CLIFFORD HALL'S JOURNAL ~ 1943 - 1947 Page 9
December 4 1945
The day after the last entry in this journal I caught influenza. Unfortunately there was so much to be done that I could not do anything to get better. My paintings had to be selected; this took a day, and then they must be taken to Tanous* to be framed. This was all accomplished with a high temperature. I felt frightfully ill and weak and I do not feel right yet. Then I must go to Sir William Nicholson because it was my only chance to try to get him to sit for a drawing, Miss Steen being away, and he was lonely and pleased to see me. I was far from well but I had a most perfect afternoon. He showed me over the very smart (too smart) flat. 'I have never lived in a place like this before,' he told me wistfully, and I felt that it seemed a little strange to him; as indeed such surroundings would be to me. We climbed through his bedroom window and on to the roof.
*Tanous Frames of Fulham.
Back in the flat he showed me Max Beerbohm 's silk topper. Also a very lovely painting of pink flowers with a pale yellow book and a note of blue. He had given it to Marguerite for her birthday. I loved the exquisite colour and said so. 'It's a question of tone,' he said. He was right.
Finally I asked him if he would let me make a drawing. 'Yes, delighted,' and he settled himself on the sofa propped with a yellow cushion. Soon he was asleep, but he woke up again and continued to sit looking out of the window. It began to get dark.
'I will always remember this afternoon,' in a dreamy voice, 'this afternoon when I sat looking at seven yellow moons.'
I glanced behind me. Across the street the lights were burning in a high office building. The lights were enclosed in globular shades.
I showed him the sketch. He liked it but had a suggestion to make about the height of the cushion behind his head. I asked if he would alter it. 'I would love to.' He took my pencil and put it right with one line.
He said how forgetful he was. Could not remember his age. He produced his spectacle case. Inside was a piece of paper with: W.N. is 73. 'That is how I remember.'
As I was putting on my overcoat in the hall he took up a piece of strawboard. 'I should paint on that,' and pointing to an accidental smear of black paint in one place, 'Why, it is started already. There are the trees. A few more here, something there. The picture is as good as done.'
He seems far older than he is, in some ways, and I think he will not paint that picture, nor any other.
I have since painted a 20" x 16" canvas from that drawing.
December 6 1945
Feeling much better. Repainted the head of Kate. She has decided to alter her way of doing her hair and this was my last chance. It was frightfully cold in the studio and the poor thing had to wear her fur coat and gloves, but she sat jolly well.
A letter from Brooks who has returned to Canada.
He writes - 'People have forgotten there was a war on already...... and there are no visible scars to remind them except a legless veteran occasionally going down the street.The Navy is rapidly folding up - the soldiers recently returned from France looking in a dazed way about them..... and the sale of beer was the largest in the history of Canada.'
Here conditions are definitely worse. Shortage of cigarettes and food. Shortage of paint, canvas, paper. Strikes, rudeness. Nearly everyone looks tired and shabby. Everything is a colossal price and taxes are frightful. It always was a sad place compared with France, but it is infinitely worse now.
Disappointed already in the way the Government I voted for is behaving. Digging their own grave I think by putting theory before practise. A pity, for I believe in some of their theories: but one must never put the cart before the horse.
Brooks asks about the quality of our beer. Quite undrinkable, my dear fellow.
December 7 1945
A rotten light. Worked all day and wiped out all I had done. Drew from the model in the evening. One good, one useful.
December 8 1945
Spent nearly all the morning trying to get a canvas for the painting I want to start tomorrow. Got the last piece at the last shop I visited. I provided the stretcher and I called back for it after tea when it would be stretched. Bought it back and had to take the whole thing to pieces and restretch it properly. The idiot had not even put the stretcher together correctly. And this is a man who has spent his life in a workshop. If there are worse workmen than the average English may I never meet them. They were not good before the war; now they are butchers.
Hanna sat during the afternoon and I made a drawing for a painting that must be done before long. In spite of having trouble with the canvas I have had a delightful day. I enjoyed the drawing and afterwards we made toast in front of the stove.
Note: just the piece of canvas - 36" x 20" - cost a pound!
December 9 1945
Started to draw in the 36" x 20" of Hanna.
A bitterly cold day and I am now, 5 o'clock, only just beginning to feel warm. I wish the snow would fall. I have got rheumatism in my leg and it gave me a bad night. I actually went to sleep for an hour before tea. I have never done that before.
December 11 1945
Morning. Worked on the picture of Hanna.
Afternoon. Went to 12 St. George Street, exactly opposite the church to Miss Betty Bell a girl procured by Bill for my strictly proper purposes. She has agreed to let me make some drawings of her. Made a sketch which I gave her on condition that she lets me do some more for myself. I only had until 3 o'clock as a gentleman from the city was expected. He arrived on time as we were drinking coffee in the kitchen and discussing rents. £12 a week she pays.
Afterwards to the London Group where I met Hanna.
Pasmore makes you realize as never before how great an artist was Whistler. A good, though early Ethel Walker and a simply frightful Duncan Grant of a man with a gun and a dog surround by dead birds and rabbits in a dead landscape. Some painters make a better job of a tree. I liked Wright's picture of 'Parr Bay' - beautifully designed - also a painting by Peter Thomas - 'Back Garden' - really one of the best things there; and only just got in Wright told me, a 'doubtful'. My ' Emie (Conduit Street, The Mirror)' was rejected, also a watercolour.
December 12 1945
Went on with the painting of Hanna, still drawing it on the canvas. The head is going to be difficult. It is so small there is always the temptation to attempt too much detail. And remember: it is what it looks like from a little way off that really matters. Don't worry so much about how it looks close to.
December 13 1945
Slept at the studio last night. I loved it.
Kate at 11.30am to sit for the portrait; with a bottle of wine. We finished the portrait and nearly finished the bottle of wine. A delightful day.
December 14 1945
Worked at the painting of Hanna. Going well.
Evening - drew from the model.
December 15 1945
'The River from Battersea Bridge.' I did a good deal of work to this and have got it moving, for it had reached a rather tight stage which had been worrying me for some time.
It must be weeks since I last touched it and the paint was delightfully dry and hard and good to work on. I will go on with it tomorrow. A good light today but gone by 3 o'clock.
December 16 1945
Continued with yesterday's painting. It really is beginning to look like something. What a good thing it is to put a picture away for a few weeks. One comes back to it quite fresh and critical. How many time have I been told to do this and what a time it has taken me to realize the practical truth of it. There is no doubt, I am extraordinarily slow in some ways.
Next week I will go on with the painting of dear Hanna. And don't be too careful about it. You have a good clear drawing underneath.
December 18 1945
Did no work yesterday - went to see mother. Today has been very dark and rainy. No good for painting. Made a drawing of another version of the 'Clown on the Stairs'.It might work out. I will have to borrow the watercolour from Bill and the drawing from Hanna. Sketches I did at the Agricultural Hall before the War will serve for the other two figures.
I will not get much more work done before Christmas is over. Try as one will it seems impossible to avoid getting involved in the holiday.
December 19 1945
Did very little work this morning. At 2 o'clock went to Betty Bell. She was not there, gone to see her mother, explained the French maid who was sitting on the stairs outside the door of her flat, waiting for her to return. Just as I had decided to go Betty arrived, with half a chicken. I started a drawing. There was a knock. A client. I was hurried into the kitchen where I talked to the maid who told me there was a move to close all the houses in Paris but she did not think it would ever happen. Neither did I. In less than twelve minutes Betty came in and announced that we could go on with the drawing. I said how quick she had been and I was surprised that her caller was satisfied so soon. 'A good thing too,' she replied, 'all the same it's a lousy job.' More interruptions. Coffee, excellent, and her sister who wanted me to draw her some day. Next time I go I will paint.
I wondered why there was a folded strip of blanket along the foot of the bed. It had muddy marks on it; then I realised that the gentleman had kept his boots on.
December 20 1945
V&A Museum to see the exhibition of effigies from Westminster Abbey and the paintings by Picasso and Matisse. Some of the sculptured figures are very fine, unfortunately they are tastefully arranged against a background of light grey spattered with electric blue. This makes it extremely difficult to concentrate on the figures.
The Picasso and Matisse show has caused a great commotion, particularly Picasso. I must respect much of his work even if, at first, I find it difficult to accept. Many of the pictures are terribly real, extremely emotional, and it would be very wrong to deny the beauty of a canvas like ' Pêche de nuit à Antibes, August 1939.' The 'Femme Nue, September 1942' is terrifying. You may think what you will about it, but it is a profoundly serious work.
Matisse is very different and not such a good craftsman. He is not anything like so sure of what he wants to say as Picasso. The early 'Notre Dame, 1902' and 'Goulphar (Belle -Ile en Mer), 1896' are perhaps nearer his true self but the 'Femme au Tabouret, 1914' is magnificently realised. He is a true romantic at heart and sometimes I think he is a bit ashamed of it. I liked one of the more recent ones immensely - the 'Danseuse dans le Fauteuil Jaune, carrelage Rose et Bleu.' This is dated 1942.
Picasso is the disturbing one. An impossible man as an influence. He stands alone.
December 22 1945
Went again to South Kensingtom with Lillian.
After lunch I worked but did not like what I did so I took it all out.
December 31 1945
The tyranny of Christmas - practically no work for two whole weeks. Two drawings just before the upheaval and just one now which expresses, perhaps, a good deal of my exasperation.
Portrait drawing of Sir William Nicholson by Clifford Hall
'The Storm', dated December 31st, 1945, by Clifford Hall. Ink and chalk on grey paper, 10 x 12½ inches. No colour photo currently available.
This must surely be the drawing which expressed a good deal of the artist's exasperation.
Constantin Guys by Clifford Hall. Published in 1945 for the Shenval Press by Faber & Faber Ltd.
1946
January 5 1946
It has not been easy to get my mind settled for work; I have, however, started, almost finished, the first painting of Hanna in the mirror; also a drawing of her which somehow insisted on going its own way and has turned out weird; not like her at all, but an interesting drawing all the same.
Paul Klee exhibition at the National Gallery. Packed with people. I could not get much out of it, and I do not feel like going again. Picasso is a very different proposition.
Like the ostrich, Klee has stuck his head in the sand. Only he has seen something there and done much with what he saw. But is it enough?
January 6 1946
Finished the monochrome preparation (Hanna) then I made a drawing of my sofa.
I have been here, at the studio for a week. I have been very happy, for I love the place and I love living just how I feel. Marion comes back this evening but I will be here again I know, and again and again.
Only one thing has disturbed me, the noise of the wireless set belonging to Lee-Hankey* next door. What an old idiot he is to be able to listen, for hours on end, to much the BBC calls entertainment. Last night after two hours of it I banged first the kitchen door and then the studio door as hard as I could. The wireless stopped. I must try this again.
* Probably William Lee-Hankey 1869-1952.
January 8 1946
Worked at the ' River from Battersea Bridge'. I feel it looks a great deal better; not exciting but a picture you can sit and look at quietly and discover interesting things as you look.
The light goes very quickly these days, but I started early.
Varnished a panel of a 'Dancer' with wax and the 'Dancers Resting' with mastic. I will try these at the Leicester Gallery. Also the one of Hanna in mauve, lying on the sofa. Interesting to see if Brown takes any of them. He is a typical play safe dealer and would have me paint little panels of streets and the river simply because he has sold half a dozen or so. Thank God Lillian is not like that. My exhibition at her gallery will be in another five or six weeks. I am nervous about it. I do want it to be a success. I wonder, will the fortune teller be right about the Women by the River. She said it would make my name!
January 13 1946
No work since last Tuesday. Marion has been very ill and all my time has gone in looking after her and Julian. She is a little better today, but far from well and she has had a rotten time.
Snatched yesterday afternoon to see the show of Modern Dutch painting done whilst the Germans were there. A painter called Chabot struck me as having something fine to say, and saying it. Much of the work has, if nothing else, great vitality and makes most of our English painting seem stupid and lacking in any feeling of conviction.
January 20 1946
Was able to get some work done at last. A little oil of the clown on the stairs, a new version with the head and shoulders of two other clowns in the foreground.
Today I have done two drawings - one of a table with a bottle, bread, fruit etc., from a study I made last year; and another of Burnham also form an old sketch. I think I get something far more exciting when I draw or paint a subject some time after I have seen it. My memory gets a chance, I become less literal. And that is what I want.
Yes, I can feel myself beginning to get away at last from the desire to, how can I express it ? To copy nature. That is not exactly what I mean, but it is the nearest I can get to it in words. Exasperating words. But why should I worry about words? I have a more natural way of saying what I mean.
January 22 1946
Worked at a drawing for the other version of the 'Clown on the Stairs'. Will go on with this tomorrow. Have decided to leave out a vertical. It is quite feasible; it could work and be supported without it. Why didn't I think of it before? The gain in leaning of the principal figure is enormous.
January 24 1946
Drew the clown on a canvas 40" x 30". Started to do it yesterday. The picture should have something of the startling effect produced by the sudden catching sight of a poster, advertising a circus.
January 25 1946
Put back the vertical. He still leans over well enough.
Must phone Betty next week and see about her sitting for a painting.
January 26 1946
All day with the clowns. After making almost a mess of it I got it much better, and I know just what I have to do tomorrow.
I must admit I have felt very tired today.
January 27 1946
Finished drawing of the clown.
January 30 1946
Yesterday and today I worked at the Clowns, also began a drawing which I will go on with tomorrow. My exhibition opens in two weeks time and I am very nervous about it.
January 31 1946
What dark days we have lately, rain and a bad light. Painted the drawing I started yesterday. It is of my humming birds, released from their glass case. How easy body colour* is compared with oils; but of course the former can never count for as much, simply because it is so simple to use. What would look incomplete in oil painting appears delightfully mysterious in the lighter medium. I must not indulge in it too often.
* Body colour - i.e. Gouache
February 1 1946
Another drawing of the humming birds before lunch.
Afternoon: worked on a painting of clowns that I started sometime last years. Improved it.
February 2 1946
At the gallery to arrange the exhibition, or rather to help arrange it. Not enough room for all of them. On the whole I think I am pleased with the general effect but I must do a great deal better in the future.
But it has helped me to realize better those aspects on which I should spend most of my time, and those aspects I should ignore.
I do feel it is my best exhibition so far although I am sorry I could not have included a number of drawings. They are so much more important than paintings; naturally they are more difficult to sell.
Evening: Bryan Robertson was here to talk about the article he is writing on me for the 'Studio'. And Meg Woolf who showed me a lot of sketches she had done at Burnham. She certainly got some things I missed.
February 3 1946
Made a drawing of Celia.
February 5 1946
A drawing of Pelham Street. I think this subject would make a good painting. Windy and cold. I must do some more drawings of this street.
February 6 1946
Started another drawing of Pelham Street, more careful, to paint from; I will try to finish it tomorrow if the weather is good enough. And then a colour sketch as soon as possible; Sunday, maybe.
February 7 1946
A most exciting morning. Did four drawings in ink retouched with body colour. Variations on a theme. Two were not quite right so I tore them up, but the remaining two really pleased me. After lunch I went to Pelham Street and finished my drawing. I must get the sketch for the colour done soon. Perhaps I can paint it on Sunday, Celia is coming tomorrow and I hope to start a painting. Saturday I am helping to hang my pictures for the exhibition.
February 10 1946
Started a canvas of Celia on Friday. Spent most of Saturday at the gallery. A very good start, the exhibition does not open until Thursday, for the Contemporary Art Society have bought one already*. It is the little panel I painted that frightful evening when I was so much in love with Celia and she went away. But there is no need to go over all that again. It seems strange.
*Clifford Hall's first exhibition at Roland, Browse and Delbanco commenced with the Private View on Thursday, 14th February, 1946.
February 11 1946
Spent the morning at some drawings of two nuns - from my sketchbook. Went to Pelham Street after lunch and just as I had got my palette set, out came the sun; so back I went because I will not have the sun in this picture.
I was annoyed thinking all the colours would be wasted, then I thought of the two nuns so I painted a little panel of them having first gone to the corner of Manresa Road to make a sketch of the shop window in which they were looking when I first saw them.
February 12 1946
Another picture sold, and it's not open yet. Birmingham City Art Gallery have bought 'Cheyne Row, Winter' for fifty guineas. There is quite a bit of satisfaction in reminding myself that this is one of the pictures the Academy rejected last March.
February 17 1946
Sunday. Last Wednesday I painted a sketch of Hanna standing by the window of her room. Thursday was my private view. Four pictures sold and everyone very pleased.
I was happy but glad when it was over and the morning after I felt very depressed and not because of any wild celebration the night before. But the light was as I wanted it so I went to Pelham Street and painted the colour sketch for my picture. I started to draw it on a 24" x 20" yesterday. About 3.30 I went to see my mother arriving at 4 o'clock. The river looked perfect and I made a note in my sketch book writing down the colours; and this morning I painted a little panel from the sketch. I will go there again. This afternoon I went on drawing Pelham Street.
On Saturday two more pictures sold, one to Sir Kenneth Clark.* You know I think the exhibition will be a real success, but I must paint far better. Lillian has done wonders and worked so hard for me. It would never have happened without her.
*The (second) picture bought by Sir Kenneth Clark was 'The Storm' (shown in the photo opposite), who gifted it to the Contemporary Art Society. It was subsequently presented to Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford.
'Quietly flows the River' by Clifford Hall Oil on panel, 6½ x 9¼ inches, 1942. Purchased by Sir Kenneth Clark (1903-1983) and gifted to the Contemporary Art Society who presented it to the Darlington Library (Darlington Borough Art Collection) in 1946. Whereabouts recorded as "unknown" in collection audit, 1976.
A later, 1945-6, painting entitled "Quiet Flows the River" by Clifford Hall. The current whereabouts of this painting is also unknown. No colour photo available.
'Cheyne Row, Winter' by Clifford Hall. Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches, 1945 Purchased from Roland, Browse and Delbanco by Birmingham City Art Gallery. No colour photo currently available.