I always wanted to be a Bohemian! As a teenager I was captivated by the romantic notion of starving painters, poets and artists living a carefree life in a garret in Soho or the Latin quarter of Paris. I admired those colourful creative characters who defied convention, dressed flamboyantly and behaved provocatively. In those days I saw Maggi Hambling the Artist and George Melly the Jazz musician on TV who both made an enormous impression on me by their striking appearance and what they said – everything about them defied convention and I loved it. Their art and music respectively were enormously influential in later life. Maggi’s wonderful portrait of George Melly in three separate guises illustrates totally (for me) what it is to be Bohemian! Unfortunately for copyright reasons I am unable to show it here.
Later I became familiar with other famous bohemians; the Pre-Raphaelites, Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, Eric Gill, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Quentin Crisp, Frank Zappa, Molly Parkin, Grayson Perry and other extraordinary gifted and outrageous characters who shocked by not conforming or caring what others thought of them. I have always listened to performances of Puccini’s “La Boheme” which has some of his finest operatic melodies and as the title suggests is about bohemian life of an artist, musician, singer, poet and philosopher living together in virtual poverty in Paris. Alas, I was not destined to become an eccentric artist or musician not knowing where the next penny was coming from and eventually settled into an unremarkable but secure existence with a regular income.
When I subsequently moved to the music industry there were times when I met some brilliant characters leading a somewhat bohemian lifestyle who had little or no regard for their future and the only thing that mattered was their music – total dedication to their art. There still remains, however, a rebellious streak in me coupled with a faint yearning to throw caution to the wind and do something truly radical. This suppressed urge has been rekindled by a new three part BBC TV series called “How to be Bohemian” which explores what it takes to be one.
Another BBC TV programme shown this week “What Artists do All Day” was about Tracey Emin preparing for her exhibition at the Leopold Gallery in Vienna where her work is displayed alongside that of Egon Schiele the controversial Viennese artist who died in 1918. I have always been slightly addicted to the work of both these artists and although the display is made up of some of their most explicit creations I found the watching and listening experience both thought provoking and interesting.
There is now a temporary lull in decorating activity and I am painting again. Here is the latest effort – echoes of ‘Poldark’ and slightly influenced by my visit to see the Impressionists last month.
