On 25 June 2020, Chris Ruston read Hart Crane’s “At Melville’s Tomb” (1926). As the Covid pandemic swept over the UK and the world, Crane’s poem paced with her along the Thames Estuary at Southend-on-Sea, and the result was the four works below, now in the Books On Books Collection. The artist’s comments on the materials and techniques involved can be found here along with additional images of the works.
Often beneath the wave, wide from this ledge
The dice of drowned men’s bones he saw bequeath
An embassy. Their numbers as he watched,
Beat on the dusty shore and were obscured.
And wrecks passed without sound of bells,
The calyx of death’s bounty giving back
A scattered chapter, livid hieroglyph,
The portent wound in corridors of shells.
Then in the circuit calm of one vast coil,
Its lashings charmed and malice reconciled,
Frosted eyes there were that lifted altars;
And silent answers crept across the stars.
Compass, quadrant and sextant contrive
No farther tides … High in the azure steeps
Monody shall not wake the mariner.
This fabulous shadow only the sea keeps.
Hart Crane
Photo: © 2015 Janez Stare & Jure Pesko | All rights reserved
“Beneath the wave” (2020)
“Beneath the wave “: A response to “At Melville’s Tomb'” (Hart Crane) I (2020)
Chris Ruston
Accordion book with slipcase. Monoprint using found material. Acrylic paint, Sumi Ink, Fabriano Artistico paper, Metal Unryu Gold Paper, Tyvek, Greyboard. Slipcase: H155 x W112 x D30 mm. Accordion book: H149 x W105 x D25 mm (closed), W2515 mm (open). 24 panels. Unique. Acquired from the artist, 20 July 2022.
Photos: Books On Books Collection and courtesy of artist.
Books On Books 