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.


03 September 2014

Terry Smith at NGV


The weekend seminar 'Kiffy Rubbo and The George Paton Gallery : Curating the 1970s' was a great success. Lots for the head and the heart.
         
Various of the seminar speakers referred to the 1975 protest by artists at the National Gallery of Victoria. That protest was organised at the George Paton Gallery after the removal by the NGV, without consultation with the artist, of an installation by Domenico de Clario commissioned for the NGV exhibition 'Artists' Artists_Sculpture'.

 At the George Paton Gallery meeting, the following document was prepared, then issued at the protest.
       

click image to enlarge               AAA_ArtArchiveAustralia

One of those prominent at the George Paton Gallery meeting was Terry Smith. Re-reading the PROTEST document now, it seems a fair guess that the information in the following paragraph from motion #1 might have been contributed by Smith, an active member of A & L between 1972-1976 :
This action, following the arbitrary removal of the Art and Language Show to the Art School of the Victoria College of the Arts is the culmination of a long history of prejudice against experimantal art.
In the photo below, of the 1975 artists protest at the NGV, that's Terry Smith on the right. The artist John Davis is in the centre and Eric Westbrook, then previous NGV director, is on the left.


click image to enlarge              AAA_ArtArchiveAustralia

In 2004, when the free pencil movement organised another day of protest at the NGV, they re-used this 1975 photo on their protest poster above to indicate how little had changed at the NGV since 1975.

For info about the 2004 Artists Protest at the NGV:
Sketch-in Protest @ the National Gallery of Victoria  here

NGV : something to really scream about : AGAIN!  here

free pencil movement : REBEL YELL  here
For info about the 2012 Artists Protest at the NGV :
NGV Renews Bans   here

Pencil power can never be erased : Age Editorial   here

NGV vs The Public Blot  here

NGV Out of line   here

HATE YOUR NGV   here

NGV Recidivism   here

X-Rated NGV   here

No Note-Taking = No Review   here

NGV : Vox Pop   here
       
Tonight Terry Smith returns to the NGV for the latest in the Gertrude Contemporary/Discipline lecture series, to reconsider aspects of his 1974 essay "The Provincialism Problem" (click here to read the essay online), first published in the New York magazine Artforum. 
      

click image to enlarge                     FIAPCE, 1990 / AAA_ArtArchiveAustralia

"World Art Now, The Provincialism Problem Then: 40 years of contemporary art" : That all seats to tonight's lecture by Terry Smith were reserved overnight when it was announced a month ago demonstrates the level of interest and audience for such matters. 


 Dr Terry Smith

For this and for so many other such events, all praise to our Melbourne art curator-historians : from Janine Burke - in 1975 Janine curated 'Australian Women Artists, One Hundred Years, 1840-1940' at the Ewing Gallery and George Paton Galleries, and last weekend it was she who organised the free seminar 'Kiffy Rubbo and The George Paton Gallery : Curating the 1970s' - to the energetic younger group of Helen Hughes and her generation of artist/curator/historians. VIVA!
    
      
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