An evening out - Savage Messiah was shown at the Hyde Park Cinema, to accompany an exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute.
Ken Russell himself was due to introduce the film, but sadly wasn't well enough to travel to Leeds: instead a colleague read his words, illustrated by wonderful photos of Ken smiling at us from his hospital bed.
Savage Messiah tells the story of the relationship between French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Polish novelist Sophie Brzeska. They were devoted to each other, but had a complex relationship; both experienced mental illness, and life wasn't easy for them. 2011 marks the centenary of Gaudier-Brzeska's arrival in London, where he lived for the last four years of his life. He was killed in the trenches in 1915. Ken Russell spoke of the affinity he felt with Gaudier-Brzeska, driven by art and struggling for recognition.
The film was rich, emotional, moving: he created amazing art, and his death such a waste.
There died a myriad,
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilization,
Charm, smiling at the good mouth,
Quick eyes gone under earth's lid,
For two gross of broken statues,
For a few thousand battered books.
- Ezra Pound
(The picture is Gaudier-Brzeska's self-portrait.)
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