The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 14

14 THE AGE, Wednesday 20 April 1983 edited by Anthony Clark The Leonardo of the north it REVIEW Anthony Clarke IN 1678, some 150 years after Al-brech Durer had died, the Italian Carlo Malvasia wrote that "all the great artists, who seem to us replete with their own ideas, would be beggars if one day they were forced to return to Durer everything that they borrowed from This extraordinary artist, who brought the inquiry and ideals and fresh vision of the Italian Renaissance to Germany, is the subject of an exemplary work, 'Durer. Paintings: Prints: Drawings' by Peter Strieder, former director of the German National Museum at Nuremberg (Frederick Muller, This is a large-format book, copiously illustrated. It contains color reproductions of 80 paintings virtually all the paintings Strieder is willing to definitely attribute to the ground about four miles from me with such terrible force, enormous noise and splashing that it drowned the entire countryside (it) was accompanied by wind and a roar so frightening that when I awoke my whole body trembled and I could not recover for a long time May the Lord turn all things to the The Durer book will be of particular interest to Melburnians as a background to our own NGV collection of Durer's works. We possess a complete collection of his engravings and woodcuts, numbering more than 300, bought in 1956 under the Felton Bequest; one of the finest Durer collections in the world. BRIEFLY THE Australian Nouveau Theatre will perform 'Tartuffe' by Moliere, translated by Richard Wilbur, from Wednesday 4 May.

at Anthill Theatre, 199 Napier Street. South Melbourne. Durer's 1515 woodcut. Rhinoceros: "After Christ's birth, the year 1513. on May this animal was brought alive to the great and mighty King Emmanuel at Lisbon in Portugal from India Tough enough, but not good enough Self-portrait by Durer, done in silverpoiht on prepared paper when the artist was aged 13 or 14 years.

It bears the inscription: "This I drew, using a mirror; it is my own likeness, in the year 1484, when I was still a child." FILMS Durer and 106 of his 350 woodcuts. Also reproduced are 26 watercolors (all save one in color), four etchings and 52 engravings, and 120 of his 1000 drawings. The print quality, both of the color plates and black-and-white line work, is first class, commensurate with the price. Strieder's text is scholarly but not dry, as he deals with Durer's personality, the development of his art, and with the exciting Nuremberg environment in which he worked, with his involvement in the strides being made in mathematics and astronomy, and the growth in that city of the printing industry. But it is the sheer range of Durer's work reproduced in this 400-page book that makes it such a worthwhile edition.

The self-portraits starting with one done in 1484 when the artist was only 13 or 14 years of age, one of the earliest self-portraits in Western art the animal studies, the architectural drawings, the experiments with figure proportion and perspective, make it clear that Durer was the northern Leonardo, impelled by ceaseless curiosity and endowed with a mighty talent that makes his work as fresh and exciting today as it must have been to his contemporaries. The book is rounded off with a technical appraisal of Durer's large panel work 'The Four Apostles, written by Gisela Goldberg, and assemblages of writings by and about Durer, which include his text to his remarkable water-color "Vision of a painted in 1525, just three years before his sudden death, showing almost-barren land being laid waste by what seems almost an upturned atomic explosion. In the text to this painting he describes how, in a vision in his sleep, he saw "many great waters fall from heaven. The first struck DEVALUATION! PRICE INCREASES INEVITABLE! mm ran The director of 'Serious Undertakings', Helen Grace, broadens the sense of what the term "feminist film" might mean. She breaks away from the idea that there are special, compartmentalised "women's The point is neatly made in the first section.

A voice on the soundtrack tells us: "She said she wanted to make a film about child care. He said: 'I'd rather make a film about the Baader Meinhof gang'." It sounds as if the film is setting up a polarity between women's issues (the everyday, the personal) and male issues (the broader, more dramatic, international concerns). But the two points of view are wittily reconciled in a dramatic re-enactment of a terrorist kidnap. Images of child care and terrorism come together, as a pram is used to stop the car in which a kidnap victim is travelling. The pram image turns up again in several sequences, including the famous scene from Eisenstein's 'Battleship Potemkin', where a pram goes careering out of control down the Odessa Steps.

The child care image, and therefore the issue, belongs in all sorts of contexts: it has no special or appropriate place in the film, or anywhere else. In another section of the film, four academics (three male, one female) talk about the role of feminism in their personal history. At first the sequences have a straight documentary feel, but it becomes apparent that the four speakers are actors. This does not take away the interest or relevance of what they have to say, but it does not give their words any special status of truth. The way the documentary form works is opened to question, with some entertaining, if slightly heavy-handed technical devices.

The film poses questions about hew the depiction of the landscape creates certain assumptions about what "Australian" and "Australia" mean. These in turn are related back to questions about feminism and personal history. It is not too theoretical or too dogmatic in the way it does this. The compressed, refined style of 'Serious Undertakings' is one of its most satisfying aspects. It invites a thoughtful response from its audience.

'Serious Undertakings is showing on a double bill with Mary Callahan's 'Greetings from Wollongong'. -PHILIPPA HAWKER IF boxing is not your favorite sport and Country and Western not your favorite music, it is a fair bet that 'Tough Enough' (Cinema Centre) will not be among your favorite films. 'Tough Enough', slackly directed by Richard O. Fleischer, is more or less a re-run of the Rocky' films, with gee-tar accompaniment. This time the hero is an unsuccessful Texan singer.

Art, who hopes to win a big purse and television exposure by entering an obviously rigged boxing competition. Although John Leone's thin script contains some pious claptrap about the brutality of boxing, the perfidy of its promoters and the need for a man to do what a man has to do, this film is chiefly devoted to lashings of thump-and-wallop. Dennis Quaid (Art) shows a chirpy insouciance that suggests he is an actor to watch in some other film. NEIL JILLETT THE anthology 'Creepshow' (Mid City) offers five variations on the theme of horror comedy, but hardly any variety. It is a stodgy exercise.

Writer Stephen King and director George A. Romero have de- signed their film as a tribute to grisly horror comic books. They rustle up five tales about a prowling corpse hungry for cake; a horticultural meteorite: a voyeuristic murderer: a thawedout monster; and an eccentric millionaire troubled by cockroaches. Only the last tale provides some fun and creepiness, and that is thanks mainly to an entertainingly nutty performance by E. G.

Marshall. NEIL JILLETT SERIOUS Undertakings' (Longford Cinema, South Yarra) is a difficult film to define. Not a documentary, not a narrative, in only 28 minutes it refers to and reflects on child care, terrorism, Lawson's 'The Drover's Wife' and the way individuals first experienced feminism. Among other things. In five separate but connected sections it compresses a whole range of feminist and political concerns very effectively.

Montage techniques are frequently used, but they do more than merely set off one image against another: they trigger off a series of questions, connections and suggestions. mnnnm Devaluation of the dollar will almost certainly raise the price of a BMW, so now all our cars are at pre-devaluation prices. At present, interest rates are lower than they have been for a long time. However, these rates will not last for very much longer. If you have been promising yourself that one day you will own a BMW there may never again be a better time to make the final decision.

So (font watt any longer when now may be the last chance to buy a BMW at these prices. Memory Holloway's Art ra-viaw. of the Japanese Idamitau collection on show at the National Gallery of Victoria, will appear in this week's Saturday Extra. FOR STRONGER miiiiiiiiiiio L0XON I I Use BEX as directed for welcome relief from the aches and pains. If pain or symptoms persist consult your doctor.

Meanwhile for relief from the discomfort take Capsule BEX. A million dollars worth of Opera going for a song. The Victoria State Opera is presenting Melbourne's first million-dollar season. No expense has been spared to bring you four of the world's best loved operas: Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Verdi's Rigoletto, Strauss' Die Fledermaus and the magnificence of Saint-Saens' Samson and Delilah, which will be the first fully-staged opera in the new Victorian Arts Centre. Spectacular set designs and costumes are being prepared for each opera.

There will not only be a feast for your eyes, but for your ears as well. We have brought together such splendid artists as Monique Brynnel, Joan Carden, Margreta Elkins, Suzanne Johnston, Geoffrey Chard, Keith Lewis and John Wood. Internationally acclaimed directors and designers like Robin Lovejoy, Anne Woolliams, Kenneth Rowell and Academy Award winner CAPSULES CHEMIST ONLY MELBOURNE METROPOLITAN: City. Brvson BMW. 192 Exhibition Street, 62 4161.

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BDYECHMILGY The Ministry for Economic Development will hold a three-day conference to investigate the potential of biotechnology for industrial growth in Victoria. The conference will be the second in a series aimed at bringing together organisations and individuals concerned with specific areas of new technology in the State. The main objective of the conference will be to stimulate discussion. to identify actions concerning the effective utilisation of advances in biotechnology, and to provide the State Government with information on which balanced industry policies may be formulated. The emphasis at this conference will be on exploiting the products of biotechnology, not merely discussingthe 'state of the art'.

Hence, the finance, manufacturing and marketing sectors will play a significant role. The Ministry is calling for nominations for delegates to the biotechnology conference from the fields of science, government, industry and the support sector, including current and potential manufacturers and marketers of biotechnology products. Nominations are also welcomed from industries involved in manufacturing or supplying equipment associated with biotechnology. The biotechnology conference will be held at the Clyde Cameron College in Wodonga from 22 to 24 June. Numbers are strictly limited.

Selection of delegates will be based on achieving a balanced group representing the areas of research, development, patents, financial support, government policies, production, marketing, publicity and the media. Expressions of interest outlining the area of activity should reach the Conference Manager by not later than 29 April. Delegates will be asked to submit a brief paper, by 27 May, describing actual or projected involvement in the field, problems encountered and suggested solutions. Please contact: Vernon Prior Conference Manager Ministry for Economic Development 228 Victoria Parade EAST MELBOURNE Victoria3002 Telephone (03) 417 3701 Commonwealth Development Bank Transferable Certificates of Deposit 13.75 RA. years Please send me a free, full colour brochure detailing all the operas being 14 RA.

years performed and a subscription form. Victoria State Opera, 370 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy, Vic. 3065. Name: Minimum Deposit $10,000 Apply at any Commonwealth Bank Branch. Address: Postcode: COMMONWEALTH DEVELOPMENT BANK Victoria State Opera's 1983 Season.

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