1 APRIL 1989, Page 30

Biographer and Artist

Be voyeurs at the keyhole then; tell all; Your no-holds-barred biography will pay. Set down the artist's whines, his lusts, BO, And insecurities and feet of clay.

Through private papers trawl, then wring your hands: How friend and family suffered for High Art! Set down the cost of craftsmanship; tell all; It's for the sake of truth, though, cross your heart.

There's butcher, baker, banker, too, Joe Bloggs, In worlds of beef, bread, bank; of bus and bar; When one considers them (that's us), God knows, They come out pretty flawed. Like artists are.

And don't biographers themselves have lives To lust in, whine, hurt friends and spurn their wives?

Simon Curtis