tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200827855904170988.post736895426954025528..comments2023-10-08T22:27:49.730-04:00Comments on The Tumbrel Diaries: The flamingoAngus Trumblehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03350040368046577016noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200827855904170988.post-19440857539342066072012-10-08T02:40:50.493-04:002012-10-08T02:40:50.493-04:00Thank you, Angus, I hadn't read the essay in f...Thank you, Angus, I hadn't read the essay in full. Ignore the rough draft, here are some more worthwhile reflections. Edwardian Hellenism informs Sydney Long's picture, as it did the work of artists all over the Empire at that time. One wonders how much he in fact knew about the brolga in native songline terms, probably not at all. Such paintings stand in painful contrast to the actual destruction of the Australian habitat going on at that time. Edwin Austin Abbey's painting seems to be looking ahead to surrealism, though doubtless that was not his intention. Freud would have something to say. Your hint at evolutionary theory is worth pondering. The late Romantics had a fascination with unusual colour in nature, and flamingoes stand out in the crowd in that respect. The poets are hung up with the dazzling colour of things, and sometimes the weirder the better. Some of this seems to be an imaginative effort to come to terms with Darwin, whose theories would imply that all colour in nature has a purpose, no matter how weird or prosaic the colour.<br /><br />Postscript: Thank you for Tumbrel Diaries, which has been favourite reading of this correspondent for some time. Thanks too for putting up with my sporadic comments.Philip Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04131007109049770561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200827855904170988.post-35411555724013989252012-10-07T06:19:49.247-04:002012-10-07T06:19:49.247-04:00Yes, you're quite right Philip. "The Spir...Yes, you're quite right Philip. "The Spirit of the Land" does indeed have brolgas, but Long was disproportionately interested in flamingoes.Angus Trumblehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03350040368046577016noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3200827855904170988.post-80838223151372490102012-10-06T19:21:05.763-04:002012-10-06T19:21:05.763-04:00I dislike throwing a spanner in the works, but are...I dislike throwing a spanner in the works, but aren't they brolgas? Label: Brolgas. Sydney Long may well be drawing on the Edwardian fascination with elongated birds with pink and white colouring, he may even be remarking on the flamingo fad, but an Australian painting called 'The Spirit of the Land' ought, you would think, to contain Australian birds.Also known as the Native Companion, the brolga was in the popular Edwardian mind a bird admired for its dancing movements, which is what is happening in Sydney Long's painting. What I wonder about is, where Pan is taking these brolgas? Philip Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04131007109049770561noreply@blogger.com