Sickert student

[joesheehan]

I am an art student in Hull about to complete my degree. I have always been intrigued by Walter Sickert. His life and the myths that surround it have informed much of the work I have done on my current course. I am currently making a stop motion animation exploring aspects of the Camden town murders and Sickert's subsequent paintings. I do not believe that he was Jack the Ripper but discovered something in one of the Camden paintings ( in mind of his mischievous nature and interest in the Ripper.) that caught my eye. If the painting What Shall we do for the Rent is turned upside down I believe that there are hints of a Jack the Ripper signature beginning with a large J at the join between the womans arm and breast. The curve of the breast being the curve of the J and the line of the arm being the horizontal top of the J. Again I want to stress that I do not think he is any way the Ripper and that in any other painting by a different artist this might seem like a coincidence. But in context with Sickert's known fascination with the case, his playful titling of paintings ...

[joesheehan]

Sickert student (cont)

.... the fact that the paintings are based on murder and the whole Cornwell thing I thought that there might be something in this? Probably best to view this in a decent Sickert book as the internet versions are not of decent quality. Just to clarify the signature starts with the J and runs horizontally under the woman's arm.

[revpetero]

[Sam Flynn]

If the painting What Shall we do for the Rent is turned upside down I believe that there are hints of a Jack the Ripper signature beginning with a large J at the join between the womans arm and breast. The curve of the breast being the curve of the J and the line of the arm being the horizontal top of the J.

Hi Joe,

Sickert's style is such that one could see any number of different shapes there:



I certainly can't make out the "Ripper's J" specifically - although I daresay I could if I tried

[revpetero]

Not to sound to down on the subject but a straight arm on top of a curved breast will almost always somehow resemble a letter J with it being a curve with a straight line above it.

It is like saying in the same said picture that the way the man is holding his hands together his arms create the letter U or V. But those letters aren't significant so don't matter.

Peter

[joesheehan]

Sickert student - Peter

I know that you could pretty much find letters anywhere in most paintings and I am aware that this 'signature' is not exactly clear. It just seemed that taken in context with who the artist is, the subject matter and his associations with the case it might be worth a look. My tutor could not see anything in it at all when I showed him so I am aware that I might be seeing things. Perhaps it is seen better from a distance? I seem to see the forms of the words that way. I dont know? It is interesting to here your views though

[revpetero]

That's why i put the two versions of the picture on. So people can have a look. I know these aren't the best quality but who knows what others will see.

I think I can see what you see as a J but I think that is just the shape of the figure and not much else.

Not at all discrediting what you see, just expressing my own view.

Ta Muchness

Peter

[Limehouse]

Look at the painting, look at the man, think about the context and consider the following.

Reading one
The couple are poor and their rent is in arrears. The couple discuss the possibility of prostitution (or perhaps the woman becoming an artist's model??) to relieve their financial difficulties. This decision causes the man despair and the woman shame and she turns her head away from the gaze the audience. Sickert is perhaps making a comment about poverty and its consequences.

reading two
The couple are poor and their rent is in arrears. The couple discuss the possibility of prostitution (or perhaps the woman becoming an artist's model??) to relieve their financial difficulties. The woman takes a client back to their room when the man is at work and this results in her murder. The man sits beside his dead partner in despair. Sickert is perhaps making a comment about poverty and its consequences.

As revpetero ponts out, most women's anatomy would form a 'J' if you look at it from that angle.

Good luck with your degree. I hope you looked at a wide range of Sickert's work and appreciated its sensitivity and celebration of people from many walks of life.

Limehouse

[joesheehan]

Limehouse

Hi Limehouse. Thanks for the good wishes with my degree. I need it!
You could probably add another 100 different readings of Sickert's work to that list! My 3rd year work has been underpinned by an interest in myth and how it develops. The ambiguity and suggestive nature of Sickert's work at this period are the qualities that inspired me to base my animation around those paintings. Mythology seems to thrive in these grey areas and the spaces between and Sickert's 'Domestic Theatre' is ripe with subtext and implication. However I do still have an appreciation of his work from other periods and consider his 'Echoes' and use of press photography in later life particularly relevant to artists of today.

[Limehouse]

Hi Joe,

From what you have described, you have a deep understanding of Sickert's work and will, I am sure, get a very good degree. Sickert was a very good choice to study. His work does, indeed, have many ambiguities and subtexts that speak volumes about the time they were painted in and the movement in art away from subjectivity to objectivity.

Once again, good luck.

[Mike Covell]

A fellow Hull dweller eh?

One of the sparks that re-ignited my passion was the fact that many of the Hull Museum Staff would refer to Sickert's works in Ferens Art Gallery as "Jack the Ripper's Paintings"!

I have studied the Camden Town works and think they are a very strange collection of works, but am not sure of him being the ripper.