Kettle’s Yard: A Way of Life by Jim Ede (review)

No dimensions are given. $0 there can be no speculation of the scale or place of installation. This information is offered in a concise index complete with title translations along with the original French. The paintings are beautiful and intriguing. What’s good about the book is Balthus. Perhaps there are limitations to seeing paintings through books, but a knowledgeable presentation can offer a nice retrospective. This book offers a glorious one, but not because of its analysis. De Rola argues on Balthus’s behalf that biographical data are irrelevant, so we must rely on him only for a good selection of work. Luckily, he does a comprehensive lob. Balthus is good, perhaps inspired, but D e Rola is not. Byavoidingconfrontation with his father and denying his personal response to the work, D e Rola seems curiously devoid of feeling. While there is an implicit approval and appreciation (or is it awe?) ofthe work, thereis a hesitancy to offer his view of the pamtings’ “true meaning”. De Rola retreats into philosophizing about Balthus’s need to continuously rediscover his art. The one glimpse of Balthus’s personal life revealed is his perpetual dissatisfaction with his work. Of all details, I believe this to be the least illuminating. Over the decades, Balthus has continued to paint. He has experimented with styles, sometimes derived from other artists, hut always maintaining his particular vision. I. too, hesitate to judge the paintings. but it would appear that Balthus has achieved paintings of great feeling. The “ideal forms” D e Rola alludes to must be the sensual and weighty figures caught up in the sheer experience of living. The landscapes. as well, invite the viewer into their reality. The angleof a tree, a ladder, a leg or arm, the texture of the paintings’ surfaces. and the harmony of color all embrace the reader and viewer. De Rola states that “contemplation” and not “mere perusal and observation” is required to experience these paintings. But it is difficult for viewers “to love rather than be curious” about them. as De Rola quotes Coomaraswamy. when a hook sits before them and not the paintings. The book is an enticement. but if pictures should be “looked at-and seen-not read about, or read into”, then should they he reproduced? Or should they come with introductions? I believewriters can be inspired to write about artists without detracting from the art, but in this case D e Rola needn’t have written anything. Let us allow the paintings to speak for themselves. Reviewed by Ferris Cook. 114 West Houston Street, New York. NY 10012, U.S.A. Kettle’s Yard: A Way of Life. Jim Ede Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1984. $49.50. ISBN: 0-521-25062-5. It may seem strange at first that the author’s name appears in this book only with the title information. But after reading this journey into the realm of metaphysics the absence of the author’s name seems appropriate. If one knows Jim Ede as I do. one knows that he is above the physical in his being and in his approach to art. Ede gave Kettle’s Yard, his home next to Cambridge University, to the University when he moved to Edinburgh. Kettle’.\ Yard;A Way ofLif., is a gift to Cambridge University and to all who have walked through the actual place. The book is a way to experience the history of Jim Ede, his yard, and the Big Yard that includes all yards. He wanted to call his book A Way of Love. If one considers love as bringing together what belongs together, this might have been an appropriate title. John Macmurray says in the introduction to his book Persons in Relation. that all meaningful thought is for action and all meaningful action is for friendship. If we take friendship to mean openness to the other, the interpersonal other, it seems that the being of Ede and the being of Kettle’s Yard wereandcontinueto bethelocus of interpersonal sharing. The book is asymbol of Ede’s gift of himself. his home, his art, and the memories that enhance his art and that his art enhances. In his hook Ede...