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.


13 June 2016

painted from pillar to post

 
No wonder artists such as Lautrec and Van Gogh were so impressed when they encountered works like this by Hokusai. Here, too! 
          

       
Late Edo period, Japan. The famous artist Hokusai (he changed his name thirty times  e.g. from 1834 :
Gakyō Rōjin Manji/The Old Man Mad About Art)
paints onto silk the scene of an unsung painter applying fresh coal black to the base of a red pillar.
Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) : seal worthy of our best tagger

Monash University, Clayton, 1975. The brand new Department of Visual Arts' first artist-in-residence FIAPCE (also known by various other names) photographs the scene of an unsung painter applying white paint to a red post.


 detail
 A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
 someone looks at something...

 LOGOS/HA HA 
 [Painting Red Posts White]