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.


25 January 2013

A Frame Of One's Own

       
A Man, A Woman, A Pain|T|hing : Part 2
continued from yesterday... 

Having looked together at the pain|t|hing Pain 
(La Douleur by Émile Friant, 1898), the man says: 

"I'll show you another by him...
      

      
They leave for another room.

Another woman is already there, looking at a pain|t|hing of a woman in a blue dress in a field at evening running towards the aperture of the golden frame.

      
But this is not our story.     
 

As they arrive, Juliette notices the other woman... as the man indicates to her his woman in a frame. 


      
He says to Juliette, 

"The first time I saw it...
       

          
For a moment, they look at each other...
        

          
... then Juliette walks away.

The man leaves too. Looking back at his pain|t|hing, he runs his finger under the woman's frame.

They are gone. 
         
We remain a few moments more and wonder if the prison-keeper knows that the man in the gold frame to the right of the woman in the gold frame is her depictor and the author of Pain, Émile Friant?
      
      
  detail
  A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
  someone looks at something ...

  LOGOS/HA HA
      
        
We move on...
    
      
  detail
  A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
  someone looks at something ...

  LOGOS/HA HA