Close-Up (Kiss), D.H. Lawrence Fine Art Postcard

Close-Up (Kiss), D.H. Lawrence. Oil on canvas, 45 x 37.5 cm. Before September 1928, Villa Mirenda, Tuscany, Italy. David Herbert Richards Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist and literary critic, best known for his novels Sons and Lovers, The Rainbow, Women in Love and Lady Chatterley's Lover. Within these Lawrence explored the possibilities for life and relationships of people living in an industrial setting. Though often classed as a realist, Lawrence's use of his characters can be better understood with reference to his philosophy. His use of (censored) activity, though shocking at the time, has its roots in his highly personal way of thinking. Lawrence was very interested in human touch behaviour and his interest in physical intimacy has its roots in a desire to restore an emphasis on the body, and re-balance it with what he perceived to be western civilisation's slow process of over-emphasis on the mind. Lawrence had a lifelong interest in painting, which became one of his main forms of expression in his last years. His paintings were exhibited at the Warren Gallery in London's Mayfair in 1929 with great controversy. The Daily Express claimed "Fight with an Amazon represents a hideous, bearded man holding a fair-haired woman in his lascivious grip while wolves with dripping jaws look on expectantly; this is frankly indecent", but several artists and art experts praised the paintings. Gwen John, reviewing the exhibition in Everyman, spoke of Lawrence's "stupendous gift of self-expression" and singled out The Finding of Moses, Red Willow Trees and Boccaccio Story as "pictures of real beauty and great vitality". Others singled out Contadini for special praise. After a complaint from a member of the public, the police seized thirteen of the twenty-five paintings on view (including Boccaccio Story and Contadini). Lawrence was able to recover his paintings only by undertaking never to exhibit them in England again. The largest collection of the paintings is now at La Fonda de Taos hotel in Taos, New Mexico. Several, including Boccaccio Story and Resurrection, are at the Humanities Research Centre of the University of Texas at Austin.