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I Blame Duchamp
In this sweeping collection of essays, Edmund Capon describes his lifelong fascination with art and the artists who, over centuries, have enlightened us and challenged the way we see the world. Edmund Capon has been the director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales since 1978.
I. The human project. The inspired individual, or a celebration of the ego --'A gentle man is not a pot' --Lorenzo Lotto --Serial Cranach --Caravaggio : a talent for our times --Bill Henson --Henry Moore --Sidney Nolan --II. New perspectives. Masaccio : a very modern moster --The Bellini and Venice --The puzzle of Giogione's The Tempest --Pierro della Francesca : master of light and reason --Raphael's The Entombment : a mnument to immortality --Antonello da Messina : small but perfectly formed --Scattering ink among the mountains : the art of Dao Ji --Whistler, Wilde and the Peacock Room --Cy Twombly and his Three Studies from the Temeraire --I blame Duchamp --On Cézanne : a founding father of the modern imagination --Jeffrey Smart : a man of great composure --III. Process, practice and perfection. Ghirlandaio and a bad nose : the case for imperfection --Making marks : the fine art of drawing --The three perfections : painting, poetry and calligraphy --Giacometti --Jade : the stone of five virtues --On Bonnard --Giorgio Morandi, master of the silent bottle --IV. Patronage, power and faith. Big Brother is watching : the growth of the art institution --Piety, prestige and pleasure : art and patronage in renaissance Italy --Buddhist art along the Silk Roads --Subtleties of song : the art and aesthetics of Song China --Qingzhou : the art of contemplation --John Bull and the little boy at Manly --V.A personal view. On guild, or ot my fault Guv --On football --China in the 1970s --The true eccentric --Recollections of 'the Pope' --Ten favourite museums.
I. The human project. The inspired individual, or a celebration of the ego --'A gentle man is not a pot' --Lorenzo Lotto --Serial Cranach --Caravaggio : a talent for our times --Bill Henson --Henry Moore --Sidney Nolan --II. New perspectives. Masaccio : a very modern moster --The Bellini and Venice --The puzzle of Giogione's The Tempest --Pierro della Francesca : master of light and reason --Raphael's The Entombment : a mnument to immortality --Antonello da Messina : small but perfectly formed --Scattering ink among the mountains : the art of Dao Ji --Whistler, Wilde and the Peacock Room --Cy Twombly and his Three Studies from the Temeraire --I blame Duchamp --On Cézanne : a founding father of the modern imagination --Jeffrey Smart : a man of great composure --III. Process, practice and perfection. Ghirlandaio and a bad nose : the case for imperfection --Making marks : the fine art of drawing --The three perfections : painting, poetry and calligraphy --Giacometti --Jade : the stone of five virtues --On Bonnard --Giorgio Morandi, master of the silent bottle --IV. Patronage, power and faith. Big Brother is watching : the growth of the art institution --Piety, prestige and pleasure : art and patronage in renaissance Italy --Buddhist art along the Silk Roads --Subtleties of song : the art and aesthetics of Song China --Qingzhou : the art of contemplation --John Bull and the little boy at Manly --V.A personal view. On guild, or ot my fault Guv --On football --China in the 1970s --The true eccentric --Recollections of 'the Pope' --Ten favourite museums.
- GenresArt
385 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
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About the author
Edmund Capon
34 booksEdmund George Capon AM, OBE was an art scholar specialising in Chinese art. He was director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales 1978–2011. He was also the Chairman of Football club, Sydney FC 2006–07. - Wikipedia
Capon had spent his time writing, guest curating and travelling since he retired after 33 years as director in 2011, and moved between Australia and England.
Capon was both a scholar and a showman. He was a Mandarin-speaking expert in Chinese art and a lively and gregarious public figure, known for his fondness for giraffes and odd socks.
The gallery’s longest-serving director was an unlikely choice as director when he arrived in Sydney in 1978 from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, where he was assistant keeper of the Far Eastern section. But he combined deep knowledge of art with popular appeal.
The cigar-smoking Capon was as at ease in the studios of international artists such as Cy Twombly as he was chatting about his beloved Chelsea football team to the Gallery’s security staff, who he knew by name. - obit SMH
Capon had spent his time writing, guest curating and travelling since he retired after 33 years as director in 2011, and moved between Australia and England.
Capon was both a scholar and a showman. He was a Mandarin-speaking expert in Chinese art and a lively and gregarious public figure, known for his fondness for giraffes and odd socks.
The gallery’s longest-serving director was an unlikely choice as director when he arrived in Sydney in 1978 from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, where he was assistant keeper of the Far Eastern section. But he combined deep knowledge of art with popular appeal.
The cigar-smoking Capon was as at ease in the studios of international artists such as Cy Twombly as he was chatting about his beloved Chelsea football team to the Gallery’s security staff, who he knew by name. - obit SMH
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