ArtsNational discusses influential works of art

ARTSNATIONAL Coffs Coast’s most recent talks showcased the lives and legacies of two extraordinary talents: T.S. Eliot and Johannes Vermeer – both chosen for their influence on modern creatives.

For instance, the award-winning musical Cats, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, draws on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (1939), a whimsical series of poems by the otherwise serious T.S. Eliot.

The talk,”‘T.S. Eliot and Art” was presented by Toby Faber, grandson of the founder of Faber & Faber – the independent publishing house in Bloomsbury, London, that was Eliot’s publisher.

The talk’s title refers to the whimsical illustrations Eliot produced to accompany the Book of Practical Cats, and his popularity with visual artists and photographers of the time, including Wyndham Lewis, Cecil Beaton and Man Ray.

Eliot was himself influenced by many contemporary literary figures, including Ezra Pound and WB Yeats.

The prickly relationship he had with fellow Bloomsbury notable, Virginia Woolf, probably stems from his departure from Woolf’s Hogarth Press to join Faber & Faber in 1925.

She later described him as a “stuck-up humbug” and ridiculed his conservative attire.

Noted landscape painter and accomplished art historian and lecturer, Lydia Bauman, delivered the talk “Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure”.

Vermeer was a perfectionist, Lydia explained, and a spendthrift when it came to buying expensive paints, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering wife.

Only 36 Vermeer artworks remain – one third of these represent music making.

None of Vermeer’s works, or those of his many contemporaries, were commissioned by royalty or the church.

Moderately successful in his lifetime, particularly in his home city of Delft, Vermeer was a master of light.

Nearly all of his interior artworks were created in one room, yet his exceptional compositional skills have turned him into one of the most revered painters in the world.

“Not only that, but there was nothing random in any of Vermeer’s works,” Lydia Bauman explained.

“Everything was symbolic; objects, placement, colour combinations and perspective.”

Love, melancholy, music making and domestic chores were elevated by Vermeer into luminous studies on human life.

“Once again, these two talks showcase the diversity of topics ArtsNational Coffs Coast brings to arts lovers in our city and beyond,” said ArtsNational Coffs Coast spokesperson Annie Talve.

“In October we leave Europe and move closer to our part of the world with “Land of the Monkey God: The Art and Architecture of Sri Lanka.”

To find out more, visit artsnationalcoffscoast.au.

By Andrea FERRARI