bLOGOS/HA HA: Mel Ramsden, 'Black painting' (1966)

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.

16 February 2015

Mel Ramsden, 'Black painting' (1966)

Previously, we considered Barnett Newman's The Wild, his thin vertical redsome painting of 1950.

Mel Ramsden's long thin horizontal black painting
No title of 1966 was exhibited in the The Field in 1968 at the then new National Gallery of Victoria at St Kilda Road, Melbourne.

It was acquired by the Ballarat Art Gallery in 1979.

A similar work by Ramsden was acquired by the National Gallery of Victoria in 1976.

It is listed at NGV online as Black painting.

There is no NGV installation photo of this significant local-history artwork online, or none that we could find, so this TAR Gazette clipping must suffice for now.