I heard by accident this afternoon a lecture, which was part of the 'The British Empire and Visual Culture' Conference (actually ran into Francesco again today who was going there).
Dr Ruth Brimacombe, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, was unable to present her lecture:
One common hero: Gordon of Khartoum – the imperial icon in a colonial context today, so Dr Bronwyn Hughes (Art Historian and Heritage Consultant - pictured) delivered it (Bronwyn remembered me because we both studied Illuminated Manuscripts under the expertize of Herald Professor Margaret Manion in 1993) & it was strange because my final essay was about how female genitalia was represented in images such as the Mouths of Hell and I realized that my study since then had not deviated from the social, political & economic status of the human body.
One common hero: Gordon of Khartoum – the imperial icon in a colonial context today, so Dr Bronwyn Hughes (Art Historian and Heritage Consultant - pictured) delivered it (Bronwyn remembered me because we both studied Illuminated Manuscripts under the expertize of Herald Professor Margaret Manion in 1993) & it was strange because my final essay was about how female genitalia was represented in images such as the Mouths of Hell and I realized that my study since then had not deviated from the social, political & economic status of the human body.
The lecture addressed various representations of Gordon of Khartoum (General Charles Gordon) including the statue of him in Gordon Park in Spring Street, Melbourne. Of course I'd seen the bronze statue many times but was unaware of its significance. Gordon was seen at the time of the statue's placement in 1889 as representing the grandeur of the British Empire and colonisation.
I know that this was the period of the 'heroic male', but it took eight more years before the bronze statue of Jean of Arc (Jeannne d'Arc) a replica of one by Emmanuel Fremiet, was acquired by the Felton Bequest in 1906 and erected outside the State Library of Victoria in 1907.
'Joan of Arc was a peasant girl, who believed she could save her country, France, from the would-be English conquerors, during the Hundred Years' War. Acting under divine guidance (or so she believed), Joan secured the confidence of Dauphin (later King Charles VII) and led the French army in a momentous victory at Orleans in 1429. Whilst at Charles's coronation at Reims, she was captured by the English and their French collaborators and tried as a witch. Unfortunately Joan was found guilty and promptly burned at the stake. In 1455 a retrial was ordered and the earlier verdict against the peasant girl was overturned. Joan not only became a national heroine but also a legend. On May 16th, 1920 she was canonized by Pope Benedict XV'
(quote taken from: http://www.publicartaroundtheworld.com/Jeanne_d_Arc_Statue.html)
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