RUHE COLLECTION
Australian art in Hill exhibit
Bu Norma C. Romano
By Norma C. Romano
Last year a KU English professor took leave and packed for Australia, land of myths and of unknown aborigine art. When he returned in January, he brought with him a unique collection of bark paintings from the Arnhem land. These paintings and some aboriginal objects are presently on display in the Art Museum.
After spending a year in Australia as a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer at the University of Adelaide, Edward L. Ruhe bought the collection. The paintings are the result of Prof. Ruhe's year of research, of what he terms, "part of my hobby of collecting paintings."
The present collection of bark paintings was assembled between April and November, 1965 by Ruhe in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin, Alice Springs and Maningrida.
"WITH ONLY A few exceptions, all paintings seem to be of recent date. The collection represents bark-painting as it was being done in 1964 and 1965," Ruhe said.
The exhibition which will continue until May 1, presents representative bark paintings from five or perhaps eight or nine significantly different cultural areas of Arnhem Land—the area which extends in the coastal area of the north-central bulge of Australia.
"In that northern part of Australia, the custom of bark painting may be traced back to prehistoric times, before the natives had contact with white men," he said.
"WHAT IS RARE and most precious in civilized cultures is part of the basic fabric of life among primitive peoples."
Among a few durable products of such activity produced in Australia are decorated boomerangs, bullroares and "churingas" (sacred wood or stone objects) which can be seen as the visitor goes into the basement of the Art Museum where the collection is on display.
The bark painting was realized and developed by the aborigines of the Arnhem Land utilizing the same type of material they use for body-painting and the decoration of ceremonial objects. In cave painting, a fixative substance obtained from the root of certain orchids. The pigments were red and yellow ochres, charcoal or a natural manganese compound and white pipe-clay.
"Traditions governing techniques, material, choice of subjects, design of motifs were seldom strong enough to inhibit the development of noticeably individual styles among painters," Ruhe said.
In the art of this region, Ruhe continued, attention seems highly concentrated on the subject such as fish, kangaroo and the hunter with little attempt to compose a painting beyond care to center it.
The background in the painting Catfish and Barramundi are bare or red-ochred bark. Almost always the figures are painted in solid white. Animal figures are usually subjected to over-painting which supplies such details as eyes and X-ray features, spinal columns and ribs, Ruhe said.
CATFISH AND BARRAMUNDI features two fish which appear in side view. The head of the latter is in profile but shows two eyes. This dual perspective and the initial painting of the fish in
"The crudeness of execution of this painting is apparently something like the norm throughout the region." Ruhe said.
solid white is within the regional tradition.
Another example of bark painting is Sacred Ubulgarir-Death Adders. Five snakes with diamond-shaped heads, stout bodies and string-like tails of the species are depicted. Spaces between the bodies are alternately black and red The space at the right-hand margin is further decorated by white parallel lines.
SPU to demonstrate during ROTC review
"Be well-dressed. Signs will be supplied."
These will be two of the instructions issued Student Peace Union members who participate in the demonstration against militarism, which coincides with the Chancellor's ROTC Review May 20.
At a meeting in the Kansas Union yesterday, Dean Abel, Michigan yesterday, Ind., graduate student and president of SPU, said that no literature will be handed out at the review. He also stressed that the demonstration is not against ROTC, but against "militarism in general."
SPU WILL INVITE other KU groups to participate, and will contact the SPU branch at Kansas State and the Kansas City Committee to End the War in Viet Nam.
SPU has an exhibit case reserved in the Union for the week of the review, and this too will be devoted to anti-militarism. Abel also said that a debate will be arranged during this week.
Tuesday, April 26, 1966
4 Daily Kansan
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Lenin is by Red
A Communist party member, Vladimir V. Alexandrov, said yesterday that Leninism cannot be understood by reading only selected passages as most Americans do.
Speaking in Blake Hall about "The Writings of Americans on Lenin," the Russian scholar calledLeninism a development of Marxism.
"Leninism is a science of society's development that Russians believe in like Americans believe in technological science," Alex-androv said.
"LENINISM HELPS Russians understand past, present and future trends. This 'ism' enables the U.S.S.R. to see and guide in the direction necessary for society to develop."
Commenting on the inevitable transition from capitalism to socialism predicted by Marx and Lenin, Alexandrov said American scholars reject the transition and recognize only the modernization of society.
He equated violence with compulsion in Leninist revolutionary doctrines. Social revolutions, contrary to American beliefs, are possible through legislation and mediation, he said. The reason for physical violence is counteraction against the violence of the exploiting class.
praised speaker
Alexandrov spoke about the problem of the Communist party. He said Lenin never claimed professional revolutionaries should have advantages over the common people.
"THE PARTY IS NOT an elite group, it is the majority of the people struggling not only for their own interest but also for the interest of the country," he said.
In closing, Alexandrov remarked that only communism has a future.
When asked how it was possible to convert private property to public property without violence, he replied, "I don't know!"
Alexandrov said that the world situation has changed since Lenin's time. And Russians believe in Lenin, according to Roy Laird, associate professor of political science, like Americans do in George Washington.
Chance is the most important factor in the origin of a species, but environment is predominant in the evolution of each species. This conclusion was drawn at the second Darwin-Linnaeus Year Lecture in 1958 by John A. Moore, professor of zoology at Barnard College, Columbia University.
Man was last chance
A Phi O
A Phi O
Invites You To An Open Meeting
Don Baldwin
Kaw Council, B.S.A.
"Opportunities In Professional Scouting"
April 27th, 7:30
Meadowlark Room
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