Jul 16, 2014
J - Howard Jacobson
J is set in the future, a world where the past is a dangerous country, not to be talked about or visited.
J is a love story of incomparable strangeness, both tender and terrifying.
David Hughes was commissioned to paint a large J...

J - Howard Jacobson

J is set in the future, a world where the past is a dangerous country, not to be talked about or visited.
 
J is a love story of incomparable strangeness, both tender and terrifying.
 
David Hughes was commissioned to paint a large J with two stripes of red to run across the spine of the letter. The J needed to fill the page. It needed to convey an underlying tension – to be dynamic with the energy seeping into the background.
 
Of course it wasn’t as straight forward as envisaged. Here are David’s comments on painting the J.
 
“After 8 attempts with ink and the like I slipped into my artist’s smock and beret, went over to the easel and with a sweep or two of the brush painted the letter J in black oil paint on lining paper (wallpaper). Voi-la`!  Much better to paint your masterpiece standing up…”

Published by Jonathan Cape in September 2014

About