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Lot Essay
At the turn of the twentieth-century it was common for an artist to make his name with a controversial classical, historical or modern 'problem' picture, before developing a career as a portraitist (see R. Gibson, Glyn Philpot, 1884-1937, 1984 (exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery, London); J.G.P. Delaney, Glyn Philpot, His Life and Art, 1999 (Ashgate)). In the precocious Glyn Philpot's case however, the formula worked in reverse. Visits to Madrid to study the Spanish masters conditioned his approach, and showing at portrait painters' exhibitions, he quickly established a reputation that, with the patronage of the Mond and Packe families, enabled him to branch out into more challenging Symbolist subject matter. Technically and thematically, his early forays were influenced by Charles Ricketts, Charles Haslewood Shannon and especially, Charles Sims, before they leapt forward to the muscular classicism of Melampus and the Centaur, 1919 (fig. 1, Glasgow Museums) and Journey of the Spirit, 1921 (Brighton Art Gallery).
This appeared to breathe new life into the stale Victorian view of the ancients, associated with Alma Tadema and John William Godward. A few years later, with the present picture of Dionysus, Philpot played up the homoerotic in his depiction of male bodies. Clearly he was aware of the effeminacy of the young god's upbringing, nurtured by nymphs on Mount Nysa. On its slopes, Dionysus had invented wine and was tasked with spreading the knowledge of viticulture throughout the world. At Icaria, en route to Naxos, he was duped by sailors who turned out to be Tyrrhenian pirates, and who set sail for Asia intending to sell him as a slave. Realizing he had been captured 'the wild-eyed god raises his arm in exercise of his power', and the ship stopped; a vine entwined the mast; the oars became serpents and wine washed over the decks (Delaney, 1999, p. 88). Dionysus transformed himself into a lion and in terror the sailors leapt into the sea where they were changed into dolphins (R. Graves, The Greek Myths, vol. 1, London, 1955, p. 106).
Beneath its mythical theme the work betrays Philpot's engagement with his close circle of male models. These were Clement Cross, his brother-in-law, Leslie 'Anzy' Wylde and George Bridgman (Gibson, nos. 81, 82 and 88). The latter model, a ne'r-do-well who Philpot kept as a 'retainer' on a salary of £1 a week, posed for the figure of Dionysus. While none of the extensive collection of drawings in the Courtauld Institute can be explicitly matched with the present work, at least one Study of a male torso indicates a raised right forearm, similar to that in the present picture (Courtauld Institute of Art, D.1962.GC.391). A further drawing (Head of a Young Man, (George Bridgman), c. 1919, private collection) accentuates the sensuality of features which according to George Sheringham contained a 'subtlety and psychology...[that] baffles our analysis' (G. Sheringham, 'Glyn Philpot: Master Craftsman', The Studio, vol LXXXVIII, 1924, p. 4).
Although not explicitly sexual, Delaney adds, '...it is tempting to think that [the present picture] reflects the growing power that his own sexuality and these young men were gaining over him' (Delaney, 1999, p. 95. As Delaney notes, Bridgman acted as an occasional model from 1912 up to the year of Philpot's death). At this point however, Philpot remained a 'master craftsman' in the traditional sense. 'Blasted' by Wyndham Lewis, with his Academy pictures of 1924 he remained the darling of the anti-modernists. Resting Acrobats (Leeds City Art Galleries) which accompanied Dionysus in the exhibition, confirms this stance. It was of course to be radically transformed a few years later when Philpot, following Sims, controversially converted to Modernism, but in the remarkable composition of Dionysus transforming the Tyrrhenian pirates, the foundations of Philpot's naturalism begin to shudder (H. Furst, 'Art News and Notes', Apollo, vol. 16, 1932, p 42).
KMc.
This appeared to breathe new life into the stale Victorian view of the ancients, associated with Alma Tadema and John William Godward. A few years later, with the present picture of Dionysus, Philpot played up the homoerotic in his depiction of male bodies. Clearly he was aware of the effeminacy of the young god's upbringing, nurtured by nymphs on Mount Nysa. On its slopes, Dionysus had invented wine and was tasked with spreading the knowledge of viticulture throughout the world. At Icaria, en route to Naxos, he was duped by sailors who turned out to be Tyrrhenian pirates, and who set sail for Asia intending to sell him as a slave. Realizing he had been captured 'the wild-eyed god raises his arm in exercise of his power', and the ship stopped; a vine entwined the mast; the oars became serpents and wine washed over the decks (Delaney, 1999, p. 88). Dionysus transformed himself into a lion and in terror the sailors leapt into the sea where they were changed into dolphins (R. Graves, The Greek Myths, vol. 1, London, 1955, p. 106).
Beneath its mythical theme the work betrays Philpot's engagement with his close circle of male models. These were Clement Cross, his brother-in-law, Leslie 'Anzy' Wylde and George Bridgman (Gibson, nos. 81, 82 and 88). The latter model, a ne'r-do-well who Philpot kept as a 'retainer' on a salary of £1 a week, posed for the figure of Dionysus. While none of the extensive collection of drawings in the Courtauld Institute can be explicitly matched with the present work, at least one Study of a male torso indicates a raised right forearm, similar to that in the present picture (Courtauld Institute of Art, D.1962.GC.391). A further drawing (Head of a Young Man, (George Bridgman), c. 1919, private collection) accentuates the sensuality of features which according to George Sheringham contained a 'subtlety and psychology...[that] baffles our analysis' (G. Sheringham, 'Glyn Philpot: Master Craftsman', The Studio, vol LXXXVIII, 1924, p. 4).
Although not explicitly sexual, Delaney adds, '...it is tempting to think that [the present picture] reflects the growing power that his own sexuality and these young men were gaining over him' (Delaney, 1999, p. 95. As Delaney notes, Bridgman acted as an occasional model from 1912 up to the year of Philpot's death). At this point however, Philpot remained a 'master craftsman' in the traditional sense. 'Blasted' by Wyndham Lewis, with his Academy pictures of 1924 he remained the darling of the anti-modernists. Resting Acrobats (Leeds City Art Galleries) which accompanied Dionysus in the exhibition, confirms this stance. It was of course to be radically transformed a few years later when Philpot, following Sims, controversially converted to Modernism, but in the remarkable composition of Dionysus transforming the Tyrrhenian pirates, the foundations of Philpot's naturalism begin to shudder (H. Furst, 'Art News and Notes', Apollo, vol. 16, 1932, p 42).
KMc.