tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post1417552352918067645..comments2024-03-29T14:45:32.326+13:00Comments on The Imaginary Museum: Rita Angus SymposiumDr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-84484231906943349712010-03-17T09:09:03.897+13:002010-03-17T09:09:03.897+13:00Dear Ron,
It seems very unlikely that she would h...Dear Ron,<br /><br />It seems very unlikely that she <em>would</em> have approved. In her shoes, I think I'd feel exactly the same way.<br /><br />Luckily, the decision to preserve them was taken by Douglas Lilburn, who presumably knew her better than anyone, and it was her estate who determined that they should be available for consultation.<br /><br />That's not to say that there's no moral issue involved, but it does rather put it in perspective. For better or worse our scholarly culture has decided that private papers that survive the death of an artist are fair game for biographers and critics. There's a fascinating book on the subject by Ian Hamilton, <em>Keepers of the Flame</em>, about literary widows and literary executors generally ...Dr Jack Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-6285782209133365962010-03-16T15:53:55.138+13:002010-03-16T15:53:55.138+13:00Hello Jack
I have only come across your blog about...Hello Jack<br />I have only come across your blog about Rita Angus today and I found it fascinating.<br />I have often wondered what Rita Angus would think about the fact that so many of her letters to Douglas Lilburn are now publicly available.<br />Her reaction may not have been positive.<br />Best<br />RonRon Brownsonhttp://www.aucklandartgallery.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-83764098698340809552008-09-21T21:45:00.000+12:002008-09-21T21:45:00.000+12:00A classic case of the past not being past. Don't h...A classic case of the past not being past. Don't historians just hate that!The Whiteboardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09715495357806106609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-74898063257773923502008-09-20T18:32:00.000+12:002008-09-20T18:32:00.000+12:00Hello Jack and Bronwyn, Interesting! Considering d...Hello Jack and Bronwyn, <BR/><BR/>Interesting! Considering dream children, B, the Australian poet Judith Wright's collection <I>Woman to Man</I> is both relevant and beautiful - published in 1949, before the birth of her first child in 1950 - I believe the poems predate the pregnancy but don't know for certain off-hand. <BR/><BR/>I like to read about and understand the relationships between artists, their lives and their works because for me it is part of learning about being an artist. (Maybe this knowledge is supposed to come as a kind of birthright! but I don't like to imagine the society which only accepts the birthright artists.)<BR/><BR/>This (craft-based) purpose is not the same as using personal history to understand the artworks but I don't believe it's entirely separate from it either. it seems like a multi-faced relationship, & I believe that this impulse (to understand *making*) is an important part of the critical drive - not just for artists. To eliminate the interpretive influence of those connections seems almost as impossible (and deadening) an effort as would be determining to read works *only* in their light. <BR/><BR/>of course being alert to whether one is reading an artwork, a history or one in terms of the other at any given moment must be useful - but is Wystan's argument that there is not *enough* of one sort of criticism, or that certain types of interpretation are dangerously misleading? I suppose I could ask him....<BR/>xxJenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06164475604380887915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-37153705261491106112008-09-18T02:48:00.000+12:002008-09-18T02:48:00.000+12:00Dream children - and she had an affair with Lilbur...Dream children - and she had an affair with Lilburn! Fascinating - of course it is all relevant to her art...just as relevant as the fact that W Curnow had cancer when he wrote the Cancer Day Book - that Paul's child was dying when she wrote "Imogen" - that Alan Loney wrote of his father's death in "Squeezing the Bones."Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-43559039299058996132008-09-18T02:17:00.000+12:002008-09-18T02:17:00.000+12:00I love what I have seen of her work - I had a grea...I love what I have seen of her work - I had a great book of her stuff - but I think - re context - in the case say of Pollock (or maybe a Rothko, or a Newman) it is less important what a Pollock thinks (not unimportant - his life is of considerable relevance) but less than say Angus or - well -many others. <BR/><BR/>Artists of certain kinds are not "idiot savants" ever (there are no such people really) they are working at deep levels - their mind is still working but perhaps more intuitively than "designed" ...I can see for example the "designedness" or intentionaliy in (say) Joanna Paul's works as well as areas that come from deep inside her that she would find hard to "explain" - an artist (for me musicians, painters, others, and poets are all artists) has only 'so much' control...<BR/><BR/>Hence Barthes very good points...<BR/><BR/>But in looking at these things it probably helps perhaps to put the theory aside for a bit - then analyse or think about the work -then go back to any theory or biography and/or context...<BR/><BR/>By the way there is a marvelous painting of Wystan when he was boy by Angus!!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-79625177343319634592008-09-17T13:36:00.000+12:002008-09-17T13:36:00.000+12:00Thank YOU so much artandmylife for your enthusiast...Thank YOU so much artandmylife for your enthusiastic response. I happened upon your blog just the other day and thought it was lovely.Bronwyn Lloydhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06164379991299733050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-32089002484789470232008-09-17T10:44:00.000+12:002008-09-17T10:44:00.000+12:00Thank you SO much for posting this. I SO wanted to...Thank you SO much for posting this. I SO wanted to get to the Symposium but family needs came first that day. The paper you have posted is THE ONE I really wanted to hear!!! Thanks againAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com