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Myth Mystery Mirth
Henry Clews had a troubled personality - he was unable and unwilling to satisfy the social expectations of his family. To pursue his artistic vision, he left behind his well-established social position in search of isolation, to iron out the confusion he felt toward the society into which he had been born and on which he relied for his plush existence. In 1914 he married Elsie Whelen (who also abandoned her socially prominent upbringing), renaming her Marie. Both had experienced previous troubled marriages. Together found true love, and with their son, Mancha, who was born while they were living in Paris, they moved to the small town of La Napoule, on the southern coast of France near Cannes. Throughout his life, Clews suffered periods of depression, but Marie was always at his side. He was well aware of his divided personality, evident in his triple busts of Christ, Mary Magdelen, and Satan, all possessing Clews’s profile, but his love for Marie and his idealistic world at La Napoule soothed his pain. Henry and Marie followed their passion and their infatuation with art, and they distanced themselves from the limited space granted an individual existing within society. They lived within a world created with their own hands, inscribing the words “Myth Mystery Mirth” at the entrance of the chateau at La Napoule, which they reconstructed between two Saracen towers. During his time in Paris and then in the secluded countryside, Clews developed his “humormystic” science and unleashed his creative expression. Lady Pouter Pigeon, one of his creations from this time, spans the period between the more realistic works showing the direct influence of Rodin and the later fantastical creatures and figures he created to embellish the capitals, archways, doors, and rooms of the chateau. Clews had the capacity to see, understand, and reproduce passion and love. He also had a grotesque alternate side that haunted him throughout his life, making him one of the most unusual and creative artists of all times, in my point of view.
Giancarlo Biagi
Sculpture Review Magazine
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