The Hunt for Sidney Sime’s “Wild Beast Wood”
I’ve recently undertaken the task of researching and compiling a comprehensive art book and biography of Sidney Herbert Sime (1865–1941). The task before me is not as daunting as some, as there are two previous books collecting his work, and a fairly comprehensive archive to draw from in the artist’s hometown of Worplesdon, UK. Having said that, Sime’s work has been neglected, if not forgotten, and there are many gems that are lost and/or scattered. This is the story of one such stray artwork, and my attempts to track it down.
Above is a digital scan of Sidney Sime’s “Wild Beast Wood,” sourced from a color halftone print. This is the first time a color image of this piece has been seen since 1926. Tracking this down was a truly epic research maze that I didn’t anticipate, but such unexpected adventures are what makes historic research so interesting, if not at times challenging.
I first spotted this work reproduced in a 3 in. x 3 in. black and white halftone on page 29 of a paperback collection published in 1980, Sidney Sime: Master of the Mysterious. It’s included as an example of his painting, although, unfortunately, the author of that book notes that he did not care for Sime’s painting at all, writing that those oils that we have seen generally show Sime at his worst. Given that, none of Sime’s oil paintings are included. From what I have seen, I vehemently disagree; I think the paintings are definitely among his best work, and deserve to be rescued and seen.
The thumbnail led me on a mission to see if I could track down this painting, or at least a better quality reproduction of it. As a first step I did the thing anyone would do, and searched the internet. I found a very low res scan of an article about Sime published in 1908, which also included the painting. On closer inspection I noticed that it was, however, not the same painting! It was the same theme and general composition, but there were several obvious differences — the treeline was different, a different number of wild beasts, etc. I knew the version in Master of the Mysterious was sourced from an obscure periodical called Colour Magazine, published in 1926, since the author of that book was thoughtful enough to include a note of the source. Several further sources I found described the 1926 image as the “original version” and I wondered how that could be as it had clearly changed since 1908.
The mystery of the differences in the two reproductions of the painting was solved when I tracked down a copy of Confessions of an Incurable Collector by Desmond Coke, the person who had originally bought the painting from Sime. This book is a rarity and there are no digitized copies, so I made a trip to the Bryn Mawr University Library to see it. This solved the mystery of the altered painting. Coke tells the story that he first saw the painting reproduced in the same 1908 article I’d found and fell in love with it. He purchased it from Sime, but then lost his entire art collection in a fire. He then commissioned Sime to paint a replacement, which he felt was a jewel in his collection, and which he had photographed and reproduced in his own book (in black and white) as well as in several articles about Sime. The “original version” language is a whisper-down-the-lane confusion that began with a typo to that effect in the 1980 book.
Still hoping to find a copy of this magical painting in color, I held hope that Colour Magazine would come through. That was after all the theme of that specialty art magazine, in the era when full color process printing was a rarity. An appointment at the Philadelphia Free Library ended in disappointment as I learned that “Colour Magazine” was in fact the publisher, and the piece had been printed in a related periodical called Masterpieces of Modern Art, which I’d mistakenly thought was the title of an article. That confusion cleared up, I searched an online database of global library holdings and found there to be one library in the world, The State Library of Victoria, in Melbourne Australia, who held a copy of Masterpieces of Modern Art from Jan. 1926. I emailed them, and received confirmation the piece was indeed printed in color. After agreeing to pay a $25 fee, I received a gorgeous full color scan of the page! I’ve also sourced a good quality scan of the work as published in 1908, for comparison. Further, Desmond Coke also noted in “Confessions…” that the 1926 version was 30 in x 30, clearing up another mystery.
Still holding out hope that the original artwork was somewhere to be found, I began scouring newspaper archives, hoping to find any mentions of where Desmond Coke’s collection may have gone upon his death. I found several articles mentioning that Wild Beast Wood was donated to the Tate Gallery upon his death. The Tate however had no record of this piece, and after some cursory searching by their archivist, I received this heartbreaking email on April 2nd:
“The minutes of the Tate Board of Trustees of Monday June 1st 1931 , Vol. III p.419 (TG 1/3/1) note that the bequest by the late Captain Desmond Coke of ‘Wild Beast Wood’ (oil) by S. H. Sime was declined. We don’t have a record of who managed Captain Coke’s estate or what happened to ‘Wild Beast Wood’ following its rejection for the collection by the Tate trustees.”
Desmond Coke mentions purchasing Sime’s work on other occasions, with one work which is now lost tantalizingly described. Sime artworks which were once part of Desmond Coke’s collection have surfaced at auction over the decades, but Wild Beast Wood remains elusive. Whether or not it still exists, or can be located in time for the proposed book, it feels gratifying to have sourced a color image, knowing that even that printed version is likely the only existing record of this mysterious artwork which was lost, recreated, and lost yet again.
