|
GARDENS OF UTOPIA
©Patricia Curtis
A text/song/film collage performance based on
the life of English model/muse/painter/poet Elizabeth
Siddal (1829-1862).
Drawing from the Pre-Raphaelite imagery and poetry as well as the
contemporary vision of Nature, the piece looks at the relationship
between ‘inscapes’, landscapes and the female quality.
Prologue:
Born in London, daughter of a cutler and small businessman from
Sheffield, Elizabeth Siddal started
to work as a milliner and dressmaker before modelling for the Pre-Raphaelite
Brotherhood (William Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett
Millais). In 1852, she studied informally with Rossetti; in 1855,
she received patronage from John Ruskin and in 1857, she started
to exhibit with drawings on literary subjects and self-portraits.
In 1860, at a time of sickness, she married Rossetti, settled with
him in London where she continued working. A stillborn daughter
in 1861 was followed by post-natal depression and death from a laudanum
overdose in 1862.
Rossetti, who had buried his wife with his manuscript of her favourite
poems from him, agreed to an exhumation six years later. Lizzie’s
grave was opened, the coffin lifted and the poems taken back and
published in 1870.
Although seemingly an ancillary figure in the history of art, Siddal found herself at the centre of
established Victorian views on femininity and sexual politics (views
which are still encountered today!) and emerged as a unique voice
as a female painter and poet of her time.
She cannot be reduced to the mythical image of a woman exploited
for her beauty and thus taking refuge in laudanum. She was a woman
who fearlessly orchestrated her life around a group of male artists,
choosing her own path. As a person and as an artist, she made no
mystery of her determination, her desire to be seen, heard, understood
while doing it her way.
Like Jan Marsh wrote in a study of her life, “She still has many
more lives to be told, for we look into the past as into a mirror,
to see ourselves”.
The story:
Despite having been often portrayed as a victim, Gardens
of Utopia proposes a different and positive image of Siddal’s
refined personality, mainly through her fantasy roles.
The piece explores the power of fascination as a creative force
and challenges the stereotypical understanding of creativity.
In this instance, not only did Siddal dream her life but she became
somebody else’s dream, and finally, she became the work of art itself.
Read an extract from the play
Download a promotional video of the play (14.5MB)
Download the video of 'Rhythms of Interference' (16.5MB)
Credits:
Text by Véronique 'Orange' Joly
Quotes from Millais, Rossetti and John Ruskin
Songs by Véronique 'Orange' Joly and Daniel Biro
Except first song & a cappella pieces: composition by Véronique 'Orange' Joly, words by A.S. Byatt by permission of the
Author (from “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s eye” Chatto & Windus,
1994/ “Elementals” Chatto & Windus, 1998/ “Babel Tower” Chatto & Windus,
1996)
Film by Patricia
Curtis (editing by Allen Charlton)
Live guitar soundscapes by Rob
Palmer
Directed by Stephen
Farrier
Photos of performance by Dejan Corovic
Performed at:
- Battersea Arts Centre, London, Wandsworth Arts Festival, 2000
- BBCA, Bournemouth Festival, Dorset, 2001
©Patricia Curtis
Read review from 'The Live Wire'
Should you share an interest in Elizabeth Siddal and the Pre-Raphaelites, and wish to exchange or discuss some information, please e-mail L'Orange at info@orangegardens.com.
|
