Phoenix Magazine and Australian modernism

History Festival Exhibition, 1 May-15 June 2013, Barr Smith Library Level 1

If it is possible at this time still to feel the importance of poetry, Adelaide is now in an interesting condition. There are signs here that the imagination is stirring, and that if it has a chance it will give us something of our own. There is a genius about the place; and genius as a neighbour is exciting even at this dreadful moment.  (C.R. Jury, Angry Penguins 1940)

The literary, particularly poetic, upsurge wrought by the Angry Penguins journal began in 1935 with Phoenix, centred at the University of Adelaide. The decision of the editors to change the ‘jolly old school magazine’ format of the Adelaide University Magazine to a completely literary journal started a seminal period in Australia’s cultural history.

Phoenix published works ranging from the nationalistic poetry of Rex Ingamells and the Jindyworobaks Club to the avant-garde modernist verse of Max Harris, D.B. Kerr and Paul Pfeiffer, with art by John Dowie and Dorrit Black, among others.

During 1940, in reaction to withdrawal of funding for Phoenix, Harris, Kerr, Pfeiffer and Geoffrey Dutton founded the influential Angry Penguins magazine which sought to promote internationalism and ‘a noisy and aggressive revolutionary modernism’ to Australian culture.

Why did the relatively conservative University of Adelaide become the ‘literary hotbed’ of Australian modernism? A faculty of some distinction, the creative support of Professors C.R. Jury and J.I.M. Stewart, a University Union which encouraged student participation and debate though the Arts Association and the student newspaper On Dit, the modern literature available through the newly built Barr Smith Library and Preece’s Bookshop, and the collegiality of St Mark’s College all played a role.

Max Harris and Geoffrey Dutton went on to publish Australian Letters which fostered collaborations between the most important artists and poets of the time. The literary energy in Adelaide between the launch of Phoenix in 1935 and the end of Angry Penguins in 1946 had an important and far-reaching influence on emerging Australian culture.

Presented by Rare Books & Special Collections, University Archives, and Art & Heritage

Bragg Digital Archive

Drawn from the resources of Special Collections and the University Archives, the Archive brings to life William Henry Bragg’s early career at the University of Adelaide and his involvement in all areas of University life through photographs, official records, ebooks and recordings.

The archive is available from our new Stories web site, at http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/stories/bragg

Exhibition of items from the collection of Stephen Whittington
2 – 30 September 2012
Level 1, Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide

Wednesday, September 5, 2012 is the centenary of the birth of John Cage.

Composer, writer, poet, visual artist, gourmet cook, mushroom expert – American composer John Cage (1912-1992) was a person of many parts. He is rightly considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century – though not everyone views his influence as positive –yet, as is so often the case, to equate his importance with his influence does a disservice to his work, which deserves to be valued for its own sake.

John Cage was born in Los Angeles, California, on September 5, 1912. His father, also named John Cage, was an engineer and inventor. His mother, Lucretia, worked occasionally as a journalist. Like many children, Cage had piano lessons, but he was more interested in sight-reading music than in developing a virtuoso technique. He enrolled at Pomona College as a theology major, but abandoned his studies after two years, and contemplated a career as a writer or an architect. After a trip to Europe, Cage decided instead to study music. His teachers included the pianist Richard Bühlig, and composers Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. Many of Cage’s compositions from the 1930s were for percussion. In 1939, he invented the prepared piano – a conventional instrument into which are inserted various objects and materials such as bolts, screws, wood and rubber, thus radically altering its sound and tuning.

In the late 1940s Cage moved to New York. His encounter with Zen Buddhism through the lectures of Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki shifted the focus of his music towards ‘non-intention’. The detachment of the work from the personal taste or emotions of the composer was achieved through the use of chance procedures, derived from the Chinese classic of divination, I Ching. It was during this period that Cage began his personal and artistic partnership with the dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham.

During the 1950s Cage expanded the concept of ‘chance procedures’ to include indeterminacy, in which the outcome of performing a score will lead to an entirely different outcome each time it is performed. Cage taught classes in experimental music at Black Mountain College and at the New School for Social Research in New York; many of his students were artists who were attracted to Cage’s radical thinking and his articulation of an alternative narrative of contemporary culture outside the mainstream, ‘official’ culture – one that included such figures as Erik Satie and Marcel Duchamp. Cage expanded his activities to writing – his book Silence is one of the most widely read and influential books about music – and later in his life, to visual art as well.

Until 31 July
Rare Books & Special Collections
Level 1, Barr Smith Library, The University of Adelaide

Exhibition 3-30 April 2012

Rare Books & Special Collection

Level 1, Barr Smith Library

This exhibition is composed in response to a precious old book brought back from Japan by Sir Samuel Way in the 19th century. It inspires the poetics of the ancient capitals of Kamakura and Kyoto.

The title of the exhibition, “Autumn River, Persimmon Moon” is in homage to the writing of such contemporaries as Murakami Haruki, or Haruki Murakami as he is known in the West. Murakami’s artistic literary vision in creating such titles for his novels as “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman”, is the contemporary dimension of a historic evolution of art spanning back through the centuries, driven by Japan’s ethos of the relationship between the visual and literary arts, theatre, tea ceremony and the celebration of the beauty of the natural world in Zen philosophy.

In the tradition of Murakami and his predecessors, “Autumn River, Persimmon Moon” reflects Japan’s ideology of the observance of the passing of the seasons, and the life landmarks of time and place.

Translations by Wendy Ella Wright of Japanese poetry, both ancient and avant garde, are on display, as well as some evocative and diverse glimpses into the tradition of the arts of Japan from the Rare Books and Special Collections of the Barr Smith Library, the South Australian Museum and Wendy Ella Wright’s own collection.

20 February to 31 March 2012.

This selection of Guan Xiaoyun’s work is displayed in three parts:

Tales of Twelve Ladies from Dream of Red Mansions in Jinling City
(红楼梦金陵十二钗)

The Elegant Eight of the Qinhuai River
(秦淮八艳）

Romance of the Western Chamber
(西厢记)

Chinese Paper Cutting or Jianzhi (剪纸) is the original form of paper cutting from the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. This practice later spread to other parts of the world with different regions adopting their own cultural styles.

In Eastern Han Dynasty, the people with access to paper for crafting purposes were most often nobility. The Song Dynasty scholar Chou Mi mentioned several paper cutters who cut paper with scissors into a great variety of designs and characters. From the 7th to 13th century, paper cutting became popular especially during Chinese holiday festivals. By the end of the Qing Dynasty in the late 19th century, new styles were being introduced. In the 1980s the paper cut practice was revived by the Republic of China.

This exhibition is presented by the Confucius Institute, Art & Heritage Collections, and Rare Books & Special Collections of the University of Adelaide.

Rare Books & Special Collections in collaboration with the JM Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice and Art & Heritage Collections present:

Things seen on right and left

Erik Satie in words, pictures and music

Exhibition
Level 1 & 3, Barr Smith Library
9 June until 24 July 2011

Download the Catalogue

Special Collections Foyer Level 1, and Level 3 Foyer,
Barr Smith Library 2-28 April 2011

Presenting historic Bibles from the Bible Society Australia’s national archive collection, supported by a display of Bibles from Rare Books & Special Collections.

Group and school tours available through the Bible Society SA
82924888
infosa@bible.com.au

For library opening hours, particularly during the Easter break, please see our opening hours page.

23 February -30 March 2011

Foyer, Rare Books & Special Collections, Level 1, Barr Smith Library

China has long been an enigma to outsiders. With China set to play an increasingly central role in the lives of South Australians in coming decades, the need to better understand it has never been greater. The Confucius Institute at the University of Adelaide works to remove the mist from our understanding of China through discussion forums, the provision of scholarships and tours, and the training of teachers to inspire students to pursue studies in Chinese language and culture.

The Confucius Institute was established in partnership with Shandong University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China, and China’s National Office of Chinese Language Council International, commonly known as ‘Hanban’. Hanban has developed and published a wide range of textbooks to promote the learning of Chinese language and culture.

This exhibition will showcase a selection of the many resources made available through the Confucius Institute for the use of students and teachers with the aim of achieving a broader and more informed understanding of China, both across South Australia and beyond.

An accompanying this exhibition are items from Rare Books & Special Collections displaying works on Chinese arts and history.