Cabinet of Curiosities - Day 27

Today's item is a portrait of James Mason stroking a cat surrounded by prehistoric cave paintings. 

And yes, I am quite aware of how weird this is. It's why I have it. 

Back in the days when I used to be a 'QI elf' I would travel into London every Monday for production meetings and script meetings. Following discussions, I'd often grab a lunchtime pint with m'chums Justin Pollard, John Lloyd and John Mitchinson in the nearby Harp pub in Chandos Place, Covent Garden. It's an excellent pub with a great selection of ales. It was the Evening Standard's London Pub of the Year 2019 and 2020, CAMRA National Pub of the Year 2010/2011, and London Cider Pub of the Year 2011. The back door to the pub is in Brydges Place, the end of which is, I believe, the narrowest public thoroughfare in London. There is barely enough room for a stout chap like me to go through without my shoulders touching a wall. 

The pub was always rammed with people at lunchtime but the beer was good, the ambience wonderful and, both upstairs and downstairs, the walls are covered by an extraordinarily eclectic gallery of paintings. One painting in particular always attracted me towards it and I often chose where to stand simply to be near it so that I could examine it more closely. It's a tricky one to photograph as it is covered by glass and there are reflections from every angle. Yup, that's James Mason with a Siamese cat apparently sitting among the Neolithic cave art of the Lascaux caves in France. 

It's a lovely little painting and, written on Mr Mason's sleeve is the artist's name 'Le Bon'.  But who is/was Le Bon? And what is the meaning behind the picture? I've tried to find out. 

Annoyingly, there seems to be no end of artists called 'Le Bon'. There's Canadian artist Maurice Le Bon (1916 - 1998). He seems to have been active in the right sort of era but, unfortunately, his art bears little resemblance to the Mason portrait and his signature was quite different. Then there's Belgian artist Charles Le Bon (1905-1957) who has a painterly style but only seems to have worked on landscapes and whose signature is, again, very different. Nicola Lebon is a contemporary ceramicist from Margate. Charlotte Le Bon is an illustrator and film-maker. Marie Lebon is a painter and illustrator but in a very modern style. Then there's an artist who simply calls himself Le Bon whose artwork is abstract and colourful but nothing like the James Mason picture. I've spent many, many hours trying to hunt down the elusive Harp 'Le Bon' but I've had no luck yet. I've tried posting the question on social media too but all that revealed was a sizeable number of people who also love the painting. Perhaps this blogpost might reach someone who knows? So, I've had no luck identifying the artist. But I can, at least, explain some of the subject matter. 

It's no great secret that James Mason liked cats. 

No. He loved cats. 

In an interview with Clipping Magazine in 1945 he revealed that he and his wife Pamela shared their home with three Siamese called Flower-Face, Sadie and Tribute. That explains the cat in the painting. The Masons even wrote a book called The Cats in Our Lives (1949) and James's illustrations are actually quite beautiful. 

But what about those cave paintings? Your guess is as good as mine. 

I've not found any photos of him visiting any Neolithic caves and his autobiography doesn't mention any particular interest in them. Maybe it's a nod to his starring role in the 1959 film of Journey to the Centre of the Earth? That's my best guess so far. Although ... it is interesting to note that his cat drawings, sparse of line as they are, resemble nothing quite so much as Japanese art or, dare I suggest it, cave art? Perhaps the whole painting is an allegory about Mankind's primal urge to create images of things we find important?

I suspect I'll never know the truth but that doesn't matter. Le Bon has done his/her job. They've made me look. They've made me think. And they've stirred emotions in me, which is, after all, what aesthetic means (the opposite is anaesthetic - to dull feelings and sensations). I love the painting so much that I cleaned it up in Photoshop, printed it, framed it and hung it on my study wall. Here it is below an original sketch of a dog by Noel Fielding and a painting on wood called 'Chabol' by toy designer Mathew Plater (MAp-MAp). 

Meanwhile, all I can tell you for sure is that, next time I'm in the Harp, I'll endeavour as always to enjoy my pint of Dark Star's Hop Head somewhere close to the mysterious painting of Mr Mason and his cat. 

I love them both.