I spent Easter Monday at Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury. This has recently been revamped and extended with a grant from the National Lottery Fund. It has the most wonderful collection of portraits by Gainsborough and there was another exhibition of Philip de Lázló’s work, also exceptionally good. As my debut collection of poems, mainly responding to portraits, was recently longlisted by Cinnamon Press for their New Voices Award competition, it set me thinking more about what it is about portrait painting that is so interesting. 

The portrait may give clues about the person portrayed, through their dress or through the symbolism of items that are around them. What I find more fascinating is the inscrutability of the sitter. The observer has no idea what that person is thinking, where they have just come from or where they are going after their sitting. This allows space for the poet to invent stories, conversations, even arguments with the painter. I have been on a number of courses (including an excellent one with Live Canon) about ekphrastic poetry. I have also visited museums and art galleries with poets (Tamar Yoseloff and Sue Burge come to mind) as part of workshops with them. The interaction with art work I did not know, often inspired new poems. I tend to focus on visual arts including photography but  sometimes write about film and music. You can of course respond to any art form. I am also intrigued when an artist uses words into his art form.  Recently I went to a very interesting talk about Sir Grayson Perry who often includes text in his ceramics. 

Poetry may take a leap off from the art work to go to a very different place or drill down into the image to create new layers of meaning. A number of online publishers such as The Ekphrastic Review and Rattle champion ekphrastic poetry. If you are stuck for inspiration, have a look at art online! 

Here is an ekphrastic poem of mine, first published by The Arts Society, South East Suffolk: 

Fireworks                       
After Madame X (Madame Pierre Gautreau)  
by John Singer Sargent, 1884. 
 

A passionate red-head, her embers stoked,              
she’s moulded into a décolleté dress,                         
each curve accentuated, an hourglass in black. 
 

Lead-white skin, like the Virgin Queen, 
highlights the drama of her stance. Sargent 
had sought her out as a subject to paint, 
 

a society beauty notorious for rumoured lovers.                           
Featured in profile, hand grasping the table, 
her angled figure accentuates her shape 
 

but this firework set off in the salon’s show                                       
created a scandal, her bare flesh 
erotic, her dress at risk of falling down. 
 

As mentioned in my March diary blog, Katrina Naomi has just curated an art exhibition of Newlyn Society of Artist’s members’ works and read her commissioned poem to a full audience on 14 April in a stunning gallery at Treemenhere Sculpture Garden. It reminded me that I once curated an exhibition at the British Council’s offices in London – I responded to an invitation to a member of staff to do this and was lucky enough to be chosen. It meant going to the secret storage premises to look out paintings not normally on show, which was a real privilege. It was a very enjoyable task and also resulted in some poems in response. 

A reminder that there are still tickets for workshops and other events for the Festival of Suffolk Poetry 10/11 May – the first day being online and the second in Stowmarket. 

If you would like to contact me to comment or follow up, please send me and email via the contact box on my website. You can also contact me to buy a signed copy of my books Sleeping Under Clouds (Clayhanger Press) and A City Waking Up (Dempsey and Windle).