News from the collections Cultural Treasures Festival, Knowledge through print: 28–29 July 2012 A Melbourne perspective The exhibition Knowledge through print: A Melbourne perspective will be on display The biennial University of Melbourne To coincide with the Cultural in the Leigh Scott Gallery, Baillieu Cultural Treasures Festival is a free Treasures Festival, the University Library, from June to August 2012. It will program of exhibitions, walks, talks, Library’s Special Collections will complement the Australian Antiquarian seminars, demonstrations, displays present an exhibition that revisits Book Fair in Wilson Hall on 28–29 July. and guided tours—all showcasing elements of the renowned Printing the university’s rich array of museums and the mind of man exhibition. and collections. Included among Held in London in 1963, the Ceramic art of ancient Cyprus the many walks through the historic original exhibition explored the The University of Melbourne Parkville campus will be programs technical progress of printing as has one of the most important focusing on botanical, medical, a craft, the finest achievements of collections of Cypriot antiquities in musical and scientific collections, printing as an art, and the impact Australia.1 It is representative of the architecture and ‘Cultural rubble’, a of printing on the western mind. human history of this strategically guided tour of some of the outdoor Our exhibition will showcase important island, and includes a sculptures. In addition, staff and a selection of Special Collections wide range of Bronze Age and Iron researchers will be running seminars items represented in the 1963 Age artefacts brought to Australia and presentations. exhibition, including first editions by the late Professor J.R. Stewart This free, two-day event will of Johnson’s Dictionary and between the 1930s and early 1960s. take place over the weekend of Darwin’s On the origin of species, Cyprus is the third-largest 28 and 29 July 2012. On the same as well as works by Vitruvius, island in the Mediterranean weekend two other major events Godwin, Newton and Hobbes. and is renowned as the island of will be held on campus: the 39th The marginalia, bookplates and Aphrodite. The exhibition Ceramic Australian Antiquarian Book Fair provenance of many Special art of ancient Cyprus, curated by (in the splendid Wilson Hall) and the Collections volumes on display Dr Andrew Jamieson, features Melbourne Open House program, reveal rich cultural stories about significant ceramic assemblages which gives visitors a rare opportunity the development of knowledge recovered from Bronze Age tombs to explore numerous buildings of in Melbourne. The exhibition at Vounous from 1937 to 1938, architectural interest. also aims—in a much smaller and the Bronze Age cemeteries at compass—to recognise some of Karmi in 1961. For further information about the Cultural the things that have changed Treasures Festival 2012 see www.unimelb. in half a century. More recent The exhibition Ceramic art of ancient edu.au/culturalcollections/treasuresdays, scholarship on print and human Cyprus is on display at the Ian Potter email [email protected] communication will be featured, Museum of Art until 14 October 2012. or call (03) 8344 0216. The website will be See www.art-museum.unimelb.edu.au. updated as new programs are confirmed. along with 20th-century works by Melbourne thought leaders. ‘News from the collections’ 53 Right: Imprimerie en lettres, l’opération de la casse (detail showing three printers in a workshop, setting type), engraving (plate I, opposite p. 12 of section ‘Imprimerie en caractères’, vol. 7), in Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, Encyclopédie, ou, dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des metiers, 3rd edition, 17 vols, Livorno: l’Imprimerie des Editeurs, 1770–76. Special Collections, Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne. To be displayed in the forthcoming exhibition Knowledge through print Below: Lucas van Leyden, Charity (Caritas), 1530, engraving, 16.8 x 11.0 cm (sheet trimmed to image). Reg. no. 2011.0012, gift of Marion and David Adams, 2011, Baillieu Library print Collection, University of Melbourne Grand gestures: The Marion of artefacts and works of art. They Adams purchased most of the works and David Adams Collection presented a grand gift of antiquities from print dealers in Germany, with Kerrianne Stone and artefacts from many cultures to David maintaining excellent records. The names Marion and David Adams the Ian Potter Museum of Art in The collection is a tribute to Marion’s are familiar to many supporters of 2009, and an exhibition showcasing relationship with the university as a the University of Melbourne. The and celebrating that collection was scholar and teacher. A key motivation late Professor Marion Adams, a held in the Potter’s classics and behind the gift is its practical specialist in the field of German archaeology gallery the same year.2 potential to inspire and inform many literature, was dean of arts from 1988 In 2011 David Adams donated keen scholars at the university and to 1993. Her husband, David Adams, to the Baillieu Library his and beyond. graduated from the university as an Marion’s collection of prints and engineer and later pursued his interest drawings. David has said that the Acquisitions: in ancient civilisations through an antiquities collection was his focus, John Brack’s The Queen arts degree. The couple’s shared while the works on paper were A major painting by John Brack, fascination with world cultures saw Marion’s chief project, reflecting The Queen (1988), has been donated them amass an impressive collection as they do her interest in German to the University of Melbourne Art culture. So this latest gift gives us Collection by Helen Brack, the artist’s captivating insights into Marion’s widow. discipline. The collection comprises The Queen complements the 76 works on paper by various Potter’s existing holdings of art by artists, with a particular emphasis John Brack, who is now represented on early German printmakers, their by works spanning his entire career, circle, and German Dadaists and from the 1940s to the 1980s, Expressionists whose art explores the including prints and drawings, an oil power of gesture. The inclusion of a study and one oil painting, A face in number of works by the Dutch artist the mirror (1965). Lucas van Leyden (c. 1494–1533) The Queen, with its intriguing enhances the holdings already in the arrangement of cut-up postcards Baillieu Library Print Collection, of the ‘Phoenix’ portrait of Queen which are regularly used by students Elizabeth I (attributed to Nicholas in undergraduate and postgraduate Hilliard), presents many of the themes courses. The gift also introduces new that recur in Brack’s paintings. There artists to the collection, such as the is the ambiguous use of space—of innovators Hannah Höch (1889– which he was a master—and visual 1978), George Grosz (1893–1959) puzzles. How do the scissors balance and Josef Scharl (1896–1954). The and support the cards and how do the 54 University of Melbourne Collections, issue 10, June 2012 John Brack, The Queen, 1988, oil on canvas, 137.0 x 106.5 cm. Reg. no. 2012.0001, gift of Helen Brack, 2012, University of Melbourne Art Collection reflections in the mirror relate to the postcards? Where does the viewer stand in relation to the image? There is an interplay of forms: between the ovals of the mirror and the marble table as well as among the rectangular shapes of the postcards and their reflections. Brack also uses the different material qualities of card, marble, steel and glass to great effect in this fascinating still-life portrait. The Queen has been included in several exhibitions and featured in the 2009 National Gallery of Victoria retrospective John Brack. It is on display at the Ian Potter Museum of Art until 26 August 2012. Visions past and present although the focus is on Australian community. This is a continuing To celebrate the 40th anniversary of art from the early 19th century to tradition, and featured in the book is the establishment of the University the present, the book also includes the most recent gift to the collection, Art Gallery in 1972, the Ian Potter classics and archaeology and some The Queen by John Brack (discussed Museum of Art is producing a much- fine European works, including a above). Visions past and present is the needed book on the University of small late watercolour by the supreme major collection publication for the Melbourne Art Collection. Visions master of the medium, J.M.W. Turner. Potter in its 40th anniversary year. past and present: Celebrating 40 years Visions past and present tells the Its publication is supported by the illustrates 50 highlights and combines story of the generosity of the many Gordon Darling Foundation and the an introduction to the collection with donors who have built the collection University’s Cultural and Community essays by a range of art experts who for over 100 years. Their support for Relations Advisory Group. have a connection with the University the university has made the collection of Melbourne, including Jaynie the great one it is today. Donors such Anderson, Frances Lindsay, Margaret as Dr Samuel Ewing and Sir Russell Visions past and present: Celebrating 40 years, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Manion, Patrick McCaughey and and Lady Grimwade, as well as many University of Melbourne, 2012 (paperback, Angus Trumble. The selection of others, had the foresight to build their 116 pages), can be purchased for $30 from works ranges in date from the 9th collections and donate them for the the Ian Potter Museum of Art. century BCE to the present day, and benefit of the public and the university ‘News from the collections’ 55 Brian Dettmer, Pattern layouts, 2007, altered book, 24.0 x 22.0 x 6.0 cm.