Opening tomorrow at gallery Svit, Prague, Nathaniel Lee Jones, proprietor of London’s greatest shop, M.Goldstein collaborates with artist Dirk Bell to form a dialogue with deceased outsider artist Reginald Alan Westaway. (Though to call M.Goldstein merely a shop seems a disservice, framed as it is by the motto ‘art, antiques, attire’).

Reginald Alan Westaway lived his life following gentlemanly pursuits: the study of natural history, love of classical literature and theatre, needlework, textile maintenance, composing classical and early folk music, painting and drawing. Yet he stepped lightly with a very frugal existence, for his final years as a recluse. Passing in 2008, Jones came into possession of the artists’ collection, from clothing (a jumper maintained for decades has stitching appearing as a running goose) to photographs, paintings, drawings, sculpture and even a modified lute – Westaway was keen on (self-) education, even attempting home taxidermy.

Between then and now, past and enduring, the show is titled Property of a Gentleman, or Majetek ušlechtilého muže in Czech, a cataloguing description by auction houses when referring to items from the estate of those deceased. In it, Jones channels the artist, photographed by Dirk Bell with a pinhole camera; amongst pictures by Reginald and curated ‘crossover’ objects, which do not fit within the realms of fine art or collectible but suggest a creative zeitgeist or notion from a period in history, be it ethnographic in feel or a visual reference.

Before Nathaniel embarked on a road trip to the Czech Republic, we headed over to M.Goldstein, sat in the comfy chair and had a chat.

Dean Mayo Davies: So, can talk us through the works we’ll see in Property of a Gentleman?
Nathaniel Lee Jones: Well starting with Dirk Bell, he’s exhibiting large scale camera obscura prints he created with the pinhole camera technique, some of which are portraits of me. I’m wearing clothing from Reggie’s wardrobe, some of the images are over two metres in height, with a beautifully antiquated, ghostly, early photography feel.

Reginald is showing photography of youths, essentially from the 70s, on the promenade at Herne Bay. Also photographs of aquatic terrapins and little newts, and so on, in growth stages, with scientific notes/measurements beside each growth stage. Large scale format prints of those make the little newts he bred look quite monstrous, with that dare I say period aesthetic, seeming very hand produced, less digital. That also relates back to Dirk’s work; the ability to slow the process down, coming back to technique and process rather than digital perspectives on creating images with an instant fix.

I’m showing unusual mirrors, other clothing I have collected. I’m not an artist essentially, it’s more of a maverick type thing with me, I recognise things and give them a sort of platform, the recognition that they deserve. It’s like finding an object where you can join the dots between, where you are looking at art history, and five decades later you see that another person has picked up the baton and ran with it. You start being able to place an object from a certain situation, zeitgeist or movement almost, even when it may have come from a garden shed or garage somewhere in Kent! To take the object out of its place in the world and place within another – to rechristen it almost, works quite well, the subject changes but the object stays the same.

DMD: What about Reginald’s life? You mentioned before that he was a bit of a recluse…
NLJ: He taught art at the local library for a period. He was born in Camberwell and essentially had that school of art approach before moving to Kent post-war in the late 40s, early 50s. During the war he was a bit of a contentious objector, he didn’t go through with his national service. He actually mined for tin out in the Welsh tin mines! I mean he was a bit of a pre-80s punk really! He’d abscond his duties at a job, or avoid court for debts arrears and end up with small sentences he never had to serve out! I mean he was punk in attitude, anti-establishment, anti-society, living his life out picking blades of grass and material from the earth. I actually have an album wholly made of individual blades of grass of different varieties, all correctly labelled in latin and the area in which he had picked them. I’ve got a poem too from one of his nieces, a really touching letter of how she remembered walking the hedgerows with him as a child, and him explaining the different life within those hedgerows. He was really insightful, into his environments, obviously London back then being a completely different landscape, minus the tower blocks and office buildings.

Herne Bay, where he moved, is essentially the next town along from Whitstable, Kent. That was quite a posh little town at the time. They were a working class family that had done well to buy a home there, so he resided in the home his parents had bought years previously for the rest of his life. The house was actually on the grounds of a school I attended for four years as a child, called Green Hill, and I saw him on a number of occasions without ever talking to the guy. We used to think he was the bogey-man or something you know, as kids would at that age!

He maintained being really involved with the arts and education in Horne Bay, coming back into central London as well or Canterbury, to attend talks to do with colleges or natural history, different scientific evenings or discussions and so on. He was a learner and a creator from the beginning until the end of his life, such an interesting guy and very influential on my outlook of art history and contemporary art. I like to think he has taught me some notions in what is correct, what it is I have still to look for, what I haven’t seen, knowledge on the classics through his personal affects, books and so on. I’ve learned a lot about him.

DMD: This must be quite a difficult question to answer but do you have any favourite items from him in your collection?
NLJ: Yeah, there is a coat which I have actually ended up adopting as my own coat, an old 1940s fine-houndstooth cloth Dunhill raincoat. When I first acquired some of the archive I was basically dressing myself in his clothes. Channelling him as such, if you are inclined to think in those terms. I supposed that in itself is a bit of a performance, like Gilbert and George walking around in their armour, their outfits. I was wearing his whole garb, this really cool little beret, shirts, little neckerchief, really quite authentic beatnik stuff. I had a few people ask where I was getting my clothes from and really it was just straight from his wardrobe!

In terms of the artworks there are a couple of pieces which stick with me, like the large scale banner done in quite a Russian Constructivist style. I hate to say it but as with most artists he was a great copier! Like drawing the dots again, picking the references and continuing with a subject or style on your own, he could often make something look like the real thing which is a fabulous ability, now with me handling it so many years down the road it sort of feels like an authentic real thing, a contender for being a noted post-war modernist. I’ve felt at some points he has really been overlooked. Or perhaps he just didn’t want to be looked at – it was more of a personal thing for him.

Property of a Gentleman: Dirk Bell, Nathaniel Lee Jones, Reginald Alan Westaway runs from 31st August to 12th October 2013 at Svit, Prague