As I have illustrated in my analysis of the Ten Storey Love Song video, John Squire has a strong interest in the artist Francis Bacon. In the following photo (not by Pennie Smith, but subsequent works in this essay are), I propose that Ian and John are recreating a Bacon painting entitled Crucifixion (1933), which has a shadowy image of Christ on a cross.
The position of Ian's shoulders replicate those of the shadowy image of the Bacon picture. That Squire is looking at the number '1' - 'The One' - gives a further clue as to the religious undertones of this photoshoot. This was one of Bacon's most famous early pieces of work. The creation of a crucifixion shape by the positioning of two bodies facing in opposite directions is also to be found in the video for 'Running up that Hill (A Deal With God)', by Kate Bush. Note how approximately one minute and a half into the video, her male counterpart, Michael Hervieu, forms a crucifix shape with his body, and Kate takes the part of Christ by placing her body on him as if he was a cross. The flash of lightning in the background, while Kate is facing the camera, adds to this effect.
Watch the video for 'Just Like Honey' by The Jesus and Mary Chain for another usage of this technique. In the scene where the band are being playful in front of a spotlight, watch William Reid with his arms spread against a wall, adopting the shape of a cross (like Squire above). Note Jim Reid's 'praying' at the centre of this 'trinity'; there are clear religious overtones in this scene. Going back to the RUTH video, the above scene is symbolic of the Crucifixion (perhaps meant to represent two lovers crucifying each other) and the later scene in the video where a 'tunnel' appears (strikingly close to a scene from the right-hand side of a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525 - 1569), entitled 'The Triumph Of Death', viewable on the Love Spreads page), appears to be a representation of entry into heaven (or hell, if the scene is a direct take on the painting. Kate screams when the masked figures all have the face of Hervieu, as if she wants to go back on the 'deal'. This is not the first occasion in the video when she expresses a desire to go back on the deal - Hervieu leaves her side just as the tunnel sequence is about to begin and Kate attempts, without success, to 'get out'. When all the masks are of her own face, there is an air of her making a sacrifice for her partner, collapsing from the strain. The bright red at the end of the tunnel sequence certainly suggests hell).
John Squire cites seeing a book of photographs of The Clash by photographer Pennie Smith as a key moment in his incorporation of art into the medium of music:
Squire is notorious for his use of Pollock imagery, not only on artwork covers, but also most famously for the NME December 1989 front cover. This aspect of the artistic influence on the band's photoshoots is well known. However, previous writers to date have failed to identify that Squire is also recreating specific works of art in the band's photoshoots. When asked in a Smash Hits (July 1990) interview to describe his room, Squire replies:
(In his listing, this juxtaposition of 'ordinary' objects of life with an Impressionist painting is particularly witty, considering that Impressionism is arguably the most significant development in the history of painting - certainly the most significant of the nineteenth century - in its revolutionary treatment of colour and light). Thus, one can glean from the above that Squire has an interest in French Impressionism. Squire appears to be recreating a work by another French Impressionist painter, Eva Gonzales (1849 - 1883), for the following photo taken by Pennie Smith. Ignore Mani and Reni in this photo:
Compare a mirrored view of Ian and John to the two figures in this Gonzales painting entitled 'A Box At The Italian Theatre' (c1874):
Most (if not all) of the artistic comparisons in this essay are from photo shoots with Pennie Smith, whose photography is shot in black and white. Squire possibly prefers b/w in order to create a ‘classic’ artistic effect. Pennie Smith did a set of photos with the Roses circa Second Coming and these, in my opinion, set out to directly recreate several paintings (two other examples can be found of imitations of art being incorporated into Pennie Smith photos of the band - one on the How Do You Sleep essay page and the other on the Scully / Johns / Klee essay page). Chapter 7 of John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing' illustrates how imitations of works of art have infiltrated the world of media and advertising.
On an episode of 'Antiques Roadshow' in 2000, a lady had recently discovered illustrations for the story of Bluebeard by a British artist, Joseph Edward Southall (1861 - 1944). Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/antiques/antiquesroadshow/priceguide/objects/3958.shtml. Here are the details of the piece from the BBC website:
Expert's Review:
We are in a city that was one of the most envied cities towards the end of the 19th century, because the Birmingham Arts and Crafts School was the envy of the world. These sorts of artists were not just painters and draughtsmen. They made enamel, they made stained glass, and they made design jewellery. And Birmingham was the centre of these crafts. For the artists, the greatest hero of Birmingham was a son of Birmingham, Edward Burne-Jones. And when one looks at illustrations like the ones which this lady has discovered, we can see the link between the Burne-Jones/William Morris collaboration with Arthur and the Kelmscott Press illustrations. One can see how people such as Southall openly dedicated themselves to Burne-Jones. So here one has Joseph Edward Southall (whose monogram appears in the bottom left-hand corner), in his early thirties, at the turn of the century creating illustrations for the story of Bluebeard. It's somebody in the heart of Birmingham - which is exciting, because when the Roadshow comes to Birmingham it wants to see something of the Birmingham School - and one can see the craftsmanship of these illustrations. The large panels are worth about £2,500 each.
Owner's Story:
It has been in her rather dirty loft, and only recently discovered (hence the dirt on Peter's hands). She nearly threw it away.
The illustrations, dating from 1894, were found in 2000. However, reproductions or some visual record of the illustrations would have presumably existed in the mid 90's in the Birmingham School area and beyond. I think that Squire is using one of those illustrations (note the roses, I think, in the background) for this Pennie Smith photo taken in London, in 1995.
Examine this painting by Henry Holiday (1839 - 1927) entitled 'The Meeting Of Dante With Beatrice', in particular the three figures to the left:
Compare them with a shot of John, Ian and Mani. John is the figure in yellow, Ian the figure in red (note the hand of 'red' resting on 'yellow's' shoulders and looking directly across 'red') and Mani the figure in green:
Compare this Pennie Smith print (from a photographic exhibition site) of John, Ian and Mani to 'Sketchbook Sheet' by Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684 - 1721). John is the figure on the top left, Ian the figure next to him. Notice how John places part of his head behind Ian to recreate the position of the respective two figures in the Watteau drawing. The space for another head between Ian and Mani is to signify the absence of Reni. Mani is the figure on the right, looking across the other three.
I propose that Jasper Johns' 'Target With Four Faces' (1955) influenced the concept of this Pennie Smith photo (this work by Jasper Johns, or another of his works, certainly was an influence on David Bowie's video to 'Strangers When We Meet'). Note how only a section of each of the respective four faces are viewable:
An influence on Squire recreating works of art in photoshoots may have been the debut album cover 'See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah! City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!' by Bow Wow Wow from 1981, which recreated a famous work of art by Edouard Manet (1832 - 1883) entitled 'Le Dejeuner Sur L'Herbe' (one which Squire seems to have a nod to on Love Spreads).
This act itself has been parodied several times since, for example in Paul McCartney's 'Give My Regards to Broad Street' (1984). With Manet's work of art itself recreating a scene from the right-hand side of an engraving after Raphael entitled The Judgement of Paris (c. 1516), by Marcantonio Raimondi, and being copied by artists since (e.g. Monet produced a work of the exact same title), there are numerous representations of representations within this sequence of borrowing, an embodiment of postmodernism.
Squire undoubtedly attempts to embed meaning within photoshoots. Take this shot for example:
This Pennie Smith photo is a visual creation of the 'See No Hear No Speak No Evil' adage: See No (Mani's eyes have tape across them), Hear No (Ian's ears are closed by the heads of Mani and John), Speak No (Squire's mouth has tape across it). The origins of this phrase are widely unknown and debated. One popular theory is that it has its origin in a 17th century temple in Japan. The Nikko Tosho-gu Shrine, also known as the Sacred Stable, in Japan has a carving of three wise monkeys. Many scholars believe the monkeys were carved as a visual representation of the religious principle, “If we do not hear, see, or speak evil, we ourselves shall be spared all evil.” The clown in this photo is not Reni, but a studio tech stand-in; no one outside band circles knew that Reni had gone at that point and thus the subliminal message is that the band were 'keeping quiet about Reni'. The Manic Street Preachers attempt a variation of this adage in the following photo:
Bibliography:
Berger, John. Ways of seeing (London: Penguin books, 1972).
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Paul McAuley
http://www.thisisthedaybreak.co.uk
Email: Paul@thisisthedaybreak.co.uk
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