Joan Snyder: Apple Tree Mass (1983)
Oil, acrylic, paper mache, wood, paper, cloth,
pencil and ink on linen (24 x 72 in)
Yesterday, I went to see the Joan Snyder exhibition - Body & Soul - at the Thaddaeus Ropac gallery (Ely House, London) [1].
To be honest, I can't say I'm a fan of her canvases: they're a bit much for me; too much feeling; too much introspection; too much paint; too much of everything really.
However, I do admire Snyder for finding her own distinct style of painting. Via a unique use of brush strokes, for example, she exploits the narrative potential of abstraction, developing a new form of artistic expression during a career that spans more than 60 years.
And I do like the fact that, when she really feels the need to do so, she's prepared to incorporate lines of text into her work. For there are times when things simply can't be said with paint; just as one discovers, as a writer, that there are limits to language, obliging one to scream or punch the wall.
Thus, the picture that most interested was one entitled Apple Tree Mass (1983), which made use of the beautiful Latin phrase Lachrymae rerum - translated by the artist as the 'tearfulness of things' [2].
I was still thinking about this phrase and what it might mean, when, just as the day turned to evening, I heard the sad news of Marianne Faithfull's death and immediately her sixties hit came to mind, further encouraging thoughts of tears [3] ... and a longing for a Mars bar [4].
Ad in Cash Box (19 Sept 1964)
Notes
[1] The exhibition is on at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Ely House, 37 Dover Street, Mayfair, London W1, until 5 Feb 2025 (having opened on 28 Nov 2024). Full details of the exhibition and a short filmed interview with Snyder can be found on the gallery website: click here.
[2] This phrase - open to interpretation - derives from Book I, line 462 of Virgil's Aeneid (c. 29-19 BC), where it is written as Lacrimae rerum. I'm guessing Snyder may have spelt the first word as she did thinking of Frederic Leighton's painting Lachrymae (1894-95).
[3] 'As Tears Go By' was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, at the instigation of their manager at the time Andrew Loog Oldham. It is unclear whether it was composed especially for 17-year-old Marianne Faithfull or not and over the years she both confirmed and denied this story, whilst acknowledging that the song suited her so perfectly that it may as well have been.
It was released as a single in the UK, sung by Faithfull, in 1964, and became a top ten hit, launching her singing career: click here to play.
[4] See Jack Whatley's article in Far Out Magazine (27 July 2021) which attempts to provide the truth behind the story involving Marianne Faithfull, Mick Jagger, and a Mars bar: click here.
