Charles Blackman: The lost domains
Reed, $100 hb, 144 pp
A Look in the Abyss
This book must win the prize for the most lavish and the most amateurish book on an Australian artist. Not one of the 200 odd colour plates is dated; not even in the portentously titled Opus Index (a list of plates without page numbers!) do we get a single date or indication of present ownership. Where dates are given in the text, they are often vague and careless ‘... in the 1950s...’etc.
Earlier commentators and critics swim in and out of the text without reference and there is no bibliography or biographical outline. Proper names are misspelt e.g. Barrett Reed (instead of Reid), Al Alvares (instead of Alvarez) as though the author had taken dictation faultily from the Master. The text is frequently unconsciously comic:
Continue reading for only $10 per month. Subscribe and gain full access to Australian Book Review. Already a subscriber? Sign in. If you need assistance, feel free to contact us.