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.
L'Enseigne de Gersaint, or "The Shop Sign of Gersaint", (1720-21) is a painting by Jean-Antoine Watteau, which is considered to be his last masterpiece. It was painted as a shop sign for the marchand-mercier, or art dealer, Edme François Gersaint.
- Wikipedia : here
In 1985, your correspondent stayed a long while in front of this picture at the Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin.
As the packers box away a sign of the passing régime, a fashionable [ fickle ) young couple enter the Gersaint image store. Madame pauses at the grave but Monsieur stretches out his hand to hurry her to the new, un nu.
Fashionable friends are already there, closely examining une scène de nombreuses nus commended to them by an assistant of Gersaint.
M & Mme Gersaint are themselves showing another couple another well-presented something. Perhaps un intime nu for their private chambers, or a splendid mirror, even.
Outside, as we depart, a street dog bites at a flea.
. . . .
What brought the L'Enseigne de Gersaint to mind again was the recent acquisition, by one of our hot metal setters, of this large abbreviated enamel meta-sign for Signs Of Every Description.
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Dean Kittelty almost Seals The Deal
Yes, we are fans : yet another great Cyclic Existance production from Kittelty's Auction Rooms, Ballarat.
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Being 21, in Australia in 1972...
Remembering still the zeitgeist thrill of hearing for the first time Gough Whitlam address the nation : not under the old imperial hierarchical ranking of "Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, Your Eminence, Your Honours, distinguished guests and so on down the ranks to ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls" but by that most simple egalitarian greeting : "Men and women of Australia". To which there was a mighty cheer.
Others will list the great vision and the many reforms of Whitlam and the Labor Party in that brief turbulent period. In coming days we will provide links to some of these.
Usually this blog focuses on aspects of the Arts, so we'll stick with that today. Gough's involvement in this area was as significant as it was in so many others. To his cost, he supported encouraged and actively advocated on behalf of James Mollison's proposal to purchase Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles for the collection of the (then) Australian National Gallery.
We still have our souvenir front page of the Melbourne Herald, the first they ever printed in colour, with the headline editorial addressed to each one us : Would you pay $1.3m. for this?
The reactionary and yobbo media reckoned that Australians would think it stunk. Comedian Paul Hogan...
Our observation was that people were more open and interested than that.
FIAPCE
Anyway, the public goading only encouraged Gough who responded with a Blues Poles Christmas Card for the comrades.
Being 22, in Australia in 1973...
Your correspondent gave two weeks notice at the old Abbotsford CUB brewery - where his job title was Beer Passer, true - on the day he received the news of a small grant in the first of Gough's new Australia Council Arts Grants. Enough to live for a while as an artist. Thanks Gough, for all you provided to so many. Vale.
On twitter from the National Gallery of Australia :
"Gough Whitlam will be remembered as a visionary of the arts in Australia", Allan Myers AO QC, Chairman, NGA Council
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You shall not make unto yourself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
- Exodus 20 : 4
Two stories around God.
and/or/_r
Tw_ st_ries ar_und G_d.
One : a retelling by educationist Sir Ken Robinson on the TED Hour, on ABC.RN last night :
I heard a great story recently, I love telling it, of a little girl who was in a drawing lesson, she was 6 and she was at the back, drawing, and the teacher said this little girl hardly paid attention, and in this drawing lesson she did. The teacher was fascinated and she went over to her and she said, “What are you drawing?” and the girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” And the teacher said, “But nobody knows what God looks like.” And the girl said, “They will in a minute.”
One : an ABC radio news report this morning, about the results of Pope Francis's Vatican 'Synod On The Family', said that the Pope had failed to get his reforms passed by the gathering of cardinals and bishops. A brief quote from Pope Francis was given and is highlighted in red below with a link to his full statement.
And since it is a journey of human beings, with the consolations there were also moments of desolation, of tensions and temptations, of which a few possibilities could be mentioned:
One, a temptation to hostile inflexibility, that is, wanting to close oneself within the written word, (the letter) and not allowing oneself to be surprised by God, by the God of surprises, (the spirit); within the law, within the certitude of what we know and not of what we still need to learn and to achieve. From the time of Christ, it is the temptation of the zealous, of the scrupulous, of the solicitous and of the so-called – today – “traditionalists” and also of the intellectuals...
- Pope Francis, speech at the conclusion of the Synod
Above the Editorial desk at bLOGOS/HA HA
- supposedly there to keep us bastards half-honest -
is a print of Noel Counihan's Laughing Christ :
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