Sylvia Plath: Drawings

Summary (from the publisher): In 1956 Sylvia Plath wrote to her mother, Aurelia Plath: 'I feel I'm developing a kind of primitive style of my own which I am very fond of. Wait til you see. The Cambridge sketch was nothing compared to these.'

Sylvia Plath cited art as her deepest source of inspiration but, while her poetry is celebrated around the world, her drawings are little known. This volume brings together drawings from 1955 to 1957, the period she spent on a Fulbright scholarship from the US at Newnham College, Cambridge. During this time she married Ted Hughes and travelled with him to Paris and Spain.

First published as a catalogue for an exhibition at the Mayor Gallery, the tiny drawings in pen and ink are exquisitely observed. They include Parisian rooftops, trees and churches.

Review: I received a copy of this book from HarperCollins. 

Sylvia Plath is well known for her writing, but few (including me) have seen her drawings. With an introduction written by her daughter, Frieda Hughes, this book couples excerpts from Sylvia's private journals and letters where she describes her drawings followed by her drawings themselves. It is a visual look into what Sylvia Plath was seeing and focusing on in the world around her, when her pen formed images rather than words. 

Sylvia wrote in her journal while in college that she had "'dreams of grandeur' in hoping that he New Yorker might use her illustrations alongside her written work" (vi). Sylvia also said about drawing, "it gives me such a sense of peace to draw; more than prayer, walks, anything. I can close myself completely in the line, lose myself in it" (3). Sylvia Plath was obviously talented in more ways than one, and I think she would be pleased to see her drawings finally getting the attention that her writing has long received.

Sylvia drew buildings, willows, horse chestnuts, umbrellas, purple thistles, meadow-flowers, bulls, tea kettles, and shoes. Most of her drawings are in pen and ink on paper. Like her promise as a writer, I wonder what her artwork could have become had her life not been cut tragically short.

Stars: 3