The Restless Wave: My Two Lives with John Bellany

by Helen Bellany

Helen Bellany, twice married to the artist John Bellany, recalls their lives together in Scotland, London, and Italy, John’s rise from rebellious art student to internationally recognised artist, and the human cost inherent in creating great art. Inspired by the sea and the fishing community he was born into, John began his lifelong visionary journey exploring the human condition. From there, he deepened into a profound exploration of the human condition. The Restless Wave reflects the mystery, poetry and passion that was at the core of the inner life John and Helen shared. The couple had great friendships with such fellow artists as David Bowie, and John painted such internationally known figures as Billy Connelly, Sean Connery and Peter Maxwell Davis, as well as many portraits of his muse, Helen.

464 pages, Hardcover

Published April 19, 2018

Reviews

[ProofProfessor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very good book: informative, honest, revealing and moving. It manages to balance Helen Bellany’s personal viewpoint and feelings with a vivid picture of John Bellany, the man and his art, and the broader art world. The tone is confidential and the style elegant yet powerfully withheld.
However, the book is spoiled by a far too high level of typos and grammatical issues (including 3 mistakes alone on the dustwrapper). It is very surprising and far from ideal that so many names of Scottish places and well-known artists - ‘Sandy Moffatt’ (photo 2), ‘Durer’ (p.45) and ‘Breughel’ (p.81), for example, are all incorrect - are reproduced wrongly throughout. This, I feel (and many will agree with me), is the responsibility of the publisher/editor. A beautiful (printing, paper, design, writing) and not inexpensive (£19.99) book of this quality deserves better than the 120+ typos it includes.

[Alan Fitzgerald-Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight to the personal life of John Bellany from a (very often overstated) loving wife and indeed carer. She loved him so much she married him twice. A rags to riches story from a council house in Port Seaton to owning houses in London, the Home Counties and Italy. However, it is his steadfast and indefatigable urge to create large scale paintings - wonderfully colourful, vibrant and full of symbolism (from his heroes Ensor, Kokoshka, Goya plus his luxuriously lavish holidays with friends exploring Mexico, China) that marks him out as someone special. The epitome of the artist whose studio space was more important than his family having hot water - actually more important than family full stop. He was single-minded but also self-serving. I’ve loved his work from when I first saw it in Edinburgh in the early 80’s and in Beaux Arts in London throughout the past 30 years. What surprised me the most was the night-time torments he suffered from.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is essentially a memoir of Helen’s turbulent life with her husband, artist (and Edinburgh College of Art alumnus) John Bellany. She traces events from her starting her degree at ECA (where she met John), through to John’s death – a path which has been far from smooth. She writes about the births of her three children, the souring of her marriage to John and their eventual divorce, John’s re-marriage, John’s alcoholism and subsequent liver failure, John’s divorcing of his second wife, and her own re-marriage to John again. In sections, there are plates of John’s paintings as well as family photographs – one of which features John and Helen sitting with David Bowie, a long-time fan of John’s work.

[Taff Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A biography that ought to be much better known, told by Bellany’s wife - an extraordinarily constant, devoted, self-sacrificing partner whose enduring love for her husband enabled her to forgive and to overlook all of this mountainous figure’s shortcomings. Her story is remarkable and often desperate, with the Bellanys’ fortunes plumbing the bleakest depths before soaring to a glorious renaissance. John Bellany was a great painter but it is Helen who is the true luminary here.

[JC Bush · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to get some insight into being a famous artist in Scotland. I was never a great fan of John Bellany but was intrigued how he developed as an artist. An interesting read.