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Fragrant Space: Chinese Flower and Bird Painting of the Ming and Qing Dynasties from the Guangdong Provincial Museum
Paperback
Published April 1, 2000
2 people want to read
About the author
Edmund Capon
35 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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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 12, 2019
This book is actually a catalog produced for an exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2000. Unfortunately, I missed this exhibition. However, the catalog is probably the next best thing. The photographs are great and the explanations and technical details are fascinating and (apparently) quite detailed historically. I'm surprised that they are generally all so well documented...though it points to an era of genteel courtly charm ....and the pleasures of the rich.....whoc could afford to gather for parties in the garden to savour the fragrance of a particular flower, to drink wine and to compose or listen to poetry. (I wonder what the peasants were doing?).
It shows an impressive body of work from the Guandong Provincial Museum with a variety of styles and subject matter. It is interesting to note some of the psychology attributed to various artists...such as the artist who was from the Ming Royal family, then deposed who became a monk and painted an a style that binds with disinterested eyes were supposed to symbolise "the life of loyalists cut off from their imperial roots".
There is a nice introduction by Edmund Capon; a slightly repetitious, section about the significance of flower and bird painting...including the word puns , the symbolism etc associated with the various flowers and birds; and the most significant catalog section. Each painting in the catalog has a full page photo plus a page devoted to metadata....about the painter, the subject , the style, the meaning, etc.
I found the book quite fascinating and some of the art is lovely. I give it 4 stars.
It shows an impressive body of work from the Guandong Provincial Museum with a variety of styles and subject matter. It is interesting to note some of the psychology attributed to various artists...such as the artist who was from the Ming Royal family, then deposed who became a monk and painted an a style that binds with disinterested eyes were supposed to symbolise "the life of loyalists cut off from their imperial roots".
There is a nice introduction by Edmund Capon; a slightly repetitious, section about the significance of flower and bird painting...including the word puns , the symbolism etc associated with the various flowers and birds; and the most significant catalog section. Each painting in the catalog has a full page photo plus a page devoted to metadata....about the painter, the subject , the style, the meaning, etc.
I found the book quite fascinating and some of the art is lovely. I give it 4 stars.
Displaying 1 of 1 review