Derek Jarman

The Authorised Biography

Tony Peake, Olivia Laing, Jon Savage

$69.99

Hardback

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English

Allison & Busby
03 June 2025

Individual artists, art monographs; Individual film directors, film-makers; Biography: arts & entertainment; Gardening

In this authorised biography, Derek Jarman's story stretches from the bleakness of post-war Britain and his RAF childhood to studenthood at the Slade and work as a designer for such figures as John Gielgud and Ken Russell. It tells how energetic home filmmaking with dazzling friends led to distinctive features like Sebastiane, Jubilee, The Tempest, Caravaggio and Blue. It is the story of a filmmaker, a gay activist, a painter and a gardener, and a vivid bohemian existence in a London long gone.

Jarman created a singular garden in the shingle surrounding his simple fisherman's cottage at Dungeness in Kent, which has become a site of memorial, celebration and pilgrimage. He became known as an impassioned and provocative spokesperson not only for gay men, but for anyone oppressed by bigotry.

Derek Jarman died of AIDS-related causes in February 1994 and Peake describes the inimitable courage and grace in the face of painful death, and the legacies Jarman left behind.

By: Tony Peake
Contributions by: Olivia Laing, Jon Savage
Imprint: Allison & Busby
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9780749032906
ISBN 10: 0749032901
Pages: 640
Publication Date: 03 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Tony Peake is a novelist, short story writer, biographer and was a celebrated literary agent. He became friends with Derek Jarman, during the last seven years of Jarman's life. He currently spends most of his time, when not travelling, in London and Essex, w here he lives with his civil partner and enjoys being grandfather to his five grandchildren. Tony has written three novels. He is a patron of the Jarman Award which supports the most innovative UK-based artists working with moving image.

Reviews for Derek Jarman: The Authorised Biography

This new biography covers the life and legacy of Derek Jarman, the late UK artist, film-maker, diarist and political campaigner. Jarman's reputation was built on his painterly, subversive, feature-length films, his gay rights and Aids activism, and the garden he created at Prospect Cottage in Dungeness on the Kent coast--Gareth Harris ""The Art Newspaper""