Catalogue of an Exhibition of Paintings, Pastels, Drawings and Woodcuts illustrating Col. T.E. Lawrence's book "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". With prefaces by Bernard Shaw and T.E. Lawrence
London: Ernest Brown & Phillips for the Leicester Galleries, 1927. Small slim staple-bound pamphlet in original printed wrappers, 28 pp. and two photo plates. Wrappers previously split and now expertly repaired with Japanese tissue, externally a little browned, staple lightly rusted and a touch of foxing; overall very good condition. Third edition of the exhibition catalogue exhibiting the original artworks used in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the famous autobiography of Lawrence of Arabia. It followed the privately printed first edition of 1926 that was later re-issued by Jonathan Cape for sale to the public in 1935. The pastel portraits of British officers, Arab nobles and Bedouin who fought alongside Lawrence have been long regarded as pre-eminent examples of psychological portraiture.
The catalogue was issued by prestigious London based Leicester gallery, under the auspices of Cecil Phillips and Oliver Brown. The calibre of Leicester Galleries is evidenced by the advertisement on the rear wrapper for previous shows, including painting and sculptures by Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse, Degas, Gauguin and the like.
The present T.E. Lawrence exhibition, of which this catalogue is an extant record, featured original artworks by William Roberts, Eric Kennington, Augustus John, Henry Lamb, Paul Nash, R.M. Young, Cosmo Clark, Colin Gill and Frank Dobson. Two are illustrated in the catalogue with full-page photo plates – namely the famous bust of Lawrence by Kennington, and the pastel portrait of King Feysal by Augustus John. This is the second time the artworks were exhibited, O'Brien noting that this 1927 catalogue was preceded by a Leicester Galleries catalogue of 1921 (being the direct result of Lawrence commissioning Eric Kennington to travel to the Middle East to execute the portraits).
In his celebrated bibliography of Colonel Lawrence, Philip O'Brien notes there are three editions of this catalogue. This is an example of the third and final edition, stated on the front wrapper, and dated February 1927. The third edition of the catalogue is significant because the dagger and headband presented to Lawrence by King Hussein had been added to the exhibition by this stage, and are duly noted in the third edition, with the following explanatory note:
'The Dagger (Jambyyeh) and Head-band (Agal) were presented to T.E. Lawrence, in 1917, by King Hussein of the Hejaz. Lawrence was requested to wear them as an indication to the Arab Army that he was to be treated and obeyed as though he were a Sherif, but actually, on the field, Lawrence took care that a Sherif by birth should always, though often nominally, be in command. The Dagger was made out of one hundred and fifty gold sovereigns which were melted down for the purpose.'
The introductory text for this exhibition catalogue was provided by George Bernard Shaw, and the text by Colonel Lawrence was lifted from the 1921 commentary on Kennington's famous sculptured bust. O'Brien T.E. Lawrence, A Bibliography A032 (1921 catalogue); A099. Item #2339
Price (AUD): $1,000.00