Inspiration & Childhood

Earlier this week I read a really great post by Jesse Paris Smith on how she is getting ready for the Lunar New Year, Happy Year of the Fire Horse. She talked about the preciousness of different objects - a book, a record etc., and how much they meant to her.

It got me thinking about a book, that I’ve had since childhood, that has been a lifelong inspiration and more recently a bit of an obsession. My mother found it at a thrift shop when I was a kid and my friends and I used it as our official “sacred book.” Just looking at it you can see what a great structure it has and what a wonderful object it is. I find that my interests of late have really been shifting to photography as object and storytelling.

Recently, I’ve been working on a fable (it’s more of an adult fable) and I can see the link to this childhood source. Beyond the storytelling, the artwork in this book is really magnificent. Originally, this was a play, first produced in Russia in 1908. Here’s a wonderful set of costume designs for that production. A few years later it came to London at the Haymarket Theater and Frederick Cayley Robinson did the poster, set and costume designs, as well as the illustrations for this book. Imagine my surprise, years ago, when I was seeing a play at the Haymarket and stumbled across the originals from this book! These reproductions don’t do the “real” color justice - but I still love them.

The book continues to be an inspiration for me: I love how Robinson designs the compositions - creating this inner framework that separates the interior and exterior spaces. I also love the cool tones against the warm and his use of light - so much so that I almost see these as photographs.

I’m wondering if there are precious objects that you have from childhood that, maybe you’ve forgotten about, but when you come across them, you see how their tendrils have worked their way into your practice?