David Emery Gascoyne
(1916-2001), PoetSitter in 7 portraits
Gascoyne's first collection Roman Balcony and other Poems was published when he was sixteen. That same year he travelled to Paris, drawn to the avant-garde experimentation. In the late 1930s he abandoned surrealist prose after discovering the poems of Pierre Jean Jouve (1887-1976) and enjoyed critical success with works including 'Man's Life is this Meat' (1936) and 'Requiem' (1950). In the 1960s he suffered from depression and while a psychiatric patient Gascoyne met his future wife, Judy Lewis, who helped him recover from depression. In 1996 he was awarded the 'Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'.
by Matthew R. Lewis
vintage bromide print, 1989
NPG x136365
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