1 November 2000

Three books by Tom: one just out, one published 11 years ago, one 30 years ago. In each case, the publication is merely a signpost on the path of a project. Each title grew from disciplines and practices Tom began in the 1950's and 60's: drawing and painting, book making, and postcard collecting.

Simon Callow offers a caveat in his review of The Postcard Century (2000), "Beware -- open it at any page and you will be there for the duration". The same is true of this month's other titles, A Humument (1970), and Tom Phillips: The Portrait Works (1989).

This convergence of multi-decade publications is a pleasant tonic for me in crisp autumn. It puts me in mind of the creative deliberacy that marks Tom's life in art. The passing years came to mind last weekend as I traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to have a look at some Tom things in Harvard's Houghton Library that I hadn't seen since 1995. Two years earlier, I met Tom during his 1993 residency in the University's Carpenter Visual Arts Center. In two weeks he took control of that Corbusier-designed building, enlivened the spirits and energies of the dozens of staff, faculty, students, and art lovers who assisted him, and produced an artists book called, Merely Connect: A Questschrift for Salman Rushdie, marking the fifth year of the fatwa.

What a pleasure to see those pages again in Houghton's copy! The years peeled away like wet paper off an intaglio plate. I remembered the small army assembled by General Tom, each member engaged in their part of the campaign. One fellow seemed intent on filming everything; the ubiquitous lens presaged the late 90's trend of reality TV. The work steamed along at a mighty pitch, but a party always seemed ready to break out. On a few occasions it did. A marriage of Kelmscott and Mardi Gras. The Corbusier fortress on Quincey Street was transformed for a fortnight.

As I left the Houghton last Saturday I caught a glimpse of the Carpenter Center. Would it ever see such times again? Apparently so. Coincidence is a key player in Tom's work, so I shouldn't have been surprised when I passed the newsstand and saw the current issue of the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS. The U.S. tabloid that reports on aliens, prophecies, and satanic toasters, had the headline, "Bubble Boy To Attend Harvard", about an immune-deficient adolescent who lives in a germ-free inflatable suit becoming an ivy-leaguer.

I mention this not because I, Tom, or anyone else were analogous bubble boys in 1993. I mention it because the story had a two-page spread of the Carpenter Center. A peculiar choice, considering the archetypical architecture of Memorial Chapel, Saunders Theater, Lowell House, and others.

Simon's warning is apt -- Tom's work pulls you in, then makes a treasure-hunt of the world outside. His warning also leans toward encouragement rather than discouragement. Ignore it at your own delight.

JOHN NICK PULL, editor.

Recent Updates

Portraits

The 1989 NPG Catalogue

Essays & Exhibitions

The Postcard Century (London, 2000)
Wish You Were Here by Simon Callow
30 images from the first printing of A Humument