In the Gaze of Medusa: The Life and Works of Louis de Wet

Louis de Wet (1930-2018) was an artist-philosopher born in South Africa. Over the course of his life, he created a significant body of meticulously crafted drawings and paintings, using the techniques of the Old Masters to express a contemporary world. This publication, authored by his wife Gabrielle Drake, brings together de Wet’s full catalog of works with detailed biographical information and recollections from those who knew and worked with him.

In 1983, along with his wife, de Wet bought Wenlock Abbey in Shropshire, part of an eleventh-century priory that was the daughter house of the great Burgundian abbey of Cluny. Considering the house to be his destiny, de Wet served it faithfully, restoring and refurbishing it over the course of thirty-five years. Wenlock Abbey helped develop de Wet’s artistic vision, substantiating his belief that the best from the past should inform, but not inhibit the future. He enhanced the fabric of the abbey with his own artworks, including a complete scheme of frescoed images of Old and New Testament figures in the chapel, as well as designs for the carved capitals of the oak screen he had inserted there. These capitals are a geographical biography, each carving showing a place of significance in de Wet’s life.

This book takes the capitals as its guide, and is organized around the places de Wet lived in during the course of his life: Africa, London, Paris, and Wenlock Abbey. Each section starts with pictures of the relevant capital, and includes a biographical overview written by Gabrielle Drake and reproductions of de Wet’s drawings and paintings from that period. There are also facsimiles of his Parisian sketchbook and his fastidiously compiled paint color book.

In additional text contributions, local architectural historian Vivien Bellamy details her personal recollections of de Wet and his extraordinary vision for the house; the architect Andrew Arrol outlines his renovation work on the property; and Christophe Voros, the Director of the Fédération des Sites Clunisiens, recalls his first meeting with de Wet and Gabrielle in 2000, as well as their long collaboration together.