Observing the Mass Observers

Weather:  cloudy, possibility of rain

Penguins consumed:  none (ackkkk….)

Pavement Art:  no conclusions…yet

Today I finished up with the third and final box of papers in the Topic Collection ‘Art’…phew.  So I moved on to the ‘Former Mass Observers’ files, which has allowed me to access papers and correspondence related to the Observers themselves — Julian Trevelyan, William Coldstream, Humphrey Spender, and Humphrey Pease, amongst others.   I feel as though I’ve started in on an entirely new project and that there are still mountains of information left for me to access.  I guess a trip again next year is in order…

Some interesting things that I found out:  Tom Harrisson never published that planned book on art; Humphrey Pease was conscientious objector and an ornithologist (birds!)  who became involved in M-O during the war (taking over ‘the art bit’ from Julian Trevelyan…and one of the reasons he was so welcomed by the organization was because he was one of the few who had a car…a two-seater V8, no less); Humphrey Spender’s first exhibition of photographs in the US wasn’t until 1981 and he was awarded an honorary DLitt from the University of Sussex in 2000. 

Tomorrow:  more Mass Observers, a touch of Worktown, and my final goodbyes…sniff.

Advertisement