Fionn Wilson

I was commissioned by Wetherspoon in August last year to paint three portraits of poet Stevie Smith, who lived locally in Palmers Green, North London. They are now at The Alfred Herring pub, down the road from me on Green Lanes. I was asked to do some writing, which appears alongside the paintings. It was slightly edited by Wetherspoon but the original text is as below:

‘The poet and novelist Stevie Smith lived in Palmers Green for almost all her life, having moved here from Hull when she was three-years old. Despite the success of her work, she stands alone and she remains very much an ‘outsider’ poet. Critics have noted that she belongs to no school, no poetic movement and cannot be compared to any of her contemporaries. She is also considered by some to be one of the most distinctive and individual poets of the 20th century.

Sadly, there is very little visual acknowledgment of her life here in Palmers Green. I decided I wanted to paint her and I was delighted when Wetherspoon agreed to commission some portraits of Stevie for The Alfred Herring, which is just down the road from where she lived at Avondale Road. Stevie loved Palmers Green and particularly enjoyed walking in Grovelands Park, where many photos of her were taken. I’ve painted her there, based on an image from 1954. She was 52, around the same age I am now.

I’ve also painted two portraits of Stevie from stills from a BBC interview in 1965. Watching and listening to her I was struck by her enquiring mind, her intensity, her stoicism and her humour. The interview gives a sense of the disquieting and determined investigation of cruelty, despair and existential loneliness which is at the heart of much of her work.

What interests me about Stevie is that she is a poet of the suburbs and also a rebel. She admitted to a general dislike of poetry and her life was viewed by many as eccentric. She wrote about the big themes: death, which she called her ‘gentle friend’ and God and religion but she also wrote about the light of pink sunsets falling on suburban houses. If you read her writing about the area, she will feel very close to you as you walk around the streets of Palmers Green.

I think we should celebrate our poets. I agree with filmmaker Jonas Mekas who says: “In the very end, civilisations perish because they listen to their politicians and not to their poets.”

I’m a figurative painter, originally from South Shields, and have lived locally since 2009 — firstly in Southgate before moving to Palmers Green. I mostly paint landscapes and portraits and I like to feel my way to a subject — this is the most important thing to me.’

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