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.


27 May 2016

Hegel's Black Hole Owl Collector (continued)

    
Hegel's Owl: The Life of Bernard Smith was launched last evening from 6-8pm at the Victorian Artists Society. At the fall of dusk, all flocked in.

In 2008 the prominent Australian art historian Bernard Smith invited Dr Sheridan Palmer to write his biography. Bringing together years of interviews and insight through exclusive access to Smith’s papers and library, Hegel’s Owl deftly reveals the unique character of an exceptional man, today acknowledged by many as the father of Australian art history.

  • University Of Sydney, N.S.W. Power Publications, 2016  
We received a reminder about this boobook launch immediately after posting yesterday's gif of the Black Hole Owl Collector.
                 

gif by Bill Domonkosis 
H Owl here refers to this famous text by Hegel :
   
Um noch über das Belehren, wie die Welt sein soll, ein Wort zu sagen, so kommt dazu ohnehin die Philosophie immer zu spät. Als der Gedanke der Welt erscheint sie erst in der Zeit, nachdem die Wirklichkeit ihren Bildungsprozeß vollendet und sich fertig gemacht hat. Dies, was der Begriff lehrt, zeigt notwendig ebenso die Geschichte, daß erst in der Reife der Wirklichkeit das Ideale dem Realen gegenüber erscheint und jenes sich dieselbe Welt, in ihrer Substanz erfaßt, in Gestalt eines intellektuellen Reichs erbaut. Wenn die Philosophie ihr Grau in Grau malt, dann ist eine Gestalt des Lebens alt geworden, und mit Grau in Grau läßt sie sich nicht verjüngen, sondern nur erkennen; die Eule der Minerva beginnt erst mit der einbrechenden Dämmerung ihren Flug.

Hegel, Vorrede zu der Philosophie des Rechts

One more word about teaching what the world ought to be: Philosophy always arrives too late to do any such teaching. As the thought of the world, philosophy appears only in the period after actuality has been achieved and has completed its formative process. The lesson of the concept, which necessarily is also taught by history, is that only in the ripeness of actuality does the ideal appear over against the real, and that only then does this ideal comprehend this same real world in its substance and build it up for itself into the configuration of an intellectual realm. When philosophy paints its gray in gray, then a configuration of life has grown old, and cannot be rejuvenated by this gray in gray, but only understood; the Owl of Minerva takes flight only as the dusk begins to fall.

Hegel, Preface to the Philosophy of Right

D Owl to this 1508 depiction of that Little Owl 
(Athene noctua) by Durer :



G Owl to this famous image by Goya :

        H o w
        N o w
      B r o w n 
          O w l ?


 Goya, El sueño de la razón produce monstruos (The Sleep of 
 Reason Produces Monsters), 1799
     
Howl this 1955 poem by Ginsberg :

"I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night...

               
and grOWL Russolo verses Hendrix :
       
                                Black How
                                Black Now
                                Black Hole?

                                   ((( O )))
                           Black Audio Sun!
                                grOWL-ed
                   be thy radiant Goethe gray
                             - gray in gray -
                                   theoria!  

            Although your world wonders me
   With your majestic and superior cackling hen
             Your people I do not understand
                 So to you I shall put an end
         Then you'll never hear surf music again

       

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

 LOGOS/HA HA