19 November 2024 – 26 May 2025
Dulwich Picture Gallery
The title and premise of the exhibition suggests a fashionable wish to present Tirzah Garwood (1908-51) as an artist in her own right, who succeeded in getting away from the artistic influence of Eric Ravilious, her former tutor for wood engraving at Eastbourne School of Art where she studied from 1925 and whom she later married. Unfortunately, the exhibition is intertwined with many of his paintings, with only the one room dedicated to her wood engravings, the most exciting of her works.
這場展覽的標題與主題似乎帶有一種時髦的願望，試圖將蒂爾莎・加伍德（Tirzah Garwood, 1908-1951）塑造成一位獨立的藝術家，強調她擺脫了曾任她木刻版畫老師的埃里克・拉維利厄斯（Eric Ravilious）的影響——他不僅是她在伊斯特本藝術學校（Eastbourne School of Art）學習期間的導師，後來更成為她的丈夫。然而，展覽卻與他的許多畫作交織在一起，真正屬於加伍德的木刻版畫僅在一個房間中展出，儘管這恰恰是她最精彩的作品。
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Shown in 1927 at the prestigious Redfern Gallery in London, The Four Seasons, a series of wood engravings made that same year, demonstrate that Garwood already mastered this demanding artform. Although not yet married (she did so in 1930), she portrays women, families and children in domestic settings. While the characterisation of her depictions as humoristic and eccentric by contemporary critics – and blindly repeated today as “witty” – seems a clumsy attempt at finding the uniqueness of her production, I find that it is in the technical execution and unusual interpretation of her subjects that her singularity resides. As part of the same “Four Seasons” series, the seaside scene “Summer” shows us a rich composition of swimming women and playing children, with the richness of textures, such as the fluidity of the sea, the wetness of the hair and the grittiness of the sand delightfully palpable. In “Spring”, the re-enactment of a spring-clean, the intricate details in the range of fabrics and materials in the room are simply outstanding and encapsulate the subtlety of eyes trained in other disciplines, in particular embroidery. This relationship between wood engraving and embroidery can be more obviously appreciated in the gallery with the juxtaposition of the two versions of “Yawning” (respectively 1928 and 1930s). It is a real shame that there are only two surviving pieces of her embroidery, considering the artistry in “Yawning” and “Vegetable Garden” (1933), both highlights of the exhibition. It could be that at the time, all forms of crafts were considered to be a lesser form of art than the fine-arts, and as a result, her embroidery work was not worth keeping. Furthermore, Garwood challenges the conventional representation of women at the time of the interwar period. In a fairground’s “Hall of Mirrors” (1928), for instance, we witness her and her accompanying girlfriend smiling at a larger reflection of herself while in “Yawning”, she shamelessly gives in into the act, her bodily engagement almost caricatural in its exaggeration.
1927年，加伍德的木刻版畫系列《四季（The Four Seasons）》在倫敦紅芬畫廊（Redfern Gallery）展出，展現了她對這門高難度藝術的嫻熟掌握。儘管當時她尚未與拉維利厄斯結婚（兩人於1930年成婚），但作品多描繪女性與孩童的家庭場景。當代評論家曾將她的作品描述為「幽默而古怪」，這一評價至今仍被機械式地重複為「詼諧」。然而，我認為這種說法只是對她作品獨特性的笨拙概括，試圖勉強找出她的個人風格，而真正使她與眾不同的，並非這些標籤化的形容詞，而是她的技藝與對題材的獨特詮釋。
在《四季》系列中，《夏天（Summer）》呈現了一幅生動的海灘場景：婦女戲水、孩童玩耍，各種質感細膩可感——海水的流動感、濕潤的髮絲、沙粒的粗糙感，全都躍然紙上。而《春天（Spring）》中的大掃除場景，透過布料與材質的細膩刻畫展現驚人的細節，流露出刺繡訓練所帶來的敏銳觀察力。這種木刻版畫與刺繡的關聯，在展覽中更為明顯，例如《打哈欠（Yawning，1928、1930 年代）》的兩個版本並列展示，突顯了她在兩種媒材間的藝術轉換。她的刺繡作品如今僅存兩件，實在令人惋惜，尤其考慮到《打哈欠（Yawning）》和《菜園（Vegetable Garden, 1933）》這兩件展覽中的亮點作品所展現的精湛藝術性。這或許與當時社會對工藝藝術（craft）與純藝術（fine art）的價值判斷有關——當時，所有類型的工藝作品普遍被視為低於純藝術，因此，她的刺繡作品可能未被認為值得保存。
此外，加伍德的作品挑戰了戰間期女性的傳統形象。例如，在遊樂園的《哈哈鏡迷宮（Hall of Mirrors, 1928）》 中，她與同行的女性友人對著鏡中放大的自己微笑；而在《打哈欠（Yawning）》中，她毫無顧忌地沉浸在這一動作之中，誇張的身體表現幾乎帶有漫畫式的戲謔感。
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While the Surrealist movement officially established in France in 1924 was not exported to England until the 1930s, some elements in Garwood’s wood engravings seem to foreshadow this artistic trend. This might be what is meant by the description of her career as “visionary” in the gallery’s introduction to her work, yet not really explained in the exhibition itself, which is in general really lacking in critical examination. “Cat into Wife” (1929) portrays a traditional scene of a man in a suit and sleepers sitting in an armchair facing a fireplace in a standard living room, a cat whose lower body has metamorphosed into a woman’s legs, crouching at his feet and waiting to be stroked. This hybrid creature is very Surrealist in tone, as is the interest in the spiritual evident in “Table Turning” (1928). With their primary focus being the liberation of the unconscious to express itself, the French Surrealist artists and poets believed this ritual would enabled them to tap into thoughts and expressions that seemed inaccessible in a regular state of waking consciousness. Another heightened state of consciousness could also be experienced during Carnaval, which spirit seems present in “Guy Fawkes” (1927, pen ink and watercolour), a rainy evening scene full of movement, in which dressed-up children chase each other and play with sparkles. This awakening of the unconscious resulted in unexpected juxtapositions – such as in “Cat into Wife” – and dreamlike scenes and combinations, evident in the oil painting “Horses and Trains” (1944), in which traditional toys (a small stable, horses and trains), as well as grass and flowers, are a mishmash of vibrant colors and scales, thus encapsulating the extraordinary in everyday objects. While the lords-and-ladies flower is a discrete sexual allusion which the Surrealists would have enjoyed, the modern toy soldier with his machine gun in “The Old Soldier” (1947) seems an indirect reference to WWII that had ended two years prior, a welcome echo to the origin of the movement as a statement against war and the “rationalism” of the culture and politics in Europe that had led to the previous world war. It also represents a poignant reminder of the disappearance of Garwood’s husband who died in a plane crash in September 1942 while travelling for a commission from the War Artists’ Advisory Committee.
雖然1924年在法國正式成立的超現實主義（Surrealism）運動直到1930年代才傳入英國，但加伍德的某些木刻版畫似乎已預示這一潮流。或許這正是展覽簡介中將她形容為「富有遠見（visionary）」的原因，只是展覽本身對此缺乏進一步闡釋，整體而言也缺少批判性分析。例如，《貓變妻（Cat into Wife，1929）》呈現了一個典型的家庭場景：穿著一身套裝的男子坐在壁爐前的扶手椅上，腳邊蹲伏著一隻貓，然而貓的下半身卻變成了女人的雙腿，等待被撫摸——這種奇異變形正是超現實主義的典型手法。另一張作品《桌上降靈（Table Turning，1928）》則體現了她對靈異現象的興趣，而這正是法國超現實主義詩人與藝術家熱衷探索的領域。他們認為這類儀式能解放潛意識，讓思想自由流動，觸及清醒狀態下難以獲得的靈感。
這種非理性與夢幻的元素，也可見於嘉年華文化。例如，蓋伊・福克斯（Guy Fawkes，1927） 這幅筆墨與水彩作品描繪了一場動感十足的雨夜，孩子們身穿戲服、手持煙火嬉戲，營造出一種狂歡節的氛圍。這種對潛意識的喚醒，常透過「不協調的並置」表現，如《貓變妻》，或帶有夢幻色彩的場景與組合，如油畫《馬與火車（Horses and Trains，1944）》，其中傳統玩具（馬廄、小馬與火車）與花草錯置，以鮮艷色彩與錯亂比例交織，將日常物件幻化為奇異景象。
畫作《老兵（The Old Soldier，1947）》中，「魔鬼百合」（lords-and-ladies flower） 以隱晦的方式象徵性暗示，這類元素正是超現實主義藝術家所樂於運用的。然而，畫中持機關槍的現代玩具士兵似乎間接指涉二戰，這場戰爭在兩年前剛剛結束。同時，這也呼應了超現實主義運動最初的反戰立場——該運動誕生於對戰爭的反思，並抗議導致世界大戰的歐洲文化與政治中的「理性主義」。此外，這幅畫也成為一個深刻的提醒——加伍德的丈夫埃里克・拉維利厄斯於1942年9月因戰時採訪任務搭機失事，從此杳無音訊。
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Even though it includes her experimental marbled papers, the works in Room 2 entitled “Country Life” unfortunately illustrate too well the introductory panel commenting on the impact of Garwood’s domestic life in Bank House on her creativity. Moreover, even if her production represents a departure from wood engraving into oil paintings and collaged paper constructions of shop front and quaint village houses, the “Sophisticated Naive” title of Room 3 is simply inadequate. In “A Tribe of One: Great Naïve Painters of the British Isles” (1981), George Melly had described the artform as “compulsive, primitive and childlike”, characteristics that only apply to “The Cock” (1944), the portrait of a giant cockerel amidst an idyllic countryside landscape, and “Orchid Hunters of Brazil” (1950), very much reminiscent of Henri Douanier Rousseau’s paintings that can be observed at the National Gallery. With “The Happiest Year”, Room 4 ends the exhibition on a high in terms of Garwood’s artistic production. Sadly, she was diagnosed a second time with cancer, and lived in a nursing home in the final year of her life. During this short time, she produced no less than twenty small, jewel-like oil paintings. From her bedroom window, she enjoyed looking at children playing and hiding amidst the luxuriant garden full of blooming bushes and trees, as shown in “Hide and Seek”. While “Springtime of Flights” delicately depicts flowers and insects of the season, “Suffragettes’ House” presents us with what appears to be hand-made flowers dancing around a doll house in a local park. These are poignant reminders of how beautiful and joyful it is to witness children grow and savour the marvels of the natural world.
展覽的第二展廳「鄉村生活」（Country Life）聚焦於她家庭生活對創作的影響，卻使她的藝術彷彿被侷限於家庭範疇，而第三展廳「精緻的天真」（Sophisticated Naïve） 的標題也不甚恰當。在《一個人的部落：英國群島的偉大天真畫家（A Tribe of One: Great Naïve Painters of the British Isles, 1981）》一書中，喬治・梅利（George Melly）將天真藝術（Naïve Art）形容為「強迫性的、原始的、孩童般的」。然而，這些特徵僅適用於《公雞（The Cock, 1944）》——一幅描繪鄉間田園景色中巨大公雞的畫作——以及《巴西的蘭花獵人（Orchid Hunters of Brazil, 1950）》。後者的畫風深受亨利・盧梭（Henri Douanier Rousseau）影響，與倫敦國家美術館（National Gallery）收藏的盧梭作品如出一轍。
展覽最後一個展廳，也就是第四展廳 「最幸福的一年」（The Happiest Year） 達到了加伍德藝術創作的巔峰，為她的藝術生涯劃下燦爛而動人的一筆。然而，不幸的是，她在這一年再度被診斷出癌症，並在療養院度過了生命的最後時光。儘管時間有限，她仍創作了二十多幅小型、宛如寶石般精緻的油畫，展現出她對藝術不滅的熱情與生命力。
透過臥室的窗戶，她靜靜欣賞孩子們在繁茂的花園中嬉戲、捉迷藏——這一景象鮮活地躍然於畫作《捉迷藏（Hide and Seek）》之中。而在《春之飛翔（Springtime of Flights）》中，她以細膩的筆觸描繪當季的花卉與昆蟲，捕捉春日生機盎然的美好。至於《女權主義者之家（Suffragettes’ House）》，則呈現了一座娃娃屋，四周環繞著彷彿手工製作的花朵，在當地公園中隨風搖曳。
這些作品宛如詩意的回聲提醒著我們——見證孩童的成長、領略大自然的奇蹟，是人生中最純粹而珍貴的喜悅。
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Text by Caroline Perret
Edited by Rinka Fan
About Caroline Perret
Dr. Caroline Perret completed her PhD in Social Art History at the University of Leeds in 2008 with a dissertation titled “Dubuffet, Fautrier, and Paris under the Occupation and in its Aftermath: A Study in the Visual and Textual Ideology of Matter.” Following this, she worked as a Research Associate for the Group for War and Culture Studies at the University of Westminster, where she investigated the impact of war on cultural production in the historical, political, social and cultural contexts of WWI and WWII in Britain, France and beyond. She is now an independent scholar and art critic, with a particular focus on modern and contemporary art, illustrated books, films, literature and poetry.
