The Four Horsemen: Apocalypse, Death and Disaster

Image: Stefano Della Bella, ‘Death on a Battlefield’, (c. 1646-48), etching, reg. no. 1959.4585, gift of Dr Orde Poynton, 1959, Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne.

An exhibition currently on show at the National Gallery of Victoria includes 30 prints and rare books from the University of Melbourne’s Special Collections. The Four Horsemen presents images of death and disaster in prints, illuminated manuscripts, illustrated books and paintings from the 15th to the early 18th centuries:

The Four Horsemen: Apocalypse, Death and Disaster, 31 August 2012 – 28 January 2013, level 3, Robert Raynor Gallery Prints & Drawings, NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road

For more information see www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/the-four-horsemen

The publication accompanying the exhibition, co-authored and co-edited by the University’s Professor Charles Zika (Professorial Fellow in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies), also includes ten illustrations from the Special Collection’s Prints collection:

The Four Horsemen: Apocalypse, death and disaster, by Cathy Leahy, Jennifer Spinks, Charles Zika, eds. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2012.

The book can be accessed in the University of Melbourne Library: http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/search/X?SEARCH=the+four+horsemen&SORT=D&searchscope=30 

Seminar on North Mount Lyell Disaster 1912

Image: A group of men in front of a locomotive at the Mount Lyell Mine in Tasmania, University of Melbourne Archives (UMA), Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Co, Ltd. Collection, 1975.0083, PA/241.1.

The 12 October 2012 marks the centenary of the North Mount Lyell disaster. The fire is believed to have started in an underground pump house at the Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company mining site.

The disaster is the focus of a seminar co-ordinated by UMA which will be held in the Baillieu Library on 29 November 2012. Guest speakers are: 

  • Geoffrey Blainey, Internationally acclaimed historian and author of The Peaks of Lyell
  • Andrew Reeve, Professorial Fellow at Monash University and author of Up from the Underworld: Coalminers and Community in Wonthaggi 1909-1968
  • Richard Knight, Mining Engineer  and Company Director, researching the question: Did the North Mount Lyell fire lead to disaster?

Each speaker will share their insights into the events surrounding the disaster.

The University of Melbourne Archives (UMA) has recently digitised the Royal Commission into the disaster where 42 men lost their lives. Their names listed on page 830 under the heading ‘List of bodies recovered from North Mt Lyell Mine’ serves as a chilling reminder of the impact of this event on the small community. http://repository.unimelb.edu.au/10187/15818

Mount Lyell Mining & Railway Company commenced operation near Queenstown in 1893. Photographs taken in 1899 by government photographer John Watt Beattie show Tasmania’s wild forested landscape; and the early beginning of the company and its railway. http://repository.unimelb.edu.au/10187/16047

Sources

Schultz, P. 2009 History of Queenstown West Coast Tasmania, accessed on 5 October 2012, www.users.on.net/~bilmac/disaster.html

University of Melbourne Archives, Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company Ltd, 1974.0067 & 1975.0083

Wikipedia. 2012, Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company  accessed on 5 October 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lyell_Mining_and_Railway_Company

Australia Council for the Arts

The Australia Council for the Arts is the Australian Government’s arts funding and advisory body.   The Ewing and George Paton Gallery Archive contains applications and Annual Reports to the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council from the years 1973-1990.   The first Australia Council grant round was held in 1973 and the Ewing received $3,000 towards its 1974 program.    Generous funding was received every year from the Australia Council until 1989.  The funding received had increased to $14,000 by 1989.  Recipients of grants were required to provide a grant acquittal report at the end of their funded activity, this greatly improved the quality of documentation for exhibitions from 1974 onwards and preserving the history of the galleries’ activities that are now accessible through University of Melbourne Archives. The reports on  the Ewing and George Paton Galleries’ exhibition and related activities programmes include catalogues, invitations, posters, photographs, reviews, publications and more.

The Australia Council for the Arts continues to offer a broad range of grants for Australian artists and arts organisations.  In 2010–11, they invested over $163 million in artists and arts organisations to support Australian artists in making art for Australian and international audiences.  West Space, a Melbourne based non-profit artist-led gallery was fortunate to secure the Visual Arts Key Organisations Multi-Year 2012-2015 grant for $200,450.00.  West Space relocated to a substantially larger space in a more central location in mid 2011, enabling them to radically expand their artistic programming.  This funding no doubt has contributed to West Space reducing exhibition fees by 25% in 2013.  West Space have a long-held ambition for the organisation to remove fees,  and see this as an exciting step towards their goal.

As a result of the relationship between the Ewing and George Paton Galleries and the Australia Council for the Arts, the archive holds many records documenting this interaction.  These include: correspondence, reports, programmes and more.

Through the financial assistance and support of the Australia Council for the Arts, many artists and art organisations are able to operate, develop and flourish, reaching new audiences and contributing to the progressive arts and culture sector both within Australia and internationally.

University of Melbourne George Paton Gallery collection 1990.0144

http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/home

 http://westspace.org.au/

Peter Cripps

Image: Peter Cripps (right), “Freon”, 1972, angle iron, cast aluminium, canvas, stainless steel and rope. Peter Cole (left), “Untitled”, 1974. Image from the ‘Ewing Gallery Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition’ catalogue, 1974. University of Melbourne Archives, George Paton Gallery collection 1990.0144, Unit 31. Photograph: Suzanne Davies. (Courtesy, Suzanne Davies).

Acclaimed Australian artist, curator, gallery director and academic Peter Cripps was associated with The Ewing and George Paton galleries from their earliest days. Today Cripps is represented by the Anna Schwartz Gallery in Melbourne and has an extensive career in exhibiting and curating. His work  is in many collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australian National Gallery, Canberra and most State galleries in Australia.  The Ewing and George Paton Gallery helped launch Peter Cripps’ career in the 1970’s when he participated in and curated numerous group and solo exhibitions.

The Ewing and George Paton Galleries collection contains correspondence with gallery directors, exhibition catalogues, essays, posters, photographs and slides.  Correspondence with directors Kiffy Rubbo and Meredith Rogers in the 1970’s illustrates Cripps’ enthusiasm and professionalism for his career; the warm, intimate, and often humorous exchanges he had with these women indicate his deep involvement and support for both counter-culture and the gallery.

Cementing his stature as a significant Australian artist  Peter Cripps is included in the fantastic Less is More, group exhibition at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, exploring the late modernist movements of Minimal and Post-Minimal art from the 1960s until now. The exhibition includes works by over 30 Australian artists alongside key American Minimal works by Donald Judd, Dan Flavin and others.

Less is More currently showing at Heide Museum of Modern Art until 4 November 2012.

The George Paton Gallery Archive is currently being listed for online, searchable access early in 2013.  See University of Melbourne Archives Catalogue, and Home page for more information.

Peter Cripps is represented by Anna Schwartz Gallery, Melbourne

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