Author Topic: Jim Ede and his 'marketing' of HGB work  (Read 4130 times)

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Grahame "Buzz" Ware

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Re: Jim Ede and his 'marketing' of HGB work
« Reply #3 on: February 07, 2017, 07:03:44 AM »
I have to agree Iain. Despite my research and poring over many sources, Ede seems to be sincere in his motives and intentions. When he did make castings in the late 60's of Gaudier-Bzreska's sculpture(s), he did so to finance the purchase and restoration of what has become Kettles Yard at Cambridge.
Having said that, he did make a move away from London to Morocco and did a little dealing in art. However, he was a scholar and art historian but he was firmly a lover of contemporary art which wasn't a really big deal then. Ede lectured and raised awareness of modern British artists with sculptors holding a special place for him above painters. When one looks at the beginnings of Vorticism, one sees that it really was a case of the Futurist followers of Marinetti being pissed off at Nevinson and Marinettii for including their names on a Futurist manifesto without their permission. Their anger manifested in Wyndham Lewis in particular coming out with all guns ablazing at Marinetti. Thus, the Vorticists were "born" and Gaudier-Bzreska a part of that.
As Buchkowska and Wright say in their excellent essay, The Futurist Invasion of Great Britain, 1910–1914 (International Yearbook of Futurism Studies 2012),
"By their bold pronouncement repudiating the foreign influences of Futurism, the Vorticists declared that only they, as Anglo-Saxons, could advance the arts of Britain against the reactionary forces of domestic complacency and compete with the art movements abroad. Portraying themselves as British patriots, the Vorticists intended to revitalize an Empire in decline by aggressively reasserting its cultural leadership. In the last months before the war, the Vorticists aligned their objectives with those of the government and the press to diminish and eliminate the forces of degeneration.
As the acrimonious split played itself out, the public became disinclined to accept either movement. Despite serious aesthetic differences between the two, it seemed that the public had experienced enough. Two months later, the Great War began, thus bringing Vorticism – Britain’s only Futurist inspired avant-garde movement – to a gradual and painful halt."

That argumentative eruption may have faded but it never really died. There was no going back after the pent-up and thwarted artistic energy that these manifestoes had unleashed. We see this clearly in the scenes in Savage Messiah especially those that replicate the energy and ambience of The Cave of The Golden Calf, Frida Strindberg's ill-fated avant-garde nightclub.
Robert Upstone in May 2009 had a good piece on the club in the Tate gallery website. See here:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/spencer-gore-study-for-a-mural-decoration-for-the-cave-of-the-golden-calf-r1139297
Upstone drew freely upon the work of Richard Cork and his book, Art Outside The Gallery (1982).

I can't imagine that Henry Moore or Barbara Hepworth could have had the intellectual arc that they did without the manifestoes of the Futurists and Vorticists still fresh and ringing in the ears of their teachers and future fellow artists.

Derek Jarman's sets were really good as was the script masterfully produced by Logue.

Savage Messiah is still the best sculpture-centric feature film ever made.



Online Iain Fisher

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    • Iain Fisher
Re: Jim Ede and his 'marketing' of HGB work
« Reply #2 on: February 06, 2017, 12:02:19 AM »
Interesting post which made we go back to my Gaudier books.  The best book, for photos of his works, is the Centre Pompidou overview, but it is in French.  Taking my poor French into account, Ede seems to have bought the works of a number of artists at the beginning of their careers when they were less known (and Gaudier of course died young and never reached fame in his lifetime).  Ede also bought works by British sculptors Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, as well as works by Gabo and Miro.

The Kettle Yard site
http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/collection/jim-h-s-ede/
says he went to Morocco and built himself a house, where I imagine it was easy to live cheaply.

After he obtained the works by these artists, he didn't sell them for a large profit but kept them, and exhibited them to anyone who wanted to see them.

My inclination is to look on Ede as a benefactor.

Grahame Ware

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Jim Ede and his 'marketing' of HGB work
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2017, 07:07:10 PM »
Hi: I'm wondering if anybody knows the full extent of Ede's selling of HGB imprints and casts. I mean, not to smack or disparage Ede but how did he go from a poorly paid employee at the Tate to a bohemian living in Morocco? I realize that he carried a torch for HGB and promoted him with his book Savage Messiah but the lingering question of exploitation remains. Am I the only one that finds that book by Ede a little tepid? Maybe someone could clue me in on the back story here on his art dealer persona and behaviour?
Thanks in advance.