'RESURGAM,' a painting for Plymouth now has a permanent home in St. Andrew's Minster church, Plymouth.
'Resurgam' ('I will rise again') is a triptych, painted in acrylic on three canvases, the work measures approximately 48" x 22". The starting point for the work is Plymouth's wartime experience as the 'most Blitzed' city, particularly the devastating attacks of 1941 which killed almost 1,200 Plymothians and levelled much of the city centre. The main background image is taken from a frame of contemporary film footage shot at the height of the raids. This frame is mirrored to form the 'widescreen' aspect of the painting. The light curve in the centre of the image is formed from the highlighted helmet of a firefighter.
The mirror image completes this curve and the firefighter becomes the 'audience' viewing the central element of the picture.
The mirror image completes this curve and the firefighter becomes the 'audience' viewing the central element of the picture.
This is a film graphic showing the celebrated 'Plan for Plymouth' first published in 1944. This image is from Jill Craigie's 1946 film 'The Way We Live', a hymn (albeit tempered with realism) to the determination to rebuild the city (and by extension post-war society) as a well-planned, ordered, democratic space, St Andrew’s church appears towards the bottom right of the image.
The final element, the 'Resurgam' of the piece's title is taken from the doorway of St Andrew's, Plymouth's Minster church. All but destroyed by bombs the hopeful message of defiance was originally chalked on a piece of charred timber by a Plymouth headmistress, later a painted sign was installed over the north door where the current stone inscription (erected during the church’s restoration) now greets visitors. The
letterform used in the painting is that of the original painted wartime
inscription (The London Underground typeface ‘Johnston’ is used as an approximation in the
illustration below).
The Picture Palace, Art, Painting, Movies, Monochrome, B & W, Film, British, Classic, Comedian, Movie Stars, Glamour, Hollywood, Pinewood, Ealing, Original, Acrylic, Artist, For Sale, The Picture Palace, Art, Painting, Movies, Monochrome, B & W, Film, British, Classic, Comedian, Movie Stars, Glamour, Hollywood, Pinewood, Ealing, Original, Acrylic, Artist, For Sale, The Picture Palace, Art, Painting, Movies, Monochrome, B & W, Film, British, Classic, Comedian, Movie Stars, Glamour, Hollywood, Pinewood, Ealing, Original, Acrylic, Artist, For Sale,Plymouth, Wartime, Blitz, St Andrew's, Post War, Modernism
All images and text on this site are © Dave Evans 2010 - 2014 unless otherwise stated.