Ulalume
Happy New Year
The Varnished Culture wishes humans and wee beasties a Happy New Year, excepting mosquitos and humans that insist on acting like animals. As artist Francis Bacon toasted, ‘Champagne for our real friends, and real pain for our sham friends!’ And at midnight, when the moment hopefully arises, rather than croaking Auld Lang Syne, better to murmur to your loved one a good Robbie Burns poem: Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun: I will luve thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run.
Continue Reading →Go See the ASO in 2016!
Photo of ASO from "The Australian"
Great season ahead for ASO, in its 80th year, with newbie Nicholas Carter. He’s a Wagner fan (yay!) and opens the season (13/2/16) with Die Walküre, Act I. Dare we dream to ramp-up Adelaide again as a second Bayreuth? It’s a natural fit – small, picturesque, bankrupt as the Master, and full of chancers! But beautiful. Like the canon on offer this season – Wagner, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Brahms, Dvorák, Handel, Berlioz, Strauss, Ravel, Prokofiev, Smetana, Elgar, Mahler, Debussy, Sibelius, Delius, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Yes…The Varnished Culture has ranked them, not chronologically, but on merit. But see and hear what you can…
Continue Reading →Art Joke of the Week
'Rendezvous' by Konstantin Somov (c. 1918)
A New York attorney representing a wealthy art collector called and asked to speak to his client, “Saul, I have some good news and, I have some bad news.” The art collector replied, “I’ve had an awful day; let’s hear the good news first.” The lawyer said, “Well, I met with your wife today, and she informed me that she invested $5,000 in two pictures that she thinks will bring a minimum of $15-20 million. I think she could be right.” Saul replied enthusiastically, “Well done! My wife is a brilliant businesswoman! You’ve just made my day. Now I know…
Continue Reading →Islam-o-nut
By Hubert van Ravesteyn (1671)
It looks like any other nut. The outer shell is hard And seemingly impervious, The flesh within is poisoned. Despite the strength of its integument This is prone to burst-forth After fermentation. It will lay in a shrinking room, Touching all within. So this is a nut one must not crack In the event its toxic traces Spill over the table.
Continue Reading →The Horse in Art
"Whistlejacket" by George Stubbs (National Gallery, London)
“Horses are the survivors of the age of heroes.” (Theodor Adorno) With the Melbourne Cup on today, the Race that stops a Nation (and in particular, the State of Victoria), and The Varnished Culture jaded by the whole thing (P hasn’t made money on the cup since Gold and Black), we thought a tribute to cultural nags would be nice. They feature heavily in painting of course, from pre-history (above) and beyond: And sculpture even more: Horses have been acting humans off the screen since the medium started: Though some of the equine roles can be unusually challenging: Then there’s the horse…
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