Artwork Title: Samuel Beckett

Samuel Beckett, 1984

Tom Phillips

This appeared in The Review of Contemporary Fiction (USA, Summer 1987 Vol VII No. 2) and was asked for by its guest editor Nick Zurbrugg for a Samuel Beckett Number. It was accompanied in the review by reproductions from the sketchbook I used when drawing Beckett. I made from these drawings 2 lithographs, one in color, and an oil painting (Marcus Collection, New York). I reprint the text unchanged except for the restored spelling of 'theatre' which the journal had corrected to 'theater'. My studio wall takes its motto from a recent work (Worstward Ho) by Samuel Beckett. Together with another similarly spare piece of advice, taken from an interview with Marlene Dietrich ('Es geht auch ohne'), stand the words, 'No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.' I've known Beckett's work for 30 years or so, since the first London production of Waiting for Godot, mainly on the stage and (almost by preference) on the... (http://www.tomphillips.co.uk/works/portraits/item/5434-samuel-beckett)
Uploaded on Jul 27, 2013 by Martha Schulman

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