Sickert's "Mrs. Barrett"

[Sarah D]

I read somewhere (I can't really remember) that sickert's painting "Mrs. Barrett" was a window into MJK's apartment and that her body is in the background. I looked at the painting and it doesn't look like that.

I found this copy of the picture.




What do you think?

[Jenni Shelden]

i think that woman looks like Cornwell!

and i agree with you!

[Graham]

i think that woman looks like Cornwell!

and i agree with you!

She looks more like a young Princess Margaret, and that 'thing' or whatever it is in the background looks to me like a lobster.

I actually like Sickert's work, but since his association with JtR (all bollocks) I can't look at his paintings with an unbiased eye any more. Can I sue anyone for deprivation of appreciation of art?

Cheers,

Graham

[paul emmett]

It could well be a lobster--or a beaver: I can't make out the background so well. On the other hand, I do think that the necklace in the foreground is interesting.

[Limehouse]

Do you mean the reflection in the mirror? If so, if you look carefully above the white bits, you can make ou the shadow of a face. If you follow that down, the white bits look like someone getting into bed.

Lots of rubbish has been written about Sickert's paintings in relation to the murders. For example, his painting ENNUI has been 'read' as whole metaphor supporting the Royal Consiracy theory. Apparently, the decanter on the shelf is blood and the bird in the painting on the wall represents Gull!

If only therse people knew the meaning of the word Ennui, and understood a bit about Victorian women, they might not get such fanciful ideas!

[paul emmett]

Do you mean the reflection in the mirror? If so, if you look carefully above the white bits, you can make ou the shadow of a face. If you follow that down, the white bits look like someone getting into bed.

Hello, Limehouse.

I want to get all my disclaimers in first.
--I know that the parakeet in ENNUI isn't Gull, and I know Gull isn't JTR,or even part of JTR.
--I know that no Royals were part of the killings.
--I know Cornwall's book doesn't contain an iota of proof.
--I know LITLLE about Sickert, and have never seen him as JTR.
--I know one can focus on JTR without being JTR.
--I know I'm the one who said yesterday that it might have been a lobster or beaver in the mirror.

All that being said, Limehouse, I think you are right about the shadow of a face above the white bits. But I see the first white bits as legs, spread, crossed at the ankles, with knees extended. Above the white legs, I see dark spaces, kinda like MJK with the shadowy man behind her. Enough like MJK so that I think that Mrs Barrett might well be a word play on Mrs. Barnett by this artist who did do JTR'S BEDROOM. One letter.

What does that prove? Nothing--see above. But I find it an interesting study, and I would like to hear what Sickert proponents have to say.

And I still think the pearl choker is telling.

[Chris Scott]

The board below is worth a look

http://forums.newspeakdictionary.com/viewtopic.php?t=3695&sid=0c08087d28a9a23613bf7ebcf73d767a

This offers a detailed interpretation of what can be seen in the mirror

Chris

[paul emmett]

Thanks, Chris. More necklaces. I was reassured that her labelings were pretty much what I had seen too. So Mrs. Barrett is watching a murder which we, in turn, see reflected in a mirror over her shoulder?

[Limehouse]

That is someone's interpretation of what they think they can see which, to be frank, is no more valid than anyone elses interpretation.

The problem with that site is that it dwells only on Sickert's paintings of women. If you look at his other paintings, you see a sensitive and talented artist. Sickert was one of dozens of Victorian artists who painted nude women. It's only his alleged association with the Ripper killings that has made people start to read all sorts of things into them.

Re the painting Jack the Ripper's Bedroom. This painting was apparently painted and then re-named after Sickert had attended a dinner party during which one of the guests told him they thought they had rented a room to Jack the Ripper.

Sickert was certainly interested in the murders as were many artists, writers, social critics and and sorts of people from all sorts of life. Many highly unpleasnat events have prompted writers to put pen to paper and artists to put paint on their brushes.

Most relevant of all was the Victorian interest in the dark side, in Gothic and in tortured minds thus the age gave birth to novels such as Dracula and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

[BillyE]

I've seen the above painting, but I've always associated "Blackmail or Mrs. Barrett" as the painting of "Mary Kelly" according to Stephen Knight. Anyway, has anyone seen or have a jpeg of "Blackmail"? It's the one painting of Sickert's I can't find on the net.

[Limehouse]

After further research it appears that this portrait is not the only portrait of Mrs Barrett. The real Mrs Barrett was Sickert's charlady and she posed for several paintings, this being just one. If you can track down one of the other Mrs Barrett paintings you will find it is a harmless, rather charming portrait of a lady in a red blouse.

[Celesta]

This is the black and white sketch from the blog that Chris Scott linked us to. This looks like a mutilated face to me, but it also looks decayed. I have rotated it 90 degrees, so that the figure is lying, in the same position, as MJK's on her bed. I don't know when this drawing was done, or whether or not it was influenced by Picasso and his bunch. The tip of the woman's nose is chopped off.

Now, alternatively, this could be a study of a decayed body, perhaps. Or an anatomy study. It certainly is a dead person.

However the positioning of the hair is very like that of MJK to me, and absolutely the position of the head is.

[bolo]

Limehouse,

Yes, Sickert created several Mrs Barrett paintings. The most famous version is the one Steven Knight referred to in Final Solution, the revised 1984 hardcover ed. contains a b/w reproduction of the painting created in 1906 (pp. 154 - 155.). According to Knight and friends, it was a picture of Mary Kelly.

I recommend anyone interest in Sickert, his paintings and their "relevance" to the case to check out Wolf Vanderlinden's casebook dissertation The Art of Murder which can be found here: http://www.casebook.org/dissertation...tofmurder.html .

EDIT: I've googled a bit to find a picture of this particular version but could only find this:

http://books.google.de/books?id=4S5K_DSH4hgC&pg=PA320&lpg=PA320&dq=%22walter+sickert%22+%22mrs+barrett%22&source=web&ots=jRloI8phgG&sig=5bb5cq-CDmoJ8KmwVqgZ_8hEbNI&hl=de

It's a preview version of Wendy Baron's book Sickert: Paintings & Drawings (not dialup-friendly!).

[Sarah D]

This is the black and white sketch from the blog that Chris Scott linked us to. This looks like a mutilated face to me, but it also looks decayed. I have rotated it 90 degrees, so that the figure is lying, in the same position, as MJK's on her bed. I don't know when this drawing was done, or whether or not it was influenced by Picasso and his bunch. The tip of the woman's nose is chopped off.

Now, alternatively, this could be a study of a decayed body, perhaps. Or an anatomy study. It certainly is a dead person.

However the positioning of the hair is very like that of MJK to me, and absolutely the position of the head is.



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If you had read, it is actually the police sketch of MJK from the crime scene

[paul emmett]

That is someone's interpretation of what they think they can see which, to be frank, is no more valid than anyone elses interpretation.

Hello, Limehouse. While I do agree with the dark side of Victorian novelists, or Victorians themselves for that matter, I disagree with the above assertion. If I said I saw six Martians and a pink computer in "Mrs. B", I don't buy into the subjectivity that says my interpretation is just as valid as the rest of 'em. Proof must have something to do with it. And as I suggested above, I was happy that someone else had seen just what I saw. And, while not 100%, to me that seems like some kind of proof.

What do you make of the alternative title of BLACKMAIL?