A bear of great substance
Early last week I received a rather unusual request from the Australian Financial Review . Charis Perkins, editor of the Life&Leisure section, was compiling a special 'Gifts for Him' Q&A Christmas feature. This would include 'quotes from a range of trendsetters/style gurus about festive gifts'. Would I be interested in taking part? Despite some unease arising from the designation 'trendsetter/style guru', to which awesome status I make no claim whatsoever, nevertheless I readily agreed to participate—for to some degree it is part of the job of an art museum director to exploit any such media opportunity that comes his or her way. The question was, “Tell us about the most special present you have ever received. Who was it from? Why is it so special?” After much rumination overnight I realised that the correct answer was literally staring at me in his quiet way from his spot on the chest of drawers. This is what I wrote: “Many year...