'We are alive, therefore we will die.'1

76 Pages·2012·13.53 MB·English

'We are alive, therefore we will die.'1:
Death and Nature in the Art of Maggi Hambling

A Dissertation submitted in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of Bachelor of Arts (Hons)

Number of Words in Main Body of Dissertation: 7975

Isla MacLeod
Fine Art

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
The University of Dundee
Dundee, Scotland

January 2012

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Contents

Section Page

Acknowledgments………………………………………….…………………………i
List of Figures……………………………………………….………………………..ii
Preface…………………………………………………………………...……………v

Introduction…………………………………………………………………..………01
Chapter 1 – Absence and Presence………………………………..…………………03
Chapter 2 – The Sea………………………………………………………………….15
Chapter 3 – Love and Loss…………………………………………….…………….22
Chapter 4 – The Flip Side of the Coin…………………………………….…………31
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...………39

References………………………………………………………………………...…42
Appendices…………………………………………………………………………..51
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………62

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Maggi Hambling for generously giving her time to allow me to
interview her for this dissertation.

I would also like to thank The Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and
Design for awarding me the George Duncan of Drumfork Travel Scholarship, which
funded my trip to Aldeburgh to interview Maggi Hambling and visit her Scallop
sculpture on Aldeburgh beach. Without this valued support I would not have had the
opportunity to meet Hambling before writing my dissertation on her.

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List of Figures

Figure: 1.1
Page: 06
Artist: Damien Hirst
Name of Artwork (Year): The Physical Imposibility of Death in
the Mind of Someone Living (1992)
Image Source: Hirst, D., 2010. Cornucopia, Damien Hirst. London:
Other Criteria, P.5

Figure: 1.2
Page: 08
Artist: Jake and Dinos Chapman
Name of Artwork (Year): Fucking Hell (2008)
Image Source: The Scrapbook. Fucking Hell – Chapman Brothers
Return, 2008. [online]Available at:
<http://www.thescrapbook.info/fucking-hell-chapman-brothers-
return/2008/06/02/> [Accessed 6 December 2011]

Figure: 1.3
Page: 08
Artist: Jake and Dinos Chapman
Name of Artwork (Year): Fucking Hell detail (2008)
Image Source: Slash Art. Chapman Brothers, 2011. [online]
Available at: <http://doubleslashart.blogspot.com/2011/08/slashart-
8.html> [Accessed 6 December 2011]

Figure: 1.4
Page: 10
Artist: Mark Rothko
Name of Artwork (Year): The Seagram Murals (1958-9)
Image Source: Whalecrow. Rothko Seagram Murals, 2008. [online]
Available at: <http://www.whalecrow.co.uk/whalec/2008/02/03/rothko-
seagram-murals/> [Accessed 2 October 2011]

Figure: 1.5
Page: 11
Artist: Rembrandt Van Rijn
Name of Artwork (Year): Samson and Delilah (1628)
Image Source: Schama, S., 2006. Simon Schama’s Power of Art.
Frome, U.K: Butler and Tanner, P.137

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List of Figures
Figure: 1.6
Page: 13
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): 6th Bull (1987)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press, p.91

Figure: 2.1
Page: 17
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Wave Breaking, October (2005)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.230

Figure: 2.2
Page: 19
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Scallop (2003)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.203

Figure: 3.1
Page: 24
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Drowning Sunset (1988)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.110

Figure: 3.2
Page: 27
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Father in his Coffin, 27/1/98, III (1998)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.167

Figure: 3.3
Page: 28
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Father Laughing II (1998)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.172
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List of Figures

Figure: 4.1
Page: 33
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Cuddling Skulls (1995)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.144

Figure: 4.2
Page: 34
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Mexican Painting (1995)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.144

Figure: 4.3
Page: 35
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Double Portrait (2002)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.195

Figure: 4.4
Page: 36
Artist: Maggi Hambling
Name of Artwork (Year): Henrietta/North Sea Wave (2004/5)
Image Source: Hambling, M., 2006. Maggi Hambling The Works,
and Conversations with Andrew Lambirth. London: Unicorn Press,
p.217

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Preface

My studio practice in Fine Art has been predominantly inspired by the ideas expressed
in the novel Tuesdays with Morrie. My work aims to address mortality and convey it as
something rooted in nature, and as a natural part of life, whilst trying to separate death
from its stereotypical view of being morbid and creepy.

‘Learn how to die, and you learn how to live’,2is the key message conveyed in Mitch

Albom's book Tuesdays With Morrie. It is a deeply moving true-life account of Albom's
college professor, Morrie Schwartz, dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease. The story follows
Mitch as he reconnects with Morrie, 16 years after graduating, and reveals the lessons
on life and death that Morrie passes on.

Artist Maggi Hambling, who also expresses similar ideas through her art, has likewise
inspired a lot of my work this year. In this dissertation I have used quotes from the
novel to complement the text of each chapter, comparing Hambling’s views on life and
death with those of Morrie Schwartz, a man who is facing death. Although the novel is
essentially about a man dying, it is full of hope and love; Hambling’s art also addresses
death in a way that is celebratory of life.

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‘
Everyone knows they're going to die, but nobody believes it.
’
If we did, we would do things differently. 3

Introduction

'We are alive, therefore we will die.'4 Few people really accept this simple truth of our
existence, yet it is the most obvious connection between every human being. Regardless
of race, sex, age and wealth: no one is exempt. Generally, we live our day-to-day lives
as if we will live forever. Rarely do healthy human beings consider that death is not just
something that will happen in old age. People choose to ignore it because socially it is a
taboo subject: it is seen as depressing, morbid, scary and creepy. Subsequently we
devote much of our time and energy to obtaining things such as material possessions,
which cannot be taken with us in death, and lose sight of what is really important.
However there is a different approach to death, which may help us to live happier and
more fulfilling lives.

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Introduction

This dissertation aims to discuss the ways in which artist Maggi Hambling addresses
death in her work and how, through linking death with nature, Hambling might enable
her audience to better accept their mortality. Firstly it will look at why expressing life
and death in art is important to Maggi Hambling. It will explore the influences and
inspirations that have led Hambling to explore death and discuss how other artists also
deal with the subject. Secondly it will examine how Hambling uses the imagery of
nature in her work and how, through linking death and nature, it might help her viewer
better accept their own mortality. Thirdly it will discuss how Hambling’s art has helped
her to deal with the deaths of loved ones and how it might in turn help her audience to
overcome the grief that death causes. Finally, it will discuss the significant influence a
trip to Mexico had on Hambling’s work and how this influence has developed.

Hambling has been described as an artist always ‘concerned to address common
experience, and never one shy of confronting the human condition’.5 She believes
making art is ‘the only way to cope with life, death and all the tragedy’.6 This
dissertation aims to discover whether Hambling’s art can help us overcome our fear of
death and better accept its inevitability. Is there anything to be gained from facing death
the way Hambling does?

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