I was at the library a while back and the conversation went like this
Me: “Look – its a new art book by Julian Bell”
Someoneiknow: “and…”
Me: “He’s Virginia Woolf’s great nephew”
Someoneiknow “You read too much”
So, in the spirit of ‘reading too much’, this is my current art-related reading (and a little viewing).
“Mirror of the world: A New History of Art” by Julian Bell. To be honest I haven’t got very far into this. Its a big book. The time-lines in the back are interesting and from what I’ve seen its a slightly different take on Art History. That said all the ‘usual suspects’ are there.
“Rita Angus: Live to Paint & Paint to Live” I am preparing myself for the much heralded Rita Angus centenary exhibition this year (at Te Papa?) and am also eagerly awaiting Jill Trevelyan’s full biography. Am I the only one who can see parallels between Rita Angus and Frida Kahlo? (probably not).
“Fomison: What shall we tell them?” The centre of this book is the amazing photo of the umusaga for finishing Fomison’s tattoo. It’s an incredible photograph (by Mark Adams). The rest of the book (from the exhibition) is excellent. I realised the other day that Fomison was really my introduction to contemporary NZ art (for the time) as one of his paintings was on the cover of a book of poetry I received as a high school prize in 1983. I was totally intrigued, as I’d never seem anything like it before (I had a sheltered life). As an aside I saw the movie “The Tattooist” last week. It was very patchy and poorly executed I thought, but a good concept.
I also took “Between the Lives: Partners in Art” down of the shelf again after a comment on just how tiny the McCahon bach at Titirangi was. I wanted to check the impact that had on Anne McCahon (stuck there with 4 kids). Very bad according to the book.
In the pile I also have Art New Zealand Winter 1993 (probably bought for the Nigel Brown work) and the Colin McCahon “I AM” DVD. I’ve just returned a video of the Ralph Hotere documentary by Merata Mita because the soundtrack was stuffed. I wonder if you can get it on DVD? Lastly I have been leafing through “The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont” again, looking for something – but I’m not exactly sure what.
[…] around for the image that many people seem to think of in relation to Fomison and found I have written about it […]