From Dennis Creffield: Jerusalem, exhibition catalogue, James Hyman Gallery, 2011
ALTHOUGH I DIDN'T HAVE a religious upbringing I must have heard about Jerusalem at a young age – The Holy Land – Bethlehem – Christmas! But I have no conscious early interest in Jerusalem and was surprised to discover I had made a drawing in 1948 when I was seventeen of 'King David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant'. I cannot remember why I made this drawing but at the time I was studying with David Bomberg and the first Israeli Arab war was taking place, so there must have been much talk about it. It is also a wonderful subject to draw.
Over the years I have been fortunate to receive many commissions to do what I most love to do – draw places – houses, churches, cities: all the medieval cathedrals of England and northern France; the castles of Wales and the English marches; great buildings like Petworth, Ickworth, the library of Magdalene College, Cambridge; the Palace of Westminster and St Paul's together with atomic weapons laboratories, fortifications, lighthouses and windmills; industrial cities like Leeds and Halifax, great metropolises like London, New York and Hong Kong, even terrestrial Jerusalem! They were all difficult tasks which I survived and came home safely but nothing has been so difficult a venture as James Hyman's commission in May 2007 to draw Jerusalem/Blake.
The problem is that Jerusalem is more than a city, it is the spiritual home for Jews and Christians and a very important place to Muslims. It is both an actual place but also a part of their faith, imagination and dreams dreams of the past and even hopes of the future. Devout believers of the three religions are buried in the Kidron Valley which they believe will be the site of the Last Judgement. A mountain city founded by King David to house the Ark of the Covenant, twice totally destroyed and still at the centre of the confrontation between Israel and Palestine. For the ordinary Christian it is not only the place of Jesus' death and resurrection but also 'The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband' (Revelation 21:2).
Blake's vision of Jerusalem contains all of this but he presents it to us as the London of his time – a brutalised suffering city place – Albion/London. His imagery is personal and esoteric and difficult to understand but it is clear that the message of the poem is that we must all forgive and love each other – 'for all that lives is holy' – inextinguishable hope of a New Jerusalem.
In the end what I have taken from the work are some elemental gestures – "The Embrace of Mutual Love" – "Joy as Dance" and "The Posture of Prayer" – "Raised Arms in Praise" "Supplication" or "Thanksgiving" – inspired by plates 32, 92, 97 and 99 (Jerusalem, WB).
At the beginning of the work I bought Blake's life cast from the National Portrait Gallery and brought it home as a reminder of the man rather than as an object to draw. As it turned out it became my main channel of communication and inspiration with him. In opening myself to its presence on a daily basis I entered into his imaginings by working as he did – unconsciously.
James Hyman 'showed' me to Jerusalem; commissioned this Jerusalem and conceived this book of Jerusalem. I thank him with all my heart for this great venture.
Representatives of 'The People of the Book' – we made this book together.
Dennis Creffield
Brighton, August 2011