The Horse's Mouth
Book description
The Horse's Mouth, famously filmed with Alec Guinness in the central role, is a searing portrait of the artistic temperament.
Gulley Jimson is the charming, impoverished painter who cares little about the conventional values of his day. His unfailing belief that he must live and paint according to his intuition…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Horse's Mouth as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I was hungry for a great piece of comic writing when a friend handed me this book, and it delivered so much more than laughter.
Once I’d tuned in to the language, I ended up shambling through 30s London alongside impecunious painter Gulley Jimson. A humble man, driven by a holy need to make the sort of art which, it turns out, nobody wants, he encounters a world of squalor and beauty, both physical and moral.
I grew to love him and his daily observations on the play of weather and light on the Thames, which form a sort of…
From Gill's list on books for when life heads downhill.
Gulley Jimson is an unforgettable character that has stuck with me for over a half-century. Thief, con man, “dirty old man with his ignorant prejudices,” and self-proclaimed genius who hasn’t sold a painting in fifteen years, he opened my eyes to the beauty of the ordinary world. Constantly painting in his mind, imagining a painting by simply touching the canvas, he is fascinated by the light and color in all he sees. This loveable rogue, spouting the words and ideas of “Billy” Blake and Spinoza, connives to find a studio wall large enough for his sure-to-be masterpiece.
Read this book…
From Jeffrey's list on what to read when the museum is closed.
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