Derek Jarman’s Sketchbooks

In the foreword to this exquisitely executed book, actress Tilda Swinton describes the sketchbook for Jarman’s film Caravaggio as “a movable brainbox: littered with painted and drawn images, snatches of dialogue, scored revisions, the typed pages of his latest screenplay draft, filigreed with the henna-like pattern of his… hieroglyphic handwriting. Part talisman, part private confessional, wholly unmediated raw dreamscape, reliable invisible friend and booster jet.” Voluptuous works of art in themselves, these sketchbooks, taken from handmade books the filmmaker gave to the British Film Institute before his death in 1994, blend the written and visual, revealing the inner workings of the creative process and Jarman’s evolution as a filmmaker, artist, and gardener. Editors Farthing and Webb-Ingall, a painter and film producer, respectively, say they are “like grimoires—books of magic and spells.” However, these sketchbooks are also “experimental, ritualistic recipe books... [acting] as portable studios and storage spaces.” Chapter introductions by Jon Savage, Andrew Logan, Toyah Willcox, Christopher Hobbs, James Mackay, Howard Sooley, and Neil Tennant, and especially the captions and epitaph by Jarman’s partner, Keith Collins, enrich the pages, evoking the turbulent times through which Jarman created, and tenderly reminiscing on his extravagance, brilliance, kindness, and commitment to a life of art. 196 illus. (Oct.)