you? Stale beer and coaldust and frying steak and onions and that sour smell from inside an old teacosy.

[mesclun]

Thanks so much for the link to the exhibit! I'm familiar with some of the artists, but Gilman was new to me. I can't wait until I have a little more time to really explore his works. I 'm very drawn to early 20th century art in America and I'm happy to find these British artists just as compelling.
I agree with Leslie - The Eating House does look like one of your quilts.

[Kristin Nicholas]

Lovely colors and lovely image. Grey day here - your tulips are making my day brighter.

[Cybèle]

It's not a postcard, but smells and sounds that take me back - and yes, quite often to a horrible year here too which I'd rather forget about!

[eireann]

cold, lonely, student housing. I know it well. And my postcards--and visits to the art galleries in Leicester (haven't found many in Nottingham) are a good escape, as is a warm room with things just the color of that postcard which is only a five-minute bike ride from my dreary digs. thank goodness.

[thedoodlegirl]

I just adore the way you write things. It almost makes me want to be in that cold and dreary house focusing on that beautiful piece of artwork...almost. But why do that when I can just see it right here on your beautiful blog? Thanks for sharing. :)

[Jayne]

Gosh! The picture reminds me of a place I used to go to with my dad after changing our library books in town when I was a child! Four new library books then egg and chips... or fish and chips... or maybe sausage and chips. Such was life in the sixties and seventies, well before we discovered balsamic vinegar or sushi!
My PGCE was a turn off too. However, a year in the wilderness (retailing with Laura Ashley) sent me scurrying back to the classroom where I had an extremely enjoyable (if sometimes somewhat frustrating!) twelve years teaching English Literature (all those library books!) and Drama. You may have yet another career ahead of you....

[Françoise]

I know nothing about the Camden Town painters so this painting style is a grand discovery for me. That sounded like an awful year you had back then though it probably has made you appreciate all the good things that followed, don't you think? And how right it is that you discovered the closest cousin to your painting in the company of Simon.

Oddly enough, I just started a blog and my first post is about a place which has stayed with me and nourished me all my life.

Thank you for a wonderful post!

[Colleen]

I used to have to visit Sheffield for work and would try to find time to creep into the Graves en route back to the railway station to see my favourite painting - the Gwen John of a corner of the artist's room. It's a small painting, so small that you can envisage it in your own house (or even stuffed under yout coat hoping that nobody would notice). But as I don't own it, I've spent years trying to reproduce it at home - a cane chair, voile curtains, a bit of daydreaming...

[catherine]

I also thought, when I saw the painting, there is quilt inspiration there - in the colour and composition. I also had a very miserable year the year after I finished my degree - wish I'd had a postcard like this stuck to my wall!

[Sherry]

This post almost made me cry because I am currently getting my degree in Spanish and I have no idea what I want to do once I get out. I feel as though I will be useless in the job market, and yet I am almost positive that I am not cut out for teaching. I am pretty happy now, but I'm very worried about the future. Sometimes I do look at pictures, or read books, and wish very hard that I can be in them, to live the life that the characters are living in and to know for certain that everything will turn out all right.

Hopefully I will be able to be proud of, and happy in my future life.

[laura]

This was a beautiful post-- thank you for sharing!

[Elizabeth]

I think everybody needs some symbol like that, to remember that we've survived the rough seas of our early 20s.

[Julie Nelson Rhodes]

The painting reminded me of Manze's Pie & Mash shop on Tower Bridge road - has long wooden tables and 'pews' to sit in - it's tiled too though is brighter than the rich colours used in the painting ...

A similar and more modern take on the subject matter can be found here ...
http://www.chrisclunn.com/folios/eelpie/

You can almost smell the vinegar!

[Samantha]

What a lovely post. I adore the rich colour of your office walls.

Beautiful!

[Vicki in Michigan]

I know why most people weren't drawn to the painting -- most of them don't have the least appreciation of orange..........

:-)

-- Vicki, reveling in your tulips

[Gramily]

Your story is universal and therefore poignant and successful. You have touched many people, including me. Bravo.

[Zelia]

yummy!