Left: Sir Roland Penrose in front of IL Grande Metafisico.

The photo was taken during his visit to my Portsmouth studio in 1982. It was an honour to welcome him and discuss with him his first hand knowledge of Giorgio de Chirico's paintings. The 16 de Chirico paintings that he once owned are now in major collections around the world (4 are illustrated above)*. We also discussed my research relating to the many ways in which metaphysical-perspective underpinned de Chirico's paintings. His passion and insightful comments gave me the confidence to extend the boundaries of my research and to write about my findings. Our meeting was a stark contrast to encounters that I had had with two Tate Gallery curators, both of whom were dismissive of the research findings and the way in which they had been achieved, i.e. that art-practice could be used as a research method.

Roland's visit occurred during the Tate Gallery's showing of the de Chirico touring retrospective, which began at the Museum of Modern Art New York and then toured to The Tate Gallery London; Haus de Kunst, Munich and Musée National D’Art Moderne Paris (Centre Georges Pompidou). He was dismayed by the Tate's refusal to include elements of my research into their version of the show, despite the fact that MOMA, New York and the eminent curator Henry Geldzahler had alerted them to its existence, which unfortunately was too late for inclusion into the New York show.

Some weeks after Roland's visit I received an invitation from Dominique Bozo the then director of the Centre Georges Pompidou to exhibit IL Grande Metafisico as the frontispiece to their version of the Giorgio de Chirico touring retrospective. I am eternally grateful to Roland for introducing my research to Dominique and to both for giving me the opportunity to make a contribution to our understanding of the work of the great Italian artist. In addition to exhibiting I was also asked to contribute to an edition of Les Cahiers du Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, dedicated to the work of Giorgio de Chirico. [Owen, M. “Giorgio de Chirico et la perspective métaphysique”, No.11. 1983, pp.33-53. ]

* For more on Penrose's collection see : Victoria Noel-Johnson, 2017, De Chirco and the United Kingdom (c.1916-1978).