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A Kingdom of Trial and Error
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11352 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
11 / 1986 |
3,656 Words |
| Author
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Jean Mellanby
Jean Mellanby is a writer and critic living in Cambridge, U.K.
Trained as a medievalist, she now focuses on the relationship
between art and society. |
The Tate Gallery in London has produced a perfectly charming small volume, With a Poet's Eye, that is sure to please. Many a visitor to the Tate will be delighted to acquire such a delightful, pretty, well-produced, and manageable small book. Those unable to visit the Gallery themselves will gain from it an authentic taste of what the Tate is about. It contains reproductions in color of more than fifty masterpieces from the collection, accompanied by poems inspired by the works reproduced and written especially by contemporary poets.
But beware. This book is from the Tate, and the Tate is the most dynamic and controversial gallery in Britain. It is regularly attacked for what many people consider outrageous acquisitions. The anthology has to be handled with care, because it is far from being the bland little production it might be taken for on cursory handling. It well lives up to the Tate's reputation for being stimulating, even disturbing.
The well-known English poet Elizabeth Jennings contributes the first poem, as an introduction, and she brilliantly sounds the tocsin, warning the reader and viewer of shocks to come.
Preen no prejudice, but saunter into this proud building.
Remove your hat. Let your bags and baskets be examined.
For bomb and gun.
Though within there will be blasts and
... (1932 of 20618 Characters)
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