Elisabetta Sirani: Artist of Bologna

Women artists working during the 16th and 17th centuries were few, or that is, only a small number came to prominence in the Western canon of art. This may be explained by the many obstacles placed in the way of aspiring female artists, for unlike their male counterparts, they had no guild to support them, which in turn made earning a living through the sale of their art very difficult. [1.] Students of art history are frustrated by this, and lament their under representation in both the history books and in the Baillieu’s Print Collection. Thus, it is a pleasure to highlight one of the women who triumphed over the challenges and became a renowned artist of Bologna: Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665).

She was taught by her father Giovanni Andrea Sirani (1610-1670) who was also an artist, one that she surpassed in both reception, and in the number of works produced. When he became ill, Elisabetta ran the family studio, and she went on to found a school for women painters. Paintings make up most of her corpus, however, she also made drawings and was a printmaker.

Etching by Elisabetta Sirani
Elisabetta Sirani, Holy Family with St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist, etching (1655-56)

The etching Holy Family with St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist (1655-56), is not after another famous work of art by a male artist, but is rather a design of her own. It conveys an intimate domestic scene with the Virgin Mary nursing Christ and amusing the infant Saint John by dangling an object from her hand. An aging Saint Elizabeth is perhaps winding swaddling cloth, and in the background, Saint Joseph is at work with wood and axe. The architectural devices that dynamically intersect the backdrop are a clever compositional feature.

Reference

[1.] Caroline P. Murphy, ‘The economics of the woman artist,’ in Italian women artists: from Renaissance to Baroque, Milano: Skira; New York, NY: Distributed in North America by Rizzoli International, c2007, p. 23

Considering the literary archive: William Gosse Hay

Dr Rachael Weaver
School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne

William Hay and pet magpie Jampot, undated, William Gosse Hay Collection, 2005.0025, University of Melbourne Archives, Unit 24, 9/4/12

I first became interested in the Australian writer William Hay ten years ago, when Ken Gelder and I re-published Hay’s 1921 story, ‘An Australian Rip Van Winkle,’ in our Anthology of Colonial Australian Gothic Fiction (2007). The tale is a delightfully strange one, about a stockman named Jake, a romantic figure who resembles the writer R. L. Stevenson; only he is ‘slightly more melancholy.’[1] It begins with a meditation on the idea of the ‘nowhere road’ – the kind of mysterious sandy white track that winds its way into the Australian bush and seems to promise all kinds of imaginative destinations. Hay’s quaint story was published a little late in the day to be considered strictly colonial, but something about it seemed to belong to the nineteenth century. Like much of Hay’s writing, it has qualities that are anachronistic and modern at the same time. Continue reading “Considering the literary archive: William Gosse Hay” →

Anniversary of the Chinese Republic

Katherine Molyneux

It is a photograph of an dusty street in an unnamed city. There are bicycles and a blurry power line. In the background is a low-rise building that might be a market. In the foreground – dominating the scene – is a ceremonial gate, which appears to be made of wood. It is topped by a large dome.

"10 October: Anniversary Chinese Revolution", c1920s
“10 October: Anniversary Chinese Revolution”, c1920s. University of Melbourne Archives, Una Porter album, 1997.0002 item 7/1

Continue reading “Anniversary of the Chinese Republic” →

On Una Porter’s Photograph Album

Oscar T. Serquiña, Jr.

"Wesley college students", 1926
“Wesley college students”, India photograph album, 1926. University of Melbourne Archives, Una Porter album, 1997.0002.00003

A personal photograph collection may reveal the roots and routes of its collector’s life. While its primary function is to collate representations of objects, persons, and events, a collection may also lay bare more than what is visible to the eye. Such is the uncontainable paradox of archival materials, especially photos, after all: on one hand, their enduring presence contracts, as well as suspends in motion, the humanity and entity they capture, but it also allows them to allude to the outside world to which they once belonged or continue to belong, on the other. Such is the case of Una Porter’s photo album in the University of Melbourne archives, which largely contains photographic souvenirs—ranging from portraits of individuals and groups to shots of sprawling landscapes and still lives, to documentations of ordinary objects and lush flora and fauna—from trips to countries such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, Egypt, and India. While some photos seem to have emerged from Porter’s missionary and philanthropic work, others look rather touristy, curious, and quotidian. Continue reading “On Una Porter’s Photograph Album” →

“The Thoughtful East” / “Masters. Jaupur”

Nathan McCall

India photograph album, 1926
India photograph album, 1926. University of Melbourne Archives, Una Porter album, 1997.0002.00003

Accompanying the photographs are captions written by Ms Porter. These captions present an insight into Ms Porter’s reactions to some of the people and places that she saw. Of particular interest are three photographs captioned. The first is an image of a bearded man with a Tilaka painted on his forehead, indicating that he is probably of Indian heritage. This image is captioned The Thoughtful East. The second is an image of two western women, clearly distinguished by their clothing and complexions. One of these women is possibly Una Porter herself. This image is captioned The Thoughtless West. The final image is a group photo of twenty Indian men and one white male. The group are wearing of mixture of western attire and Indian garments. This photo is captioned Masters. Jaupur. Individually, these photographs do not provide any context for their creation and rely entirely on the larger photograph album to provide that context and the story of Ms Porter’s journey throughout South Asia. As the entire photograph album has been digitised along with these photographs, the viewer has access to all of Ms Porter’s time in the sub-continent however and makes these three photographs more poignant as a result. Continue reading ““The Thoughtful East” / “Masters. Jaupur”” →

Number of posts found: 413

Post type

Previous posts