The first cartoon hero?
In 1809 the writer William Combe and the artist Thomas Rowlandson created a character called Dr Syntax who is believed to be the world’s first cartoon character. William Combe (1742-1823) …
The naked snollygoster
Early this year I bought a book titled ‘Lost Words – Collywobbles, Snollygosters, and other surprisingly useful terms worth resurrecting’ by Joe Gillard. It was the word ‘snollygosters’ that made …
Observing the world from afar
While I am watching the ‘world from afar’ I am reminded of gargoyles – those carved architectural fantastical forms that perch on the roofs of old buildings to prevent the …
Lifters and Leaners
As the economy is now in a recession the focus is clearly on ensuring jobs are available and secure. With programs like JobSeeker, JobKeeper and JobMaker, we have fortunately moved …
Vale Christo
1969 was a year when big things happened. Apollo 11 landed on the moon and mankind took a giant leap. The Woodstock music festival ran for three days in upstate …
A saint for our times
On this week’s ‘The Religion and Ethics Report’ on ABC Radio National, there was an interview with American author Tara Isabella Burton. The interview can be streamed on the ABC …
Charles Samuel Keene
I doubt that any of us are familiar with Charles Samuel Keene and his art practice. So, I imagine that it would come as a great surprise to discover that …
Hugh Ramsay
A big thank you to Margie Richardson for her thoughts on the Hugh Ramsay exhibition at the National Gallery in Canberra. Margie writes: “One of my favourite Australian artists is …
In absentia
Another Sunday and another ‘in depth’ look at a painting in The Frick Collection with curator Xavier Salomon. This time Salomon discusses Henry Clay Frick’s favourite artwork, Velázquez’ portrait of …
Work for artists: A Depression Era project with relevance today
Today’s informative and extremely interesting post is from Jill Dwyer. Jill writes: Our cultural institutions across the country are closed in response to the current pandemic; and artists, particularly performance …