Book review: Some Promised Miraculous Land: in search of James Dickson Innes by Richard Gwyn

Desmond Clifford

James Dickson Innes (1887-1914) is a Welsh artist worthy of being better known. The centenary of his death in 1914 was marked by an exhibition at the National Museum of Wales and yet his name doesn’t trip easily from most art lovers’ tongues, let alone the wider population.

Historically, few Welsh artists achieve popular recognition and we could do with adding to the group. Richard Gwyn performs a service in describing Innes’ life and work in a concise and accessible form.

There are no pictures in this volume, which is a shame, so it’s best read with google nearby so Innes’ work can be viewed alongside his story.

The work is vivid, light and a perfect antidote to the surfeit of Kyffin Almighty. There’s a mix of pre-Raphaelite sensibility at work, along with the light of Collioure and a dash of van Gogh verve. Innes’ work really is very lovely, and there’s a lot of it for a man who died so tragically young.

Innes was born in Llanelli into a middle class family and educated at Christ College, Brecon. He studied at Carmarthen’s School of Art before winning a scholarship to the Slade School of Art in London.

At barely twenty years old he was diagnosed with TB, in those days, effectively, a slow working death sentence. His mortality hung heavily around him through his short and unhealthy life. Remarkably, to my eye at least, little sense of doom transferred to his paintings, his work seems life-enhancing and optimistic.

Richard Gwyn’s book takes the form of personal essay rather than straightforward biography. He describes how he first encountered Innes’ work, linked to the centenary exhibition in 2014, but with greater depth as a project during the Covid period.

It was a meaningful period in which to explore an artist cramming life and art abundantly in the time available to him.

In many ways, Innes seems to have lived an almost stereo-typical artist’s life. He rotated mostly in a triangle between London (Camden), Eryri/ Snowdonia and the artists’ commune of Collioure on the French-Catalan border region but with forays elsewhere – Ireland, Spain, Morocco.

He drank copiously, lived carelessly, suffered fragile health, permanently impecunious, chasing or fleeing women, making friends, quarrelling with friends, always moving, making plans till he could plan no more, always painting. Always painting.

By all accounts he was an agreeable person in spite of life’s challenges and the selfishness necessarily inherent in an artist. He was loyal to friends, even the difficult among them. He was something of an acolyte to Augustus John, the senior figure among Welsh artists although a pretty unappealing person.

Innes in turn was followed by Derwent Lees, seemingly an imitative artist suffering severe mental illness. Innes was sorely tried by his behaviour but kinder to him than many.

Innes had that mandatory experience for any self-respecting Edwardian artist – the tormented and ultimately unsuccessful love affair. The object of his torment was the superbly named Euphemia Lamb.

She was from central casting. As the author notes, she had achieved “a certain notoriety, even in an era and among a group of people renowned for their bohemian liberties and promiscuity.”

Euphemia was volatile, free-spirited and determined to retain her personal sovereignty. Innes and Euphemia were on-and-off but ultimately off.

Agony

The rules of bohemia demanded he act coolly, an agony for him, when he came across her with other lovers. She was, though, very ready to collect his works and after his death she built a significant collection.

Innes’ real muse was not a woman but a mountain – Arenig Fawr in Eryri/ Snowdonia, not far from Bala. Innes returned there repeatedly with a gravitational pull and he painted the mountain almost compulsively, seeing it differently each time.

This is an important reflection: a landscape, however permanent it may look, is not still life. As Richard Gwyn notes, the seemingly unchanging landscape is in fact quite different now from what it was a century ago – not least because a decommissioned nuclear power station now sits within it, while the terrain then was criss-crossed with now-defunct railway lines.

The author explores James Dickson Innes’ life in a very personal way. His book is an encounter with Innes rather than a traditional linear biography. This approach works well and brings Innes to life in a way that might be more challenging otherwise.

Gwyn references the brilliant WG Sebald several times and some aspects of his narrative are plainly influenced by Sebald. He even imagines and records a couple of direct encounters with Innes himself. I was a little unsure about these; they bring some colour perhaps but add little to our sense of the artist.

It’s a minor carp. This is a lively book about a lively artist. Richard Gwyn describes his personal encounter with Innes’ work and this is a helpful way to see art.

You sometimes hear people describe an artist’s work “speaking” to them. Innes speaks to Ricard Gwyn and the conversation becomes two-way (literally, as it happens, in this case). Interest in Innes’ work inspires Gwyn to visit Bala and other places associated with his work. (By the way, policy makers note: a hundred years after an artist’s death, a hotel in Bala benefits financially from his work – this is part of the hidden impact of the creative industries; Wales needs policy-makers with as much imagination as artists).

The more I look at Innes’ work the lovelier it seems. The National Museum has a collection and lots more can be accessed on-line. Like many other Welsh artists and creators, Inness should be better known and we should be prouder than we are of what Wales has produced.

Landscape

As a population we relate pretty well to the landscape of Wales but we’re unaccountably ignorant and under-appreciative of the art inspired by it.

Since there’s a Senedd election on the horizon, I’ll use this chance to issue a challenge. One of the problems for Welsh art is visibility and access. Every town in Wales should have a public exhibition space of some sort. It doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate, and nor does it need to be exclusive – an art gallery can double-up with all sorts of other functions.

The Welsh Government made entry to galleries free. This is a Good Thing so long as you then provide an adequate funding mechanism. If not, you simply condemn galleries to penury and that, I fear, is where we currently are. It’s like providing municipal housing and then refusing to do any maintenance.

Wales needs a comprehensive policy behind creative industries, including a full appraisal of the interplay between public investment and wider economic policy. The sector needs investment, not subsidy.

In the meantime, James Dickson Innes is a joy – go see his work.

Some Promised Miraculous Land: in search of James Dickson Innes by Richard Gwyn can be purchased here and at all good bookshops.