- The author of books including "Inside the Art Market: Australia's Galleries, A History" (Thames & Hudson), "A Quiet R... moreThe author of books including "Inside the Art Market: Australia's Galleries, A History" (Thames & Hudson), "A Quiet Revolution: The Rise of Australian Art 1946-68" (Text Publishing), "A Quest for Enlightenment: The Art of Roger Kemp" (Macmillan), "Defining the Modern Australian Landscape: Russell Drysdale" (Wakefield Press), "Discovering Dobell" (Wakefield Press), "The Compassion of Captain Cook" (Connor Court); and contributing author of "Australian Painting 1788-2000" (Oxford University Press).edit
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Review(s) of: Rick Amor, by Gavin Fry, Beagle Press, 216 pp, $120 rrp. Includes endnotes. Includes photos.
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Over several weeks in June-July 1952, Sidney Nolan made a long trip through the Northern Territory and outback Queensland. He was there to record for a Brisbane newspaper the effects of the then worst drought in memory. The article... more
Over several weeks in June-July 1952, Sidney Nolan made a long trip through the Northern Territory and outback Queensland. He was there to record for a Brisbane newspaper the effects of the then worst drought in memory.
The article discusses how at times he stopped making drawings and took photographs instead, mostly of the desicated carcasses of dead cattle and horses. Strongly indebted to Picasso's wartime still-lives featuring bull and goat skulls, and also human remains he had see when visiting archeological excavations at Pompeii, Nolan employed photography to explore and press emphatically existentialist themes.
The article discusses how at times he stopped making drawings and took photographs instead, mostly of the desicated carcasses of dead cattle and horses. Strongly indebted to Picasso's wartime still-lives featuring bull and goat skulls, and also human remains he had see when visiting archeological excavations at Pompeii, Nolan employed photography to explore and press emphatically existentialist themes.
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This is a discussion and appraisal of a pilot program, in a govt school in NSW, designed to deter young children from adopting racist values. Running for two weeks, the program was filmed throughout by ABC television. The discussion... more
This is a discussion and appraisal of a pilot program, in a govt school in NSW, designed to deter young children from adopting racist values. Running for two weeks, the program was filmed throughout by ABC television.
The discussion points out the program is politically motivated, and was designed with no reference to child psychology. In particular, ideas were forced upon young children who were not developmentally mature enough to deal with such matters (students were confused, distressed, some crying). The discussion chiefly focusses on divergences between the politically oriented classroom tasks and educational psychology, highlighting where the program contravened approved teaching practice in Australia. It is pointed out that the program has been developed by social psychologists who work entirely with adults, not children; likewise most tasks are copied from adult programs, and are not suitable for young children.
It also points to how many of the tasks given to the primary-school aged students are already used in secondary education, were youngsters are mature enough to handle the material and issues. And also that the program was itself racially prejudiced, making false social assumptions about white students. The author refers here to his experiences teaching in urban areas of significant disadvantage.
The discussion stresses that educational psychologists and professional educators need to be brought in on all aspects of planning, design and implementation before any such program is introduced into Australian schools.
The discussion points out the program is politically motivated, and was designed with no reference to child psychology. In particular, ideas were forced upon young children who were not developmentally mature enough to deal with such matters (students were confused, distressed, some crying). The discussion chiefly focusses on divergences between the politically oriented classroom tasks and educational psychology, highlighting where the program contravened approved teaching practice in Australia. It is pointed out that the program has been developed by social psychologists who work entirely with adults, not children; likewise most tasks are copied from adult programs, and are not suitable for young children.
It also points to how many of the tasks given to the primary-school aged students are already used in secondary education, were youngsters are mature enough to handle the material and issues. And also that the program was itself racially prejudiced, making false social assumptions about white students. The author refers here to his experiences teaching in urban areas of significant disadvantage.
The discussion stresses that educational psychologists and professional educators need to be brought in on all aspects of planning, design and implementation before any such program is introduced into Australian schools.
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The man walked over and smashed the winning sculpture. Quite deliberately, then and there in the Tate Gallery. He struck it, then pushed it from the pedestal, raising his voice and, in fractured English, abusing the exhibition's... more
The man walked over and smashed the winning sculpture. Quite deliberately, then and there in the Tate Gallery. He struck it, then pushed it from the pedestal, raising his voice and, in fractured English, abusing the exhibition's organisers. It was March 16, 1953, in the first week of an international art prize honouring victims of political oppression.
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They swung into hushed action in early morning a few months ago, just before 1.30 a.m. on Monday, April 24. A large contingent of New Orleans police barricaded off Iberville Street and Canal Place, temporary lighting was set up, and... more
They swung into hushed action in early morning a few months ago, just before 1.30 a.m. on Monday, April 24. A large contingent of New Orleans police barricaded off Iberville Street and Canal Place, temporary lighting was set up, and police snipers were stationed on a parking garage and other buildings with a clear view overlooking the Battle of Liberty Place monument.
Research Interests: History, Military History, Censorship, Public Art, Iconoclasm, and 15 moreRacism, American Civil War, Political Language and Political Correctness, Political Art, Art and Politics, Cemetery Sculpture and Monuments, Post Civil War Period, Images of Slavery, Civil Rights History, Quadrant, Civil War Monuments, Confederate Statues, Henry Shrady, Civil War Memorials, and Civil War Iconography
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The article examines the Still Life paintings of the major Australian artist John Brack (1920-1999), specifically his "battle" series. It explains how we can understand these strange modernist pictures - which depict... more
The article examines the Still Life paintings of the major Australian artist John Brack (1920-1999), specifically his "battle" series. It explains how we can understand these strange modernist pictures - which depict groups of pencils, pens and playing cards gathered on table tops - as signifying battles. Several specific paintings are analysed. Noting Brack's reference in conversation to Tolstoy, the discussion sets the paintings against the Russian novelist's explanation (in an article on "War & Peace") of how an artist or writer can represent something as complex as a battle. Especial attention is focussed on the still life painting based on a diagram of the Battle of Waterloo. The last part of the discussion probes the potential meaning of the later "Battle" still-life paintings, where the playing cards spell out words. A potential allusion here to Richard Hoggart's "The Uses of Literacy" is tested. pp8.
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The article traces the start of a shift in mainstream crime movies over 1967-71, looking beyond customary fixation on plot and character, in order to highlight links with social change, and new developments in the justice system and... more
The article traces the start of a shift in mainstream crime movies over 1967-71, looking beyond customary fixation on plot and character, in order to highlight links with social change, and new developments in the justice system and policing. Examining in sequence 'Bullitt', 'Get Carter', 'The French Connection' and 'Dirty Harry', initial stress is placed upon how the respective films were shot and how camera crews handled scenes. The article starts with how the directors of the four films consciously rejected the received conventions of 1960s crime movies, and embraced cinema verite. It briefly shows how 'Bullitt' introduced/pioneered a new approach to film even as it invoked plot formulas lingering from Hollywood cowboy movies. 'Get Carter' and 'The French Connection' are shown to have subsequently pioneered a new mature, 'gritty', socially-alert urban realism. Scenes in both films are unpicked to reveal strong subtexts propelling the story, and the view of urban life it presses. The article then foregrounds the turbulent events of 1967-68, especially in San Francisco, as well as how the US Supreme Court forced changes in the practice of policing. It then explores how 'Dirty Harry' initially aimed to respond to these factors by showing an old-style policeman hampered by the new regulations that had just been introduced. The article finishes by indicating how crime movies then quickly undermined these breakthroughs by settling into a new set of safe conventions. 11 pp.
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Mueck Brothers, a pair of model-makers cum sculptors had a workshop called the Fantasy Workshop in Melbourne. They were extremely famous and creative for making different items like puppets, alien masks and costumes. Their work and... more
Mueck Brothers, a pair of model-makers cum sculptors had a workshop called the Fantasy Workshop in Melbourne. They were extremely famous and creative for making different items like puppets, alien masks and costumes. Their work and different ventures are discussed in the article.
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In December 1873 the Victorian goldmining town of Clunes, about thirty kilometres north of Ballarat, was the scene for what is remembered as a major uprising against Chinese miners. This event is cited in assorted histories of Australian... more
In December 1873 the Victorian goldmining town of Clunes, about thirty kilometres north of Ballarat, was the scene for what is remembered as a major uprising against Chinese miners. This event is cited in assorted histories of Australian society in the nineteenth century, often being placed in terms of size and violence close behind the riots at Lambing Flat in 1861 and Buckland River in 1857.
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The article explores the manifestly allegorical nature of Kurosawa's controversial 1950 film Rashomon, and how it was directly responding to the dishonesty of individuals called before recent war crimes trials (1946-48). After... more
The article explores the manifestly allegorical nature of Kurosawa's controversial 1950 film Rashomon, and how it was directly responding to the dishonesty of individuals called before recent war crimes trials (1946-48). After noting the overt symbolism of the film's opening setting, which manifestly alludes to the plight of Japan, the trials which dominated the nation's media in the late 1940s are also discussed (it notes 29 employees of the film company had been purged). As is stated at the film's onset, the community was distressed because it was evident that lies were being told and the truth concealed: similarly, in post-war Japan no one knew who to believe about war atrocities. Testimony is compromised, Rashomon shows, because the guilty seek to hide their misdeeds. A direct comparison is made with Clouzot's film from the Nazi-Occupation Period, Le Corbeau of 1943, which told a story of village life to likewise highlight dishonesty and betrayal in time of war. As with Rashomon, there was a local backlash against the film due to the plain, if uncomfortable contemporary message it delivered. Kurosawa's use of a medieval setting/story to moralise, again, about post-war Japan in his later samurai films, 'Seven Samurai' and 'Yojimbo', is considered; although, as is pointed out, his allegorical purpose was completely lacking in the popular Western versions of these films, 'The Magnificent Seven' and 'A Fistful of Dollars'. (Another cowboy film, 'High Noon', is praised in passing and likened to Kurosawa's approach.) Rashomon's seeming influence on Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal', another allegorical tale of ethics and personal conduct against a medieval war setting, is also highlighted. 5pp
Research Interests: History, Literature and cinema, Japanese Cinema, Modern Japanese Literature, Cinema, and 15 morePolitically Critical Cinema, Ingmar Bergman Films, Akira Kurosawa, Samurai films, Cinema Studies, Seven Samurai, National Allegory, The Seventh Seal, Rashomon, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, War Crimes Trials, War Crimes Tribunal, High Noon, Quadrant, and Historical Allegory
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It was shortly after the Second World War and Wolfgang Sievers had landed a photoshoot of a busy Melbourne factory. The company wanted photographs for publicity purposes: 'He wandered all over the place, taking shots of what... more
It was shortly after the Second World War and Wolfgang Sievers had landed a photoshoot of a busy Melbourne factory. The company wanted photographs for publicity purposes: 'He wandered all over the place, taking shots of what interested him,' recalls Ross Heathcote, in those days a young engineer with the suburban firm. However, there was consternation in the office when the prints were later delivered. In his pursuit of visually stimulating compositions, Sievers featured unfinished and blemished products. 'They were beaut photos,' my father continues, 'but not what was needed. It looked like we were manufacturing with shoddy steel, so the owner just binned a pile of Wolf 's prints.'
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The article assesses a controversial interpretation of Arthur Boyd’s 1950s “Bride” paintings, and their relationship to Aboriginal issues, which has been advanced by Anna Haebich of Curtin University, Ann McGrath of the Australian... more
The article assesses a controversial interpretation of Arthur Boyd’s 1950s “Bride” paintings, and their relationship to Aboriginal issues, which has been advanced by Anna Haebich of Curtin University, Ann McGrath of the Australian National University, and Kendrah Morgan of the Heide Museum of Modern Art. Having scrutinised their arguments - closely rechecking evidence, consulting sources, testing analytical rigor, and setting claims against the paintings concerned - the article finds significant deficiencies in the respective authors' claims. Among other shortcomings, all three authors refer to fictitious works of art. One of them is also shown to use invented evidence to make her case. The article ends by asking whether Australian art history is being redacted so as to make it conform to current politically correct agendas. 10pp.
Research Interests: Geography, Australian Studies, Australian society, Modernism (Art History), Art and Interpretation, and 15 moreAustralian History, Political Art, Australian art, Intermarriages, Patrick White, Aboriginal Studies, Political Correctness, Australian cultural history, Australian modernism, Australian Modernism, Australian Art, Alfred Jacob Miller, Arthur Boyd, Angry Penguins, and Quadrant
Fort Apache is set in the aftermath of the US Civil War. The American west should be at peace, but it is treacherously unstable because the Indian nations are restless. John Ford's 1948 film follows the friction between two men... more
Fort Apache is set in the aftermath of the US Civil War. The American west should be at peace, but it is treacherously unstable because the Indian nations are restless. John Ford's 1948 film follows the friction between two men against this background. There is the skilled and well-liked Indian fighter, Captain Kirby York (John Wayne), who has been passed over for command. His rival, Lieutenant-Colonel Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda), is a prickly West Point poodle assigned an outpost he considers uncouth and beneath him. The film culminates in Fonda ignoring Wayne's expert counsel and leading a large cavalry unit into what will be a massacre by the Indians-afterwards, the same bloody victors will merge with Crazy Horse's force and storm into battle at Little Bighorn. The premise of Fort Apache seems pregnant with significance, because there are such intriguing parallels between Ford's film and political tensions of its day. War is over, but peace is tenuous; the fort is...
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The visual and technical excellence evident in Jeffrey Smart's paintings, displayed in an exhibition of his works at Australian Galleries, Sydney, is analysed. The compositional geometry employed in his paintings such as 'King of... more
The visual and technical excellence evident in Jeffrey Smart's paintings, displayed in an exhibition of his works at Australian Galleries, Sydney, is analysed. The compositional geometry employed in his paintings such as 'King of the Castle', 'The Red Box?' and 'Arezzo Station II', which combine depicted objects, shapes and colours in an interdependent manner to form a whole work, is discussed.
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The article provides a new perspective on John Brack's paintings, particularly Collins Street, 5.00 pm.
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Review(s) of: The Critic as Bully, by Robert Hughes: The Australian Years, Patricia Anderson, Pandora Press, Sydney, 2009, 345p, rrp$59.95, ISBN: 9780957914223.
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Was Kenneth Clark an enlightened tastemaker who backed modern English painting and sculpture? Posterity has judged the art historian favourably. Clark is revered as the advocate who opened institutional doors to major innovators including... more
Was Kenneth Clark an enlightened tastemaker who backed modern English painting and sculpture? Posterity has judged the art historian favourably. Clark is revered as the advocate who opened institutional doors to major innovators including Henry Moore, Paul Nash, John Piper, Barbara Hepworth, Graham Sutherland and Ben Nicholson. Still, three decades after his death, as English modernist art is relegated to the chronicle of history, popular perceptions need to be tested. Did he support genuine talent?
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The moment of creative transition for Fred Williams is signalled by a painting he completed after he had been in London nearly four years. Tree Loppers, a large oil of 1955, marks that step where the promising youngster metamorphoses into... more
The moment of creative transition for Fred Williams is signalled by a painting he completed after he had been in London nearly four years. Tree Loppers, a large oil of 1955, marks that step where the promising youngster metamorphoses into a mature artist.
Research Interests: Computer Science, Modernism (Art History), Art and Interpretation, Australian History, Australian art, and 15 moreLandscape paintings, Piet Mondrian, Landscape Art, Australian cultural history, E. H. Gombrich, Etching, Georges Braque, Australian modernism, Karl Popper theories, Australian Modernism, Australian Art, Australian printmaking, Art and Illusion (gombrich), Kitchen Sink School, and Quadrant
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The controversial paper explores Kenneth Clark's hostility and outspoken opposition to modern art in the 1930s; then his qualified support for several artists during the war years. Several direct attacks against modern art he made... more
The controversial paper explores Kenneth Clark's hostility and outspoken opposition to modern art in the 1930s; then his qualified support for several artists during the war years. Several direct attacks against modern art he made in the 1930s British media are cited and discussed. Identifying specific artists, the paper shows who Clark railed against (including Nicholson & Mondrian) and how it affected their lives; and who he chose to promote, using his official position during the war to advance certain artists he was friendly with (Piper & Sutherland). Turning to Henry Moore's underground shelter drawings made during the London Blitz, the article suggests how the artist coped with Clark's narrow views while trying not to compromise his own strengthening modernist work. 9pp.
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The article discusses the 1962 feature film ‘Cape Fear’, working through: - Gregory Peck’s decision to purchase the option on John D. MacDonald’s book, and have his production company make the film; similarity of his character Sam Bowden... more
The article discusses the 1962 feature film ‘Cape Fear’, working through:
- Gregory Peck’s decision to purchase the option on John D. MacDonald’s book, and have his production company make the film; similarity of his character Sam Bowden to his prior role in the film ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’.
- The initial production intentions to pastiche a Hitchcock thriller; how these influenced the choice of director, film editor, art director and composer; how this is evident in the style of the film; where conscious decisions were made to depart from a Hitchcock formula.
- How ‘Cape Fear’ inverts the ‘revenge tragedy’ of stage drama; pre-shoot difficulties with the censor; how the director accomodated the censor without compromising the film; examples of visual details showing this.
- Shifting the setting from a vague everytown in the novel, to the American South for the film; how that alters the tone of the story; the fictional character Max Cady as described in the book; the casting of Robert Mitchum as Cady; Mitchum’s prickly behaviour on location, and why; scripted brutality and Mitchum’s acting style.
- Post-war change in the hard-boiled novel with introduction of psychology (novelists discussed include Patricia Highsmith, Jeff Thomson, Robert Bloch, John D. MacDonald); Cady’s backstory in the novel; direct connections with the real Brownout Murders in WW2 Melbourne, which MacDonald had passed through at the time; deletions made for the film’s script.
- Potential similarities between ‘Cape Fear’ and Peck’s next film ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’; Peck’s roles, and threats to his children in each film; social and behavioural similarities, and differences, between the evil characters Max Cady and Bob Ewell in the films; discussion of social type the characters represent; strong allusion to the criminals behind the Klutter murders, Kansas, and Walker murders, Florida, recently in national news.
- Discussion of whether Bowden represents the Jeffersonian ‘just man’ popular in post-war Hollywood film; comparison with ‘High Noon’, ‘Paths to Glory’ and ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’; shows how those films adopted a deliberately mythic mode, where ‘Cape Fear’ deals with a pragmatic modern man; lists how Peck’s character uses the police to get his way, then his wife suggests he is compromising his morals; discussion of his motivations, and the final ethical decision of the movie.
- Gregory Peck’s decision to purchase the option on John D. MacDonald’s book, and have his production company make the film; similarity of his character Sam Bowden to his prior role in the film ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’.
- The initial production intentions to pastiche a Hitchcock thriller; how these influenced the choice of director, film editor, art director and composer; how this is evident in the style of the film; where conscious decisions were made to depart from a Hitchcock formula.
- How ‘Cape Fear’ inverts the ‘revenge tragedy’ of stage drama; pre-shoot difficulties with the censor; how the director accomodated the censor without compromising the film; examples of visual details showing this.
- Shifting the setting from a vague everytown in the novel, to the American South for the film; how that alters the tone of the story; the fictional character Max Cady as described in the book; the casting of Robert Mitchum as Cady; Mitchum’s prickly behaviour on location, and why; scripted brutality and Mitchum’s acting style.
- Post-war change in the hard-boiled novel with introduction of psychology (novelists discussed include Patricia Highsmith, Jeff Thomson, Robert Bloch, John D. MacDonald); Cady’s backstory in the novel; direct connections with the real Brownout Murders in WW2 Melbourne, which MacDonald had passed through at the time; deletions made for the film’s script.
- Potential similarities between ‘Cape Fear’ and Peck’s next film ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’; Peck’s roles, and threats to his children in each film; social and behavioural similarities, and differences, between the evil characters Max Cady and Bob Ewell in the films; discussion of social type the characters represent; strong allusion to the criminals behind the Klutter murders, Kansas, and Walker murders, Florida, recently in national news.
- Discussion of whether Bowden represents the Jeffersonian ‘just man’ popular in post-war Hollywood film; comparison with ‘High Noon’, ‘Paths to Glory’ and ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’; shows how those films adopted a deliberately mythic mode, where ‘Cape Fear’ deals with a pragmatic modern man; lists how Peck’s character uses the police to get his way, then his wife suggests he is compromising his morals; discussion of his motivations, and the final ethical decision of the movie.
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Marking the 300th anniversary of the publication of the first novel in English, this essay examines different forms of opening sentence in English and American novels. It is arranged into five sections, each dealing with a different... more
Marking the 300th anniversary of the publication of the first novel in English, this essay examines different forms of opening sentence in English and American novels. It is arranged into five sections, each dealing with a different aspect of the novel's opening.
Working from a rich range of examples, the first two sections consider how certain authors start their novels running, unpacking their first sentences to show the complex information being communicated to the reader. Authors include Aldous Huxley, Thomas Pynchon, J.D. Salinger, Sam Selvon, Ross McDonald, John Grisham, Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene, Angela Carter, Kenneth Fearing, Sylvia Plath, Philip Kerr & John Marsden.
The next section of the essay turns to how the opening passages operate in four major novels, analysing the first paragraphs of 'Dark Passage' by David Goodis, 'A Farewell to Arms' by Ernest Hemingway, 'Good Morning, Midnight' by Jean Rhys, & 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen.
The final sections of the essay quickly trace the historical appearance of rival forms of opening passage, beginning with ' Robinson Crusoe' and 'A Journal of he Plague Year' by Daniel Defoe, then moving through 'Pamela' by Samuel Richardson, 'Joseph Andrews' by Henry Fielding, 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' by Ann Radcliffe, 'The Monk' by Matthew Lewis, then finishing with 'Hard Times' by Charles Dickens.
Working from a rich range of examples, the first two sections consider how certain authors start their novels running, unpacking their first sentences to show the complex information being communicated to the reader. Authors include Aldous Huxley, Thomas Pynchon, J.D. Salinger, Sam Selvon, Ross McDonald, John Grisham, Raymond Chandler, Graham Greene, Angela Carter, Kenneth Fearing, Sylvia Plath, Philip Kerr & John Marsden.
The next section of the essay turns to how the opening passages operate in four major novels, analysing the first paragraphs of 'Dark Passage' by David Goodis, 'A Farewell to Arms' by Ernest Hemingway, 'Good Morning, Midnight' by Jean Rhys, & 'Persuasion' by Jane Austen.
The final sections of the essay quickly trace the historical appearance of rival forms of opening passage, beginning with ' Robinson Crusoe' and 'A Journal of he Plague Year' by Daniel Defoe, then moving through 'Pamela' by Samuel Richardson, 'Joseph Andrews' by Henry Fielding, 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' by Ann Radcliffe, 'The Monk' by Matthew Lewis, then finishing with 'Hard Times' by Charles Dickens.
Research Interests: Creative Writing, Eighteenth-Century literature, Graham Greene, Jane Austen, Narrative Methods, and 13 moreEnglish Novel, Modern English Novel, Ernest Hemingway, American Novel, Daniel Defoe, Jean Rhys, Henry Fielding, Charles Dickens, Samuel Richardson, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Rise of the Novel, and David Goodis
The article traces the start of a shift in mainstream crime movies over 1967-71, looking beyond customary fixation on plot and character, in order to highlight links with social change, and new developments in the justice system and... more
The article traces the start of a shift in mainstream crime movies over 1967-71, looking beyond customary fixation on plot and character, in order to highlight links with social change, and new developments in the justice system and policing.
Examining in sequence 'Bullitt', 'Get Carter', 'The French Connection' and 'Dirty Harry', initial stress is placed upon how the respective films were shot and how camera crews handled scenes.
The article starts with how the directors of the four films consciously rejected the received conventions of 1960s crime movies, and embraced cinema verite. It briefly shows how 'Bullitt' introduced/pioneered a new approach to film even as it invoked plot formulas lingering from Hollywood cowboy movies.
'Get Carter' and 'The French Connection' are shown to have subsequently pioneered a new mature, 'gritty', socially-alert urban realism. Scenes in both films are unpicked to reveal strong subtexts propelling the story, and the view of urban life it presses.
The article then foregrounds the turbulent events of 1967-68, especially in San Francisco, as well as how the US Supreme Court forced changes in the practice of policing. It then explores how 'Dirty Harry' initially aimed to respond to these factors by showing an old-style policeman hampered by the new regulations that had just been introduced.
The article finishes by indicating how crime movies then quickly undermined these breakthroughs by settling into a new set of safe conventions.
11 pp.
Examining in sequence 'Bullitt', 'Get Carter', 'The French Connection' and 'Dirty Harry', initial stress is placed upon how the respective films were shot and how camera crews handled scenes.
The article starts with how the directors of the four films consciously rejected the received conventions of 1960s crime movies, and embraced cinema verite. It briefly shows how 'Bullitt' introduced/pioneered a new approach to film even as it invoked plot formulas lingering from Hollywood cowboy movies.
'Get Carter' and 'The French Connection' are shown to have subsequently pioneered a new mature, 'gritty', socially-alert urban realism. Scenes in both films are unpicked to reveal strong subtexts propelling the story, and the view of urban life it presses.
The article then foregrounds the turbulent events of 1967-68, especially in San Francisco, as well as how the US Supreme Court forced changes in the practice of policing. It then explores how 'Dirty Harry' initially aimed to respond to these factors by showing an old-style policeman hampered by the new regulations that had just been introduced.
The article finishes by indicating how crime movies then quickly undermined these breakthroughs by settling into a new set of safe conventions.
11 pp.
Research Interests: Film Analysis, Supreme Court, American Cinema, British Cinema (Film Studies), True crime and noir narratives (literary and filmic), and 10 moreCinema Studies, Clint Eastwood, Crime Films, Social Reform, The French Connection, film analysis, Cinema Verite, Dirty Harry, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, and U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren
The article discusses the coertion of junior/casual staff by senior tenured academics within Higher Education in order to rally support on what are political matters. Focussing on a major dispute in Australia over the proposed Ramsay... more
The article discusses the coertion of junior/casual staff by senior tenured academics within Higher Education in order to rally support on what are political matters. Focussing on a major dispute in Australia over the proposed Ramsay Centre, which would support the study of Western civilisation, it raises questions of possible coertion within what should be a scholarly environment that fosters intellectual freedom. Reference is made to the controversial incident in Canada where senior Faculty bullied the young academic Lindsay Shephard. The article draws on, and discusses, the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, George Orwell, and Jordan Peterson on the subject of coertion, and the role of language in imposing 'Politically Correct' thought. Historic comparison is also made with the behaviour of pro-Soviet academics employed in Australian universities during the Cold War.
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Based on an empirical analysis of nearly 200 cases over 2015-16, in the north-western region of Melbourne, Australia, this fact-centered article demonstrates how Government Secondary Schools discriminate against male applicants for... more
Based on an empirical analysis of nearly 200 cases over 2015-16, in the north-western region of Melbourne, Australia, this fact-centered article demonstrates how Government Secondary Schools discriminate against male applicants for teaching positions. Besides giving figures and statistics, the article identifies issues of non-compliance with government staffing regulations and Equal Opportunity legislation at a number of schools (which are named).
The article further shows that a loop-hole is built into complaints procedures which disallows the relevant complaints section of the Education Ministry from accepting, and investigating, complaints of discrimination in staff selection made against government schools by male teaching applicants. It further details the bureaucratic process which saw a non-compliance grievance against one secondary school (which in two years appointed 17 consecutive female teachers for one subject) sidelined with no investigation or action taken, when the complaint was made directly to the Minister of Education by a Member of Parliament on behalf of a constituent.
These interlinking factors seem to explain why the low number of male teachers employed at government schools in the state of Victoria continues to decline at a steady rate.
The article further shows that a loop-hole is built into complaints procedures which disallows the relevant complaints section of the Education Ministry from accepting, and investigating, complaints of discrimination in staff selection made against government schools by male teaching applicants. It further details the bureaucratic process which saw a non-compliance grievance against one secondary school (which in two years appointed 17 consecutive female teachers for one subject) sidelined with no investigation or action taken, when the complaint was made directly to the Minister of Education by a Member of Parliament on behalf of a constituent.
These interlinking factors seem to explain why the low number of male teachers employed at government schools in the state of Victoria continues to decline at a steady rate.
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The article begins by asking what purpose is served by music in Stanley Kubrick’s later films - It muses loosely over the role played by music in ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’, then points out how Kubrick ceased hiring... more
The article begins by asking what purpose is served by music in Stanley Kubrick’s later films
- It muses loosely over the role played by music in ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’, then points out how Kubrick ceased hiring cinema composers after making ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, then introduces some implications of his using classical and contemporary music in that film.
- It briefly recounts how Kubrick came to make the film, his contact with Arthur C. Clarke, what project Clarke was working on, and the then current state of the space race; then speeds quickly over their collaboration in writing the screenplay, and the making of the film, followed by a short summary of the plot.
- It points to the overt influence of Marshall McLuhan’s ideas on key aspects of the film's plot, especially McLuhan’s contemporaneous arguments about evolution and technology, and technology-human interfaces, showing where and how McLuhan's theories connect with issues in the plot.
- It discusses how Kubrick's film presents a vision of the future that is non-military, and space travel and exploration is corporatised. Clarke rejected this, and gave a very different view in his novel, making the mission a military expedition.
- In light of this, it considers Kubrick’s earlier fatalistic films with military themes, ‘Paths of Glory’ and ‘Dr Strangelove’, suggesting that Kubrick was pressing a significant point in eliminating military involvement in space exploration—by removing the military the film was future-affirming.
- It discusses the ‘killer ape’ theory which became popular across anthropology, psychology and archeology in the 1950s and early 1960s, highlighting the then accepted theories of Konrad Lorenz and Raymond Dart (ideas now discredited); it shows that Kubrick and Clarke learned about Dart’s ideas of violence, human evolution and cognition when researching the ‘Dawn of Man’ sequence (it identifies which book they picked up the theory from), and then built the film around the 'killer ape' theory.
- The article returns to the original puzzle about the purpose served by music. Going over the music used in certain passages of the film, it shows how Kubrick used music symbolically. It further concludes that alert intellectually informed audiences of the mid 1960s would perceive the use of Richard Strauss’s music at key points in the film as bringing to the fore the well-known theories about humanity of Nietzsche, McLuhan and Dart.
- It muses loosely over the role played by music in ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’, then points out how Kubrick ceased hiring cinema composers after making ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, then introduces some implications of his using classical and contemporary music in that film.
- It briefly recounts how Kubrick came to make the film, his contact with Arthur C. Clarke, what project Clarke was working on, and the then current state of the space race; then speeds quickly over their collaboration in writing the screenplay, and the making of the film, followed by a short summary of the plot.
- It points to the overt influence of Marshall McLuhan’s ideas on key aspects of the film's plot, especially McLuhan’s contemporaneous arguments about evolution and technology, and technology-human interfaces, showing where and how McLuhan's theories connect with issues in the plot.
- It discusses how Kubrick's film presents a vision of the future that is non-military, and space travel and exploration is corporatised. Clarke rejected this, and gave a very different view in his novel, making the mission a military expedition.
- In light of this, it considers Kubrick’s earlier fatalistic films with military themes, ‘Paths of Glory’ and ‘Dr Strangelove’, suggesting that Kubrick was pressing a significant point in eliminating military involvement in space exploration—by removing the military the film was future-affirming.
- It discusses the ‘killer ape’ theory which became popular across anthropology, psychology and archeology in the 1950s and early 1960s, highlighting the then accepted theories of Konrad Lorenz and Raymond Dart (ideas now discredited); it shows that Kubrick and Clarke learned about Dart’s ideas of violence, human evolution and cognition when researching the ‘Dawn of Man’ sequence (it identifies which book they picked up the theory from), and then built the film around the 'killer ape' theory.
- The article returns to the original puzzle about the purpose served by music. Going over the music used in certain passages of the film, it shows how Kubrick used music symbolically. It further concludes that alert intellectually informed audiences of the mid 1960s would perceive the use of Richard Strauss’s music at key points in the film as bringing to the fore the well-known theories about humanity of Nietzsche, McLuhan and Dart.
Research Interests:
A short discussion of Fred Williams's paintings over 1963-68 dealing with the You Yangs landscape south of Melbourne. These were exhibited together at the Geelong Regional Gallery in late 2017. (uses some of the material closely... more
A short discussion of Fred Williams's paintings over 1963-68 dealing with the You Yangs landscape south of Melbourne. These were exhibited together at the Geelong Regional Gallery in late 2017.
(uses some of the material closely explained in the prior article "The making of Fred Williams" - below)
(uses some of the material closely explained in the prior article "The making of Fred Williams" - below)
Research Interests:
The article discusses at length the vexed issue of historic Memorial removal which has stirred much debate and civil activism across the United States, as well as international attention.
Research Interests: Military History, Censorship, Public Art, Iconoclasm, Racism, and 19 moreAmerican Civil War, Political Language and Political Correctness, Political Art, Civil Rights (History), Memorials and the Memorial Art-Work in the Public Arena, Art and Politics, Robert Lowell, Cemetery Sculpture and Monuments, Revisionary History, War Memorials, Post Civil War Period, Images of Slavery, Robert E. Lee, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Charlottesville, Va, Civil War Monuments, Henry Shrady, Civil War Memorials, and Civil War Iconography
The article probes the social background to the controversial ‘Kitchen Debate’ between the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and the US vice-president Richard Nixon, which occured at the American trade exhibition in Moscow during summer... more
The article probes the social background to the controversial ‘Kitchen Debate’ between the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and the US vice-president Richard Nixon, which occured at the American trade exhibition in Moscow during summer 1959. Political histories narrowly focus on diplomatic point-scoring between the two leaders, leaving largely untouched the purpose of the landmark exhibition, and its expression of America's ‘suburban’ values. This discussion traces a broad arc exploring:
- The exchange between Khrushchev and Nixon, especially their discussion of housing
- What was shown in the Moscow exhibition (detailing the display kitchen that prompted Khrushchev’s indignation), and the US State Department’s broad aims.
- The expansion of suburbia in post-war America (census figures quoted), and changes in property development including the emergence of commuter suburbs.
- The influential Levittown model for mass home construction & instant suburbs, and the impact of its highly publicised estates on Long Island, Connecticutt and New Jersey.
- Nature and extent of suburban conformism, including pointed criticisms made by urban planning commentators, the sociologist William Whyte, and the Feminist Betty Friedan.
- Mounting distress of women who did not feel fulfilled as homemakers, and their main grievances.
- Segregation, and enforced racial exclusion at the Levittowns.
- Portrayal of suburban values in the key literary works, ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’ (1955), ‘Revolutionary Road’ (1961), ‘The Stepford Wives’ (1972)
- Efforts to raise the quality of home and suburb design in California, prompted by the magazine ‘Arts and Architecture’
- The pioneering Case Study House project.
- Role of the Los Angeles firm Eames Office in post-war domestic design.
- Contribution of Eames Office to the Moscow exhibition.
9pp.
- The exchange between Khrushchev and Nixon, especially their discussion of housing
- What was shown in the Moscow exhibition (detailing the display kitchen that prompted Khrushchev’s indignation), and the US State Department’s broad aims.
- The expansion of suburbia in post-war America (census figures quoted), and changes in property development including the emergence of commuter suburbs.
- The influential Levittown model for mass home construction & instant suburbs, and the impact of its highly publicised estates on Long Island, Connecticutt and New Jersey.
- Nature and extent of suburban conformism, including pointed criticisms made by urban planning commentators, the sociologist William Whyte, and the Feminist Betty Friedan.
- Mounting distress of women who did not feel fulfilled as homemakers, and their main grievances.
- Segregation, and enforced racial exclusion at the Levittowns.
- Portrayal of suburban values in the key literary works, ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’ (1955), ‘Revolutionary Road’ (1961), ‘The Stepford Wives’ (1972)
- Efforts to raise the quality of home and suburb design in California, prompted by the magazine ‘Arts and Architecture’
- The pioneering Case Study House project.
- Role of the Los Angeles firm Eames Office in post-war domestic design.
- Contribution of Eames Office to the Moscow exhibition.
9pp.
Research Interests: Housing & Residential Design, Suburban Studies, Cultural Cold War, Buckminster Fuller, Civil Rights (History), and 44 moreHousewives in literature, Cold War history, Suburban History, Lewis Mumford, American Architecture, Domestic Design, Richard Nixon, Feminist Literary Criticism, Urban social segregation, Urban sociology, The Stepford Wives, Ira Levin, C. Wright Mills, Post-War Reconstruction, Free Market, Richard Yates, William H. Whyte Jr, The International Style, Residential segregation, Revolutionary Road, Nikita Krushchev, Arts and Architecture, Suburbia in Literature and Popular Culture, Charles and Ray Eames, Levittown, Domo Geodesico, Housewife Syndrome, Post war Design, Housewives, Women’s Housework, Case Study Houses 001, Betty Friedan, A Room of One's Own, American Way of Life, The Feminine Mystique, PARKINSON'S FIRST LAW, GI Bill of Rights, The Kitchen Debate, Organization Man, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan Wilson, Rona Jaffe, The Best of Everything, Eichler Homes, and California Cool
The article plots the main creative decisions which shaped ‘The Third Man’ taken as the 1948 film was planned then shot. It begins by explaining the situation in Vienna when the film crew arrived for location shooting, and why changed... more
The article plots the main creative decisions which shaped ‘The Third Man’ taken as the 1948 film was planned then shot. It begins by explaining the situation in Vienna when the film crew arrived for location shooting, and why changed circumstances (especially constant frictions with Russian soldiers in the streets) forced the planned film to be changed.
It then discusses how and why Alexander Korda commissioned the film, the experiences of Graham Greene when sent to Europe to research and write a treatment, and material he adapted from conversations with Kim Philby.
It moves on to shooting the film, and the uncredited influence of the leading Viennese cameraman Hans Schneeberger. He was hired to head the third camera unit, but came to be used more broadly as an adviser, and influenced the overall style of location filmwork.
It then explores the influence of British crime novels on Graham Greene’s initial treatment, especially Robert Westerby’s novel ‘Wide Boys Never Work’ which manifestly supplied the model for his character Harry Lime, a London spiv. We follow how this figure was reworked for film by the director, Carol Reed, and the actor, Orson Welles, including key decisions on how he should be shown by the camera.
The piece then considers the female character, Anna Schmidt, a Czech refugee who is anxious she will be deported. It sketches in the refugee crisis at the time, explaining what women had endured in Central Europe at war’s end, and renewed fears due to Cold War tensions. It also acknowledges problems of policing these asylum seekers - practical difficulties explained in the film by the character of Major Calloway.
Then it discusses the increasing pressures the American producer David Selznick placed on Reed and Greene to rewrite Anna Schmidt in keeping with female lead characters in Hollywood film noir movies; and their beligerence in not glamorising a refugee figure, insisting that this character be psychologically and socially plausible.
8pp
It then discusses how and why Alexander Korda commissioned the film, the experiences of Graham Greene when sent to Europe to research and write a treatment, and material he adapted from conversations with Kim Philby.
It moves on to shooting the film, and the uncredited influence of the leading Viennese cameraman Hans Schneeberger. He was hired to head the third camera unit, but came to be used more broadly as an adviser, and influenced the overall style of location filmwork.
It then explores the influence of British crime novels on Graham Greene’s initial treatment, especially Robert Westerby’s novel ‘Wide Boys Never Work’ which manifestly supplied the model for his character Harry Lime, a London spiv. We follow how this figure was reworked for film by the director, Carol Reed, and the actor, Orson Welles, including key decisions on how he should be shown by the camera.
The piece then considers the female character, Anna Schmidt, a Czech refugee who is anxious she will be deported. It sketches in the refugee crisis at the time, explaining what women had endured in Central Europe at war’s end, and renewed fears due to Cold War tensions. It also acknowledges problems of policing these asylum seekers - practical difficulties explained in the film by the character of Major Calloway.
Then it discusses the increasing pressures the American producer David Selznick placed on Reed and Greene to rewrite Anna Schmidt in keeping with female lead characters in Hollywood film noir movies; and their beligerence in not glamorising a refugee figure, insisting that this character be psychologically and socially plausible.
8pp
Research Interests: Refugee Studies, Literature and cinema, Film Analysis, Cold War and Culture, Scriptwriting, and 27 moreGraham Greene, Elizabeth Bowen (Elizabeth Bowen), Film Noir, Film History, English Novel, Cinema, Orson Welles, British Cinema (Film Studies), British Literature and its Adaptation to Film, Fritz Lang, Black Markets, Carol Reed, Crime Films, Displaced Persons, Vienna, Soviet occupation, John Lehmann, David Selznick, Femme Fatale Film Noir, Citizen Kane, Alida Valli, Brighton Rock, Alexander Korda, Kim Philby, The Third Man, Cold War Fiction and History, and Crime Fiction in English
The article explores the manifestly allegorical nature of Kurosawa's controversial 1950 film Rashomon, and how it was directly responding to the dishonesty of individuals called before recent war crimes trials (1946-48). After noting... more
The article explores the manifestly allegorical nature of Kurosawa's controversial 1950 film Rashomon, and how it was directly responding to the dishonesty of individuals called before recent war crimes trials (1946-48).
After noting the overt symbolism of the film's opening setting, which manifestly alludes to the plight of Japan, the trials which dominated the nation's media in the late 1940s are also discussed (it notes 29 employees of the film company had been purged). As is stated at the film's onset, the community was distressed because it was evident that lies were being told and the truth concealed: similarly, in post-war Japan no one knew who to believe about war atrocities. Testimony is compromised, Rashomon shows, because the guilty seek to hide their misdeeds.
A direct comparison is made with Clouzot's film from the Nazi-Occupation Period, Le Corbeau of 1943, which told a story of village life to likewise highlight dishonesty and betrayal in time of war. As with Rashomon, there was a local backlash against the film due to the plain, if uncomfortable contemporary message it delivered.
Kurosawa's use of a medieval setting/story to moralise, again, about post-war Japan in his later samurai films, 'Seven Samurai' and 'Yojimbo', is considered; although, as is pointed out, his allegorical purpose was completely lacking in the popular Western versions of these films, 'The Magnificent Seven' and 'A Fistful of Dollars'. (Another cowboy film, 'High Noon', is praised in passing and likened to Kurosawa's approach.)
Rashomon's seeming influence on Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal', another allegorical tale of ethics and personal conduct against a medieval war setting, is also highlighted.
5pp
After noting the overt symbolism of the film's opening setting, which manifestly alludes to the plight of Japan, the trials which dominated the nation's media in the late 1940s are also discussed (it notes 29 employees of the film company had been purged). As is stated at the film's onset, the community was distressed because it was evident that lies were being told and the truth concealed: similarly, in post-war Japan no one knew who to believe about war atrocities. Testimony is compromised, Rashomon shows, because the guilty seek to hide their misdeeds.
A direct comparison is made with Clouzot's film from the Nazi-Occupation Period, Le Corbeau of 1943, which told a story of village life to likewise highlight dishonesty and betrayal in time of war. As with Rashomon, there was a local backlash against the film due to the plain, if uncomfortable contemporary message it delivered.
Kurosawa's use of a medieval setting/story to moralise, again, about post-war Japan in his later samurai films, 'Seven Samurai' and 'Yojimbo', is considered; although, as is pointed out, his allegorical purpose was completely lacking in the popular Western versions of these films, 'The Magnificent Seven' and 'A Fistful of Dollars'. (Another cowboy film, 'High Noon', is praised in passing and likened to Kurosawa's approach.)
Rashomon's seeming influence on Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal', another allegorical tale of ethics and personal conduct against a medieval war setting, is also highlighted.
5pp
Research Interests: Literature and cinema, Japanese Cinema, Modern Japanese Literature, Cinema, Politically Critical Cinema, and 18 moreAdaptation (Film Studies), Ingmar Bergman Films, World War II Pacific Theatre, Akira Kurosawa, Samurai films, Cinema Studies, Seven Samurai, National Allegory, The Seventh Seal, Rashomon, Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, War Crimes Trials, Western Movies, War Crimes Tribunal, Post-war Japanese Cinema, Henri-Georges Clouzot, High Noon, and Historical Allegory
The article explores how the paintings of the major artist Jeffrey Smart (1921-2013) emerge from his experiences in post-war Italy. It is divided sequentially to show: 1. The formative experiences of Smart and his painter friends Michael... more
The article explores how the paintings of the major artist Jeffrey Smart (1921-2013) emerge from his experiences in post-war Italy. It is divided sequentially to show:
1. The formative experiences of Smart and his painter friends Michael Shannon, Jacqueline Hick and Donald Friend in the Bay of Naples over 1949-50
2. This group’s position in, and contacts with, a wave of English-speaking artists, writers and intellectuals who gravitated to this Neapolitian bohemia in the late 1940s (links are pointed to Craxton, Minton, Auden, Graham Greene, Elizabeth David, Patricia Highsmith)
3. The social impact of the economic boom that would overtake Italy after 1948, and Smart's later awareness of change that was taking place around him.
4. The task of post-war reconstruction that was commencing in Italy when Smart first visited, and the agenda-setting role of the architect Gio Ponte and his design magazine Domus on urban planning
5. Smart’s conscious efforts to use the new architecture and other urban indicators of the economic boom in his paintings from 1965 onward, beginning with his watershed work “Sunday Afternoon, Lancia”
6. The apparent influence of Fernand Leger, who taught Smart, on certain of Smart's urban paintings
7. Using Smart’s 1982 painting “The Risorgimento Bridge”, showing political overtones to his art including repeated allusions to Mussolini’s influence on the urban design of modern Rome, especially by using aspects of, alternately, the Val Melaina and EUR districts.
8. The impact upon Smart of five Italian films dealing with the social stresses of “Il Boom” (La Dolce Vita, Rocco and His Brothers, L’Avventura, La Notte and L’Eclisse), and how he alluded to them in his works.
9. The role of humour in his paintings to conceal a deeper recurring theme of creative talent mistreated in a philistine society.
10. Allusions to NATO monitoring stations, new technologies, and computer systems in certain pictures.
11. Smart’s use of Piero della Francesca to deflect attention from his indebtedness to modern artists.
12. The symbolic meaning of churches within Smart’s urban works.
13. The article concludes with two related paintings, “Motor Dump, Pisa” of 1971, and “The Oil Drums” of 1992, showing how the former commented on contemporaneous industrial unrest in Italian manufacturing, and the latter was a response to the Gulf War fought in Kuwait the previous year.
10pp.
1. The formative experiences of Smart and his painter friends Michael Shannon, Jacqueline Hick and Donald Friend in the Bay of Naples over 1949-50
2. This group’s position in, and contacts with, a wave of English-speaking artists, writers and intellectuals who gravitated to this Neapolitian bohemia in the late 1940s (links are pointed to Craxton, Minton, Auden, Graham Greene, Elizabeth David, Patricia Highsmith)
3. The social impact of the economic boom that would overtake Italy after 1948, and Smart's later awareness of change that was taking place around him.
4. The task of post-war reconstruction that was commencing in Italy when Smart first visited, and the agenda-setting role of the architect Gio Ponte and his design magazine Domus on urban planning
5. Smart’s conscious efforts to use the new architecture and other urban indicators of the economic boom in his paintings from 1965 onward, beginning with his watershed work “Sunday Afternoon, Lancia”
6. The apparent influence of Fernand Leger, who taught Smart, on certain of Smart's urban paintings
7. Using Smart’s 1982 painting “The Risorgimento Bridge”, showing political overtones to his art including repeated allusions to Mussolini’s influence on the urban design of modern Rome, especially by using aspects of, alternately, the Val Melaina and EUR districts.
8. The impact upon Smart of five Italian films dealing with the social stresses of “Il Boom” (La Dolce Vita, Rocco and His Brothers, L’Avventura, La Notte and L’Eclisse), and how he alluded to them in his works.
9. The role of humour in his paintings to conceal a deeper recurring theme of creative talent mistreated in a philistine society.
10. Allusions to NATO monitoring stations, new technologies, and computer systems in certain pictures.
11. Smart’s use of Piero della Francesca to deflect attention from his indebtedness to modern artists.
12. The symbolic meaning of churches within Smart’s urban works.
13. The article concludes with two related paintings, “Motor Dump, Pisa” of 1971, and “The Oil Drums” of 1992, showing how the former commented on contemporaneous industrial unrest in Italian manufacturing, and the latter was a response to the Gulf War fought in Kuwait the previous year.
10pp.
Research Interests: Australian Studies, Modern Art, Auden, W. H., Friedrich Nietzsche, Italian Cinema, and 31 moreModernism (Art History), Art and Interpretation, Intersections in Visual Art and Design, Piero della Francesca, Michelangelo Antonioni, Religious art, Australian art, Art and Politics, Urban Design, Gay Culture, Edouard Manet, Fernand Leger, Ischia, Post-War Reconstruction, Luchino Visconti, Fascist Architecture Rome, MARSHALL PLAN, Pittura Metafisica, Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Italian manufacturing sector, Australian modernism, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Ina Casa, Italian Economic Boom, Australian painting, First Gulf War, Domus, 1960s Australian Cultural History, Gio Ponti, and Neo-Romanticism
The article assesses a controversial interpretation of Arthur Boyd’s 1950s “Bride” paintings, and their relationship to Aboriginal issues, which has been advanced by Anna Haebich of Curtin University, Ann McGrath of the Australian... more
The article assesses a controversial interpretation of Arthur Boyd’s 1950s “Bride” paintings, and their relationship to Aboriginal issues, which has been advanced by Anna Haebich of Curtin University, Ann McGrath of the Australian National University, and Kendrah Morgan of the Heide Museum of Modern Art. Having scrutinised their arguments - closely rechecking evidence, consulting sources, testing analytical rigor, and setting claims against the paintings concerned - the article finds significant deficiencies in the respective authors' claims. Among other shortcomings, all three authors refer to fictitious works of art. One of them is also shown to use invented evidence to make her case. The article ends by asking whether Australian art history is being redacted so as to make it conform to current politically correct agendas.
10pp.
10pp.
Research Interests: Australian Studies, Australian society, Modernism (Art History), Art and Interpretation, Australian History, and 12 morePolitical Art, Australian art, Intermarriages, Patrick White, Aboriginal Studies, Political Correctness, Australian cultural history, Australian modernism, Alfred Jacob Miller, Arthur Boyd, 1960s Australian Cultural History, and Angry Penguins
The article traces the development of landscape paintings by the major Australian artist Fred Williams (1927-82), over his early career from 1952 to 1964. The long piece: (1) Suggests thematic and technical links with a new wave of... more
The article traces the development of landscape paintings by the major Australian artist Fred Williams (1927-82), over his early career from 1952 to 1964. The long piece:
(1) Suggests thematic and technical links with a new wave of British painters active when he lived in London, mostly exhibiting with the Beaux Arts Gallery in Mayfair.
(2) Points to the experiential influence of the urban environment in London (colour, space, geometry) on his early work, including affects of fog on his perception of visual distance.
(3) Reinterprets his late 1950s landscapes regarding the above, dwelling on the “mood” Williams sought to convey.
(4) Disentangles the artist’s early indebtedness to both Braque and Cézanne in terms of palette and the presentation of space.
(5) Establishes an overarching debt to Ernst Gombrich’s ideas on oil technique, and the rationale of landscape art, in the 1960 book "Art & Illusion".
(6) Reinterprets his 1960s landscapes, showing where and how Williams sought to use Gombrich’s insights in specific works.
(7) Shows why and how the artist used Piet Mondrian’s plus-&-minus notation to convey the experience of Australian space.
(8) Concludes with a brief discussion of his oil painting technique, pointing to characteristics of his signature brushwork, and his approach to crafting a paint 'skin'.
9pp.
(1) Suggests thematic and technical links with a new wave of British painters active when he lived in London, mostly exhibiting with the Beaux Arts Gallery in Mayfair.
(2) Points to the experiential influence of the urban environment in London (colour, space, geometry) on his early work, including affects of fog on his perception of visual distance.
(3) Reinterprets his late 1950s landscapes regarding the above, dwelling on the “mood” Williams sought to convey.
(4) Disentangles the artist’s early indebtedness to both Braque and Cézanne in terms of palette and the presentation of space.
(5) Establishes an overarching debt to Ernst Gombrich’s ideas on oil technique, and the rationale of landscape art, in the 1960 book "Art & Illusion".
(6) Reinterprets his 1960s landscapes, showing where and how Williams sought to use Gombrich’s insights in specific works.
(7) Shows why and how the artist used Piet Mondrian’s plus-&-minus notation to convey the experience of Australian space.
(8) Concludes with a brief discussion of his oil painting technique, pointing to characteristics of his signature brushwork, and his approach to crafting a paint 'skin'.
9pp.
Research Interests: Modernism (Art History), Art and Interpretation, Australian History, Landscape (Art), Australian art, and 14 moreLandscape paintings, Piet Mondrian, British Art in the 1950s, Australian cultural history, E. H. Gombrich, Etching, Georges Braque, Australian modernism, Karl Popper theories, Australian printmaking, Advanced Master Oil Painting/ Drawing Techniques, 1960s Australian Cultural History, Art and Illusion (gombrich), and Kitchen Sink School
The article discusses how the emerging genre of American and British science fiction symbolised and expressed Cold War anxieties after 1949. It begins by briefly showing how a popular Western symbolised the Berlin Airlift, then... more
The article discusses how the emerging genre of American and British science fiction symbolised and expressed Cold War anxieties after 1949.
It begins by briefly showing how a popular Western symbolised the Berlin Airlift, then considers how several new Sci Fi novels, including "The Martian Chronicles," "The Day of the Triffids," "I am Legend," and "The Bodysnatchers" each respond more precisely to changing Soviet aggression.
The chief writers explored are Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, John Wyndham, Richard Matheson, Jack Finney, and the television writer Terry Nation. Connections are drawn between key science fiction novels and public concerns about possible atomic war, espionage fears, future Soviet invasion, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It then suggests a shift in meaning affecting British science fiction from the mid-1950s, with rising fears about the demise of empire, and concerns that European civilisation is waning. The chief writers discussed in this regard are John Christopher, whose work is linked with the Suez Crisis, & J.G. Ballard's "The Drowned World." Strong links are also established between several British science fiction novels and William Golding's "Lord of the Flies."
9pp.
It begins by briefly showing how a popular Western symbolised the Berlin Airlift, then considers how several new Sci Fi novels, including "The Martian Chronicles," "The Day of the Triffids," "I am Legend," and "The Bodysnatchers" each respond more precisely to changing Soviet aggression.
The chief writers explored are Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, John Wyndham, Richard Matheson, Jack Finney, and the television writer Terry Nation. Connections are drawn between key science fiction novels and public concerns about possible atomic war, espionage fears, future Soviet invasion, and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It then suggests a shift in meaning affecting British science fiction from the mid-1950s, with rising fears about the demise of empire, and concerns that European civilisation is waning. The chief writers discussed in this regard are John Christopher, whose work is linked with the Suez Crisis, & J.G. Ballard's "The Drowned World." Strong links are also established between several British science fiction novels and William Golding's "Lord of the Flies."
9pp.
Research Interests: Dystopian Literature, Cold War and Culture, Cultural Cold War, Literary Symbolism, History of English Literature, and 25 moreScience Fiction, Science Fiction Film, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Doctor Who, Cold War Culture, J.G. Ballard, H. G. Wells, Atomic Bomb Literature, Utopian, Dystopian, and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction, Suez Crisis, Cuban Missile Crisis, John Wyndham, Post-War Reconstruction, Horror, Fantasy Literature, Children's Literature and Science Fiction, William Golding, Ray Bradbury, Political symbolism, History of the BBC, Day of the Triffids, Robert Heinlein, Lord of the Flies, CND, Daleks, Richard Matheson, and British Science Fiction
The article analyses Tati's film "Mon Oncle", chiefly showing how Tati was responding comically to a public debate in France on post-war reconstruction and American-style consumer culture. A sequence of comic incidents and sight gags are... more
The article analyses Tati's film "Mon Oncle", chiefly showing how Tati was responding comically to a public debate in France on post-war reconstruction and American-style consumer culture. A sequence of comic incidents and sight gags are shown to be based on real events in 1950s Paris, while the Housing Estate and the Arpels' modernist villa are anchored in community perceptions of the prominent architect and town-planner Le Corbusier.
In a wide ranging discussion, contrasts and comparisons are made with assorted film comedians (Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd), and the British Ealing Comedies; while it is argued that "Monsieur Hulot" is a characteristically French comic "type" based on the wartime "zazou."
9pp.
In a wide ranging discussion, contrasts and comparisons are made with assorted film comedians (Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd), and the British Ealing Comedies; while it is argued that "Monsieur Hulot" is a characteristically French comic "type" based on the wartime "zazou."
9pp.
Research Interests: Architecture, Film Studies, Film Analysis, Silent Film, Modernist Architecture (Architectural Modernism), and 14 moreHousing, Film Aesthetics, Cinema and Architecture, Film and Architecture, Urban Development, French Film, Architectural Design, Urban Design, Le Corbusier, Film and Television Comedy, Jacques Tati, Social Space and Symbolic Power, Post-War Reconstruction, and Postwar Europe
The two stage article discusses Henry Moore's role in the promotion of British culture during the early Cold War. The initial stage considers the "Unknown Political Prisoner" competition, organised by London's Institute of Contemporary... more
The two stage article discusses Henry Moore's role in the promotion of British culture during the early Cold War. The initial stage considers the "Unknown Political Prisoner" competition, organised by London's Institute of Contemporary Art. Having plotted out the controversy surrounding the project, it turns to Henry Moore's central (and largely unknown) role in the competition. It then asks whether Moore may have been a cultural cold warrior, and, in the second stage, fills in his active role in the British Council's programs in the early Cold War. The contrast between Soviet official sculptures, and Moore's semi-figurative sculptures of reclining women, is considered in light of direct Soviet criticisms of Moore, and positive audience responses when his art was exhibited. It also shows how certain of his sculptures may be seen to respond to the Berlin Uprising and the Hungarian Crisis.
9pp.
9pp.
Research Interests:
The article examines Stanley Kubrick's horror film "The Shining", showing how the director took Stephen King's storyline, then considerably developed the plot by introducing other material. These include: (1) reworking the storyline... more
The article examines Stanley Kubrick's horror film "The Shining", showing how the director took Stephen King's storyline, then considerably developed the plot by introducing other material. These include:
(1) reworking the storyline with reference to gothic tales by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Henry James, and Shirley Jackson, as well as taking signature horror themes from Gothic literature generally;
(2) deliberately employing Sigmund Freud's and Bruno Betelheim's theories of "the uncanny";
(3) using motifs suggested by the French film "Last Year at Marienbad" to construct the "The Shining" visually as a set of interlocking labyrinths.
The article separates developments Kubrick made pre-production, when shaping the script with his co-author Diane Johnson, from a later set of creative decisions taken by the director alone during shooting, then editing the film.
8pp.
(1) reworking the storyline with reference to gothic tales by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Henry James, and Shirley Jackson, as well as taking signature horror themes from Gothic literature generally;
(2) deliberately employing Sigmund Freud's and Bruno Betelheim's theories of "the uncanny";
(3) using motifs suggested by the French film "Last Year at Marienbad" to construct the "The Shining" visually as a set of interlocking labyrinths.
The article separates developments Kubrick made pre-production, when shaping the script with his co-author Diane Johnson, from a later set of creative decisions taken by the director alone during shooting, then editing the film.
8pp.
Research Interests: Film Studies, Film Analysis, Horror Film, Film Adaptation, Gothic Literature, and 15 moreGothic Fiction and the horror film, Horror Cinema, Cinema, Nouveau roman, Adaptation (Film Studies), Stanley Kubrick, Film Aesthetics, French New Wave, Cinema Studies, Horror Literature, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Stephen King, The Shining film, Bruno Bettelheim, and Novel to Film Adaptation
The controversial paper explores Kenneth Clark's hostility and outspoken opposition to modern art in the 1930s; then his qualified support for several artists during the war years. Several direct attacks against modern art he made in the... more
The controversial paper explores Kenneth Clark's hostility and outspoken opposition to modern art in the 1930s; then his qualified support for several artists during the war years. Several direct attacks against modern art he made in the 1930s British media are cited and discussed.
Identifying specific artists, the paper shows who Clark railed against (including Nicholson & Mondrian) and how it affected their lives; and who he chose to promote, using his official position during the war to advance certain artists he was friendly with (Piper & Sutherland).
Turning to Henry Moore's underground shelter drawings made during the London Blitz, the article suggests how the artist coped with Clark's narrow views while trying not to compromise his own strengthening modernist work.
9pp.
Identifying specific artists, the paper shows who Clark railed against (including Nicholson & Mondrian) and how it affected their lives; and who he chose to promote, using his official position during the war to advance certain artists he was friendly with (Piper & Sutherland).
Turning to Henry Moore's underground shelter drawings made during the London Blitz, the article suggests how the artist coped with Clark's narrow views while trying not to compromise his own strengthening modernist work.
9pp.
Research Interests:
The article considers the visual style and symbolism of Ingmar Bergman's film "Cries & Whispers," tracing the influence Edvard Munch's art. It initially points out the discussion of this film - and Bergman's work generally - has mostly... more
The article considers the visual style and symbolism of Ingmar Bergman's film "Cries & Whispers," tracing the influence Edvard Munch's art.
It initially points out the discussion of this film - and Bergman's work generally - has mostly rested on analysing the narrative, not looking at the way imagery is handled cinematically, and symbolism in purely visual terms. It also suggests that "Cries & Whispers" needs to be considered as a reworking or version of themes in Bergman's films "The Silence" and "Persona."
The article then considers the structure of those earlier films, and Bergman's use of certain female "types" in them. It points out loose connections with Symbolist drama - a debt acknowledged by the director - then shows how these films progressively developed themes and ideas about the feminine.
The main part of the discussion then shifts to stylistic considerations, showing how "Cries & Whispers" overtly uses a palette, cast of characters and narrative synonymous with the art of Edvard Munch. Especial attention is focused on how the female figures echo the Symbolist values of Munch's women.
8pp.
It initially points out the discussion of this film - and Bergman's work generally - has mostly rested on analysing the narrative, not looking at the way imagery is handled cinematically, and symbolism in purely visual terms. It also suggests that "Cries & Whispers" needs to be considered as a reworking or version of themes in Bergman's films "The Silence" and "Persona."
The article then considers the structure of those earlier films, and Bergman's use of certain female "types" in them. It points out loose connections with Symbolist drama - a debt acknowledged by the director - then shows how these films progressively developed themes and ideas about the feminine.
The main part of the discussion then shifts to stylistic considerations, showing how "Cries & Whispers" overtly uses a palette, cast of characters and narrative synonymous with the art of Edvard Munch. Especial attention is focused on how the female figures echo the Symbolist values of Munch's women.
8pp.