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.
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Every so often bLOGOS/HA HA tips our hats to someone we admire.
Today, Helen Maudsley. Artist, teacher, matriarch and champion custodian of the work of her late-husband John Brack.
picture : Simon O'Dwyer from today's THE AGE ( here )
For the standards so uncompromisingly demonstrated by Helen, for those written about and those merely glimpsed in Gabriella Coslovich's
'Brack to the future: a queen gone to pieces is artist's legacy' (THE AGE, 15 March 2012 : click
here to read the article) this 21 pencil salute :
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
