savage messiah

When Jim Ede's biography of Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Savage Messiah, went out of print, Kettle's Yard and the Henry Moore Institute - which holds the original manuscript in its Leeds archive - joined forces to produce a new, expanded edition. Originally published in 1930 in 300 deluxe copies with the title A Life of Gaudier-Brzeska, a year later the 'popular' version, re-titled Savage Messiah, became a surprise bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. In the following decades the book, which played a major role in establishing Gaudier's reputation as a key figure of modern European sculpture, was reissued several times, and was also adapted for the big screen by Ken Russell in 1972.

Based mainly on Gaudier's correspondence with Sophie Brzeska and on her writings and journals, the book tells the story of the couple from their meeting in Paris in 1910 to the sculptor's death in the trenches in 1915, aged only 23. In compiling the book Ede used the materials available to him quite selectively, omitting for example extensive passages from the letters (often because too offensive or salacious) and later reducing the number of illustrations.

The new edition, curated by Sebastiano Barassi and Jon Wood and with contributions from Evelyn Silber, the foremost expert on Gaudier-Brzeska, presents for the first time an apparatus offering new readings of the book and framing it historically. In addition to the original text, it includes footnotes providing names and dates where these are now known and clarifying obscure references and passages; two essays exploring the genesis of the book, its critical reception and Ede's selective use of sources; three appendices with the passages omitted from the letters, a full list of sources and other unpublished material. The set of illustrations is significantly larger than in previous editions, resuming the selection devised by Ede for the deluxe version of 1930, which he considered 'the real book' mainly because of the quality of the images.

The publication was made possible by grants from the Henry Moore Foundation, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust.

Hardback, 320 pages, 245mm x 175mm, illustrations in b&w and 16 colour plates
ISBN 978-1-905462-34-6

price 19.95 UK pounds
friends price 16.95 UK pounds

plus postage and packing [all prices in UK pounds]
within UK +6.00
Europe +9.50
rest of world +16.90

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