Wieneke Archive Book 4i : Art - General Presscuttings

THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN MAGAZINE 7 SE [NG to tv present from his wife - who had it because he has a real thing. al - Ls had, about giraffes. Capon's more esoteric wishes is to e living in his garden. "I don't think .'ould mind," he muses. .ore serious level, however, he would we Australians to know more about art. To this end he has organised cation of 100 Chinese paintings to be .tere in August 1980 - straight from and never allowed to be shown before. add that in the museum world that 'Y big coup indeed. ,n book. ,just published, is certainly a x man's introduction to Chinese art. . an academic book." says Capon. .ens to add that that doesn't mean t have to be an academic to write it. e majority of Westerners, he admits, art is something of a problem. For tans it is a large problem because so little of it here to be seen. ig through the pages of his book. ; ,oints to a 17th century painting by . (Chu-da) called Fish and Rocks ,; dramatically abstract. nting of that sort of abstraction of elements was weird to a 17th cen- aropean ; or 18th or 19th century an for that matter. i ily recently, and I mean recently,. of the abstract contemporary cut, that this painting can be better .00d and appreciated.' ig to another painting, River Land- xecuted in 1704 by Wang Yuan Ch'i .Lgain points out the abstraction in ails of rocks, mountains and trees. t time in Europe," he says emphati- here was nothing even REMOTELY able to this." furthur back, Capon points out a Liang K'ai done in the 13th Ceti - 'tows a man chopping a bamboo this drawing, explains Capon, its a very important tradition which in the south in the Sung Dynasty. cnown, he says, as the Contempla- 'an) Style, or in Japan, the Zen. It .vie wich reflected the isolation of one hand and his closeness to na- he other. an's Landscape with Egrets on a ank, is of this same pc7t),I al id i 0- ese two works encapsulate the dative and philosophic notions of fy these pictures were moody and iative can be explained in historical Lys Capon. The ruling house of (1 been defeated in the north in the ;1 century, and had been pushed south where they had re-esta- r.emselves. This had promoted a nItural and philosophical intro- vhich, says Capon, is reflected in paintings. hook covers paintings from the -ntury BC to AD lot. The last :hews an agricultual co-op on inscription calls for increased 1. iuded this picture to show how radition still is and to emphasise ility of Chinese art," he explains. - lists the general chara. teristle of tainting. whatever Ccriturv. as ink or wash placed ,,n sal,. or ,nese never used oils ht.giause line is been paramount,, Capon ex - lost of us know little about Chinese of us do know that the Chinese ..-Lzy (somewhat like their English /bout putting the horse in pictures -ning them in ceramics. (rile famed :se, for example). .re good reasons for this. The horse, on, in the second and third centu- the basis of transport. But when iese crossed central asi:i. theY en- r1 a new breed of nnles. horse -called the Before that they were only 'inn 'nu> 1 !-Ieu,, Mot . car) lira ; July ins 1979 edited by maria prerauer j:( ;op r . ON A s: v( h Mu yam,. late 1211,, curly 1311r century, Sung Dynasty. placed in a subordinate situation to the scene. The faces always have a bland or be- mused look, which is in complete contrast to Japanese erotic art. which is always exag- gerated and aggressive. "The men in Japanese erotic art," says Capon, "have penises like oak trees. There is an obsessional quality to it. "The European painter." states Capon, "is primarily concerned with with form, tex- ture, color and realism. The Chinese pain- ter is always, even in landscape, concerned with the IDEA. The human presence is al- ways Insignificant, dwarfed by the towering landscape." The reason for this, suggests Capon, is that their philosophy has always acknowl- edged the dominance of nature and the ele- ments. To these man Is always subservient. By contrast Western philosophy tends to rhapsodise about man's ability to dominate his surroundings, East and West may never meet, but one thing is for sure, Edmund Capon Is doing his hest to bridge the gap. leOlichr.. 1'41111. Itaff)(,, I It I \I I I.' .\I I I I IM-. n . s 1411.4 ce (111) II lief II 1W, (=AUCTION.% N.A T ION A I, TOO TTI CONC V, T 0 CO M PET I if ION row STRINO PLAYERS NON TERTIARY STUDTPTTS I1 OR UNDIP CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS AUGUST 6, 1979 sr- M.I.M. Not Dim LIMITED QUEENSLAND MITI ORCHESTRA COUNCIL QUEENSLAND YOUTH ORCHESTRA COUNCIL am Orr( 'I! ;ha -,3 4001 r"IPPI`"^P (DT) 77I "124 the dance company brings you its Iri ,r,r,rr-thrlr6 r ,r nlrnr li Marino