A Jan Gordon Dazzle Ships Exhibition 1919

The Sketch of Wednesday 26 March 1919 makes mention of an exhibition of Jan Gordon's art works at the Little Art Rooms, Duke Street, London.

Marthe Troly-Curtin writes,

"I have an idea that many of the fancy costumes worn at the Razzle-Dazzle Ball on the 12th were inspired by the show of dazzle ships which Jan Gordon, Lieutenant R.N.V.R., is having at the Little Art Rooms in Duke Street. I searched there in vain for some works by Jo Gordon too, as generally Jan and Jo are as inseparable in art as they are in life but "Jo" explained quaintly to me that they are trying the experiment of being "cats that walk on their lone" as regards picture shows only!"

The exhibition of water colours ("War and Peace") she mentions was reported on by P.G. Konody (The Observer, March 16, page 9), Jan Gordon's mentor at "The Observer." Konody wrote:

"He, too, has been attracted by the witchery of the "Dazzleship" which seems to draw every painter - every painter, at least, who has as pronounced a feeling for definite form, effective pattern, and emphatic colour as Lieut. Gordon. When he recorded his impressions of Serbia, at the time when he was doing Red Cross service with the defeated Serbian armies, he embodied his love of definition and bright colour in a series of drawings, some of which figure in the present show. That his preoccupation with broad decorative effects does not preclude subtle observation of significant details is proved by such touches as the nervous action of the hand holding a cigarette in the character study, "Albanian Merchants in Scutari." "Serbian Retreat in the Ipek Pass" strikes a grim dramatic note. As far as his art is concerned Lieut. Gordon's trip to Serbia was an accident ; he is the last man to find it necessary to travel far afield in search of the picturesque. He finds it wherever he happens to be - in a "Cornish Garden" or "A Farmyard," and particularly in "Regent's Park."




References

- Jan Gordon: Dazzle Camouflage in Nature and War March 11, 2014
- Jan Gordon and the Dazzle-Painting of ShipsMarch 25, 2014
- "Dazzle-Painting in War-Time", May 18, 2014
- Jan Gordon and the "Dazzleship" at the Little Art Rooms, 1919March 06, 2015

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