Michael Glover at The Independent coolly reviews the exhibition "Sylvia Plath: Her Drawings" which is now on at the Mayor Gallery in London. The subtitle to the review, "Plath the tortured poet's pictures are too polite to be a big draw" says all you'll need to read... But he just does not get it. Or, at least he does not get Plath.
Glover asks, "What we really want to know about this exhibition is this: how does it connect with the rest of her tragic life? Are these drawings pent, febrile and tortured in the way that many of the greatest of the poems are pent, febrile and tortured? Have the things that she is drawing – flowers, animals, bottles, trees – been turned into terrible symbols of themselves?"
Several of the drawings in the exhibit show a duplicitous or two-sided curiosity in objects, which directly relates to a large theme in Plath's writings. There are two drawings of the "Pleasures of Odds and Ends"; two of horse chestnuts (or conkers). There are two bulls, two stoves. Even two shoes in the same composition from different angles. Five sketches and drawings of boats. Plath's speaker in "Death & Co." states right from the start: "Two, of course there are two." That Glover fails to see this aspect in the drawings is an oversight of which perhaps he might be forgiven as he's clearly not really up on his Plath. Plath's pen and ink drawings are every bit as inquisitive as the speaker of "The Applicant." Her selectivity of inspiration now on exhibit does indeed ask, "First, are you our sort of person?" But for person substitute in "subject." Her eye for detail direct relates to the fitting out of a spouse:
"Do you wear
A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch,
A brace or a hook,
Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch,
Stitches to show something's missing? No, no? Then
How can we give you a thing?
Stop crying.
Open your hand.
Empty? Empty. Here is a hand
To fill it and willing
To bring teacups..."
These images all could have easily fit into her drawings (a kettle actually did)... I ask Glover, Why do we want to focus on the tragedy of her life? What does that accomplish? This exhibit is an appreciation of her life & some of the things she created: something into which she put, temporarily, all of her heart and soul and concentration. Call me Captain Obvious, but Sylvia Plath's death was tragic. Not her life.
Glover asks, "What we really want to know about this exhibition is this: how does it connect with the rest of her tragic life? Are these drawings pent, febrile and tortured in the way that many of the greatest of the poems are pent, febrile and tortured? Have the things that she is drawing – flowers, animals, bottles, trees – been turned into terrible symbols of themselves?"
Several of the drawings in the exhibit show a duplicitous or two-sided curiosity in objects, which directly relates to a large theme in Plath's writings. There are two drawings of the "Pleasures of Odds and Ends"; two of horse chestnuts (or conkers). There are two bulls, two stoves. Even two shoes in the same composition from different angles. Five sketches and drawings of boats. Plath's speaker in "Death & Co." states right from the start: "Two, of course there are two." That Glover fails to see this aspect in the drawings is an oversight of which perhaps he might be forgiven as he's clearly not really up on his Plath. Plath's pen and ink drawings are every bit as inquisitive as the speaker of "The Applicant." Her selectivity of inspiration now on exhibit does indeed ask, "First, are you our sort of person?" But for person substitute in "subject." Her eye for detail direct relates to the fitting out of a spouse:
"Do you wear
A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch,
A brace or a hook,
Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch,
Stitches to show something's missing? No, no? Then
How can we give you a thing?
Stop crying.
Open your hand.
Empty? Empty. Here is a hand
To fill it and willing
To bring teacups..."
These images all could have easily fit into her drawings (a kettle actually did)... I ask Glover, Why do we want to focus on the tragedy of her life? What does that accomplish? This exhibit is an appreciation of her life & some of the things she created: something into which she put, temporarily, all of her heart and soul and concentration. Call me Captain Obvious, but Sylvia Plath's death was tragic. Not her life.