Not light reading, but an absorbing biography, 30 Jan 2005

By	Budge Burgess (Kilmarnock, Scotland) - See all my reviews

Matthew Sturgis inevitably refutes Cornwell's poor scholarship and misguided accusations, pointing out quite clearly why she was so seriously mistaken. Sickert emerges as a sexually active and promiscuous individual whose libido may have earned him a certain notoriety in polite, Victorian circles, but which nowhere even touches on the perversity and derangement of a serial killer.

Sickert was the son of an unremarkable artist who scraped a poor living with his painting. He, himself, was slow to blossom. Influenced by Whistler and Degas, for much of his life he was significant not for the work he produced, but for the people he knew. His talents don't bloom until he's into his thirties. He gets more interesting the older he becomes ... he seems to become his own artistic achievement, consciously painting images of himself which scandalise or arouse the attention of his social milieu.

Yet his art is worthy of study and admiration. He taken the ordinary, the everyday; he celebrates working women and working class life, helping democratise art and free it from the stuffy middle class salon image. Sickert exposes the exclusivity and pretensions of many of his contemporaries, and his work - often bleak, often with a 'noir' quality - is worthy of more attention than it has received in recent decades.

Overall, a fine, well-researched biography which will interest many because of the Ripper allegations. If there is one criticism, however, it is the length. Be advised, this is not light reading. It is, however, a narrative which will keep you absorbed.

 Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)