 |
| Philip Wilson Steer Elm Trees 1922 watercolor Tate Gallery |
from The Evening Land
I am so terrified, America,
Of the solid click of your human contact;
And after this
The winding-sheet of your selfless ideal love –
Boundless love,
Like a poison gas.
Does no one realize that love should be intense,
Not boundless?
This boundless love is like the bad smell
Of something gone wrong in the middle –
All this philanthropy and benevolence on other people's behalf
Just a bad smell.
– D.H. Lawrence (1922)
 |
| Stanley Spencer The Robing of Christ 1922 oil on panel Tate Gallery |
 |
| Stanley Spencer The Disrobing of Christ 1922 oil on panel Tate Gallery |
 |
| Stanley Spencer The Roundabout 1923 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Stanley Spencer Turkeys 1925 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Charles Ginner Porthleven 1922 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
Portrait of a Man
"I did it, yes," he said;
And looked at me
When I asked him
If the things they said of him were true –
His neighbors gabbling amongst themselves.
He looked at me:
His eyes were clear as water,
And there shone
A mystical elation on his face:
"I did it, yes,"
Was all he said.
– Robert Roe (1922)
 |
| John Lavery The Golf Course, North Berwick 1922 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| John Lavery The Jockeys' Dressing Room at Ascot 1923 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Ben Nicholson 1924 (first abstract painting, Chelsea) ca. 1923-24 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Henry Moore Seated Nude with Mirror 1924 drawing Tate Gallery |
 |
| Henry Moore Standing Nude ca. 1925 drawing Tate Gallery |
The Dancer
He leaps upon the stage like a flash of fire,
His head glittering with gold plumes that restlessly sway.
Half a turn, and he waves his arm,
Like a willow-branch asleep in a spring wind.
A leap like a shaft of forked lightning –
His shoulders shine smooth before the footlights.
He turns rapidly upon five crimson toes – suddenly stops,
Quivers, to contemplate the high note of a violin.
Dreamily he half closes his shadowed eyes –
Turns, and is gone.
– Mary Edgar Comstock (1925)
 |
| William Roberts Deposition from the Cross ca. 1926 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Ivon Hitchens Balcony at Cambridge 1929 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Francis Bacon Gouache 1929 gouache and watercolor on paper Tate Gallery (long term loan from private collection) |
The Charm
Let there be words spoken; let there be a charm cast.
White pigeons flying in the early morning. (It is begun.
Eleven words start the charm, one at the last.) –
White wings trailing crimson in the evening sun.
Twisted smile, laughing tears. None must know
The charm's meaning. Drop them slow
In the witch's hissing cauldron!
Words shall be spoken
And be broken
One by
One.
– Jewell Bothwell Tull (1929)
Poems from the archives of Poetry (Chicago)