David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :

'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)

(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.


06 March 2011

TRULY AESTHETIC

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After yesterday's flower therapy art group tableau this seems like an appropriate enough follow-on.

2011.03_Man regards sun flower_sRGB_400

Sold as a Vintage Trade Card, we have no other clues as to its origin or intended application. It is blank on the back where usually a trade card would have an advertiser's spiel. Perhaps the open area to the right of the regarder's feet was intended as a space for a business to announce itself.

Viva the mystery: let a thousand stories blossom

Which, at this moment, reminds us of the various projections visited upon Jeffrey Smart's Cahill Expressway (1962).



This image has served as the front cover image for Peter Carey's The Fat man in History and, at the invitation of Helen Daniel, as the impetus for stories by 29 Australian writers (Malouf, Corris, Disher, Foster, Goldsworthy, Grenville, Jolley, Nowra...) published as Expressway (Penguin, 1989).

- Today the weather is fine indeed, if a little wet

SUN FLOWER QUADRILLE
INTERDEPENDENCE MANDALA
TRULY AESTHETIC



2011.03_Man regards sun flower inter-dependence ideogram mandala_sRGB_400
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...

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