It is now 100 days (and 100 articles) since Beguidedbyart commenced as a response to the coronavirus lockdown. Giovanni Boccaccio set a precedent for writing 100 stories in ‘The Decameron’ when the Black Death ravaged Florence in 1348. This wonderful collection of tales, which range from the erotic to the tragic and from the whimsical to the moral, provides a snapshot of Florentine society as it adjusted to the health crisis. It only occurred to me recently that Beguidedbyart is, in many ways, a COVID Decameron.
The blog was not intended to be a ‘daily diary’ but, as many of us have discovered in the ‘space and time of lockdown’ (and as my proverb-loving mother would have reminded me) – ‘the devil makes work for idle hands’ and ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ – so it became a useful way to connect with ideas, colleagues, friends and to explore the art in our public galleries. After all, ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’.
Curiously, I have Marcel Proust to thank as well for this. Many years ago I purchased the six volumes of ‘In Search of Lost Time’ to read during a rainy day. When the coronavirus appeared, the rainy day was here. During the first week of the lockdown, I read ‘The Way by Swann’s’ (volume one of a recent translation). For those who have read Proust, you will be aware of the extraordinarily intense way he has of describing things. Although beautifully written, his stream of consciousness thinking and his hermetic world are not an easy read. It was with some relief that as I began volume two, I chose to read Alain de Botton’s ‘How Proust Can Change Your Life’ instead.
De Botton points out that ‘In Search of Lost Time’: ‘Far from [being] a memoir tracing the passage of a more lyrical age, [is] a practical, universally applicable story about how to stop wasting, and begin appreciating one’s life’. Over a series of nine chapters, de Botton discusses, among other things, how Proust can help us ‘love life today’, ‘express our emotions’, ‘suffer successfully’, ‘be a good friend’ and ‘be happy in love’. In the last chapter, he also allows us to ‘put books down’ – Proust himself suggested that ‘even the finest books deserve to be thrown aside’!
Having been given permission by both de Botton and Proust to put down volume two, Beguidedbyart became a vehicle to reflect on life today and to explore how the works of art in public galleries can be made relevant to people visiting them. (I also suspect that a daily blog post was an easier option than reading Proust).
In Asian cultures, there is a celebration to mark 100 days since the birth of a baby. In both China and Korea, mothers and infants are advised to stay indoors as they are at their most vulnerable during the 100 day period. A symbolic gift at this time is an egg. As the ‘parent in isolation’ of a 100-day old blog, like many of us, I am hatching and cautiously re-entering the world (more tentatively than I expected with the recent increase in coronavirus activity). However, I will certainly continue to blog, and although this will be less frequent, the journey will be ongoing.
The little sea hare from the Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm series, 1969
David HOCKNEY, NGV Collection
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to, and encouraged, ‘The COVID Decameron’ – it is always wonderful to hear from you. And please continue to send me ideas and articles to post.
For those who are interested in exploring writing in relation to art, the NGV in association with La Trobe University (Dr Catherine Padmore, Head of Creative Arts and English) and author Cate Kennedy, is hosting an online writing course ‘The Art of Writing’. This four week course will be delivered through self-guided videos, readings, examples of art inspired writing and a curated selection of works from the NGV collection used as writing prompts. More information can be found at: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/program/the-art-of-writing-2/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%23NGVEveryDayeNews-June22&utm_content=version_A&promo=12263
Proust’s second volume, ‘In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower’, begins with the sentence: ‘When it was first suggested we invite M. de Norpois to dinner…’ This seems like a perfect segue into the next phase. I am now looking forward to finding out what happens.
Best wishes
What a wonderfully rich 100 blogs, thank you so very much.
Thank you Michael, I have loved reading your Beguidedbyart articles. It is lovely to learn about artists we tend to bypass and appreciate how much more is in the NGV collection – particularly prints which we don’t often see. Good luck with your continued reading of Proust. I can recall that the Monty Python cast sang “Proust wrote about” – not sure if that is just an unfortunate memory. Alain de Botton is definitely more readable.
Will still look forward to more glimpses into the art world.
Congratulations, Michael on achieving 100 blogs, the vast majority of which were written by you. I have looked forward to their arriving in my inbox every day.Quite a boost in these days of isolation. How you could take on the task of blogging daily about art and reading Proust at the same time, is mind boggling! I read the first two books of Proust’s “A la recherche du temps perdu” in French years ago when studying French at university and have made several attempts to finish it since then. Did you know that the character of Swann is allegedly modelled on Charles Ephrussi, the art critic, and member of the family described in Edmund De Waal’s “The hare with amber eyes” (see pages 104-6)?