Pauline Bewick’s visual translation, in eleven pieces, carries the mastery and the genius of The Midnight Court readily. Clearly, as an artist she is a disciple of Merriman and dogma holds no fear for her. She conveys the plots and the themes of the poem with all of the persuasiveness and conviction for which her art is known. Merriman, with his unique idiom, his mixture of mischief and mirth, naturally attracted her. Like Merriman, she has the ability to startle and to surprise, reflecting shade and emphasis to strike the poetic emotional experience of fear, sensuality, fantasy and the impish gaiety of life.
The geography of the poem, its inhabitants, their customs, charms and dwellings, the plants and animals are all to be found meshed with the double ironies characteristic of the Merriman genre. The wit of her line, the colour and abandon of her interpretation match Merriman’s play on words in that uniquely harlequin way.
Her visual translation of The Midnight Court shows Pauline Bewick in her most glorious form, eloquent and expansive.
It will recall to The Midnight Court a new jury and an even more extensive audience.
Limited edition set of 11 prints in leather bound presentation folder – € 4,000
Please find below images of Pauline Bewick’s visual translation of Brian Merriman’s epic 18th Century poem ‘The Midnight Court’.
Individual prints priced at €500 per print
Fedrigoni Tintoretto Neve 250gsm (acid free) paper Heidelberg DC 74 10 Colour (litho) Hostmann Steinberg (lightfast) Edition Limit: 250 Print Size 505mm x 590mm Bewick Seal Signed by Pauline Bewick
For often I walked by the curve of the river On the plains where the morning dew crystals the heather
Making for me on the rim of the bay A fiery brut in wild array
Sparking spectacular alight with flame Shimmering beauty with its doors ornate
Fixed in her stare with fire in her eye With temper and pain she began to cry
On the farmyard o’er I scattered seed And a cabbage beneath my head I’d leave
Fixed in her stare with fire in her eye With temper and pain she began to cry
Flat on the road and nothing to shield her With a mob from the bog and doorus around her
A pulp of a pup that you ever did see Healthy and hardy in every degree
Set free together, as nature ordained From loving and coupling, lets not be restrained
Put into action and fill us with glee The punishment set by the Queen of Craglee
Then I awoke from my dream and rubbed clear my eye And in one bounden leap, of my fear I was free