Abstract Painting, Red 1952 Abstract Oil on canvas The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
From Reinhardt’s Red Series, this painting is immersed in the artist’s exploration of the colour red. The composition of abstraction is expressive of the artist’s excellence with the squares arrayed into a rigid pattern of varying hues of red defining the strict geometry.
Ad Reinhardt 1913-1967
Ad Reinhardt Abstract-Expressionism, Modern Art, Hard Edge Painting Born: 24 December 1913, New York, USA Nationality: American Died: 30 August 1967, New York, USA
Reinhardt was an abstract painter, a member of the American Abstract Artists, and part of the movement that became known as Abstract Expressionism. Reinhardt wrote and lectured on art and was a major influence on conceptual art, minimal art, and monochrome painting
With so many things left to say on the tip of my tongue resting on my lips I kissed him one time and gave all my words away as if sharing a single breath and as he spoke I listened in awe as every sentence glided from his mind to his throat through his teeth and lips I kissed him one time leaving all my words on his tongue but he didn’t steal my freedom like pillaging warrior he was everything I had been warned of and everything I dreamed of as he used his voice for me I kissed him one time So my words could be set free
she tries to get things out of men that she can’t get because she’s not 15% prettier
Richard Brautigan Born: 30 January 1935, Washington, USA Nationality: American Died: September 1984, California, USA
Brautigan was a novelist, poet, and short story writer. He wrote throughout his life, publishing ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four books of poetry, Brautigan began his career as a poet, publishing his first collection in 1957. He continued publishing until 1982
Going Down Album: Going Down Date: 1972 Genre: Jazz Rock Artist: Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck (1944-2023) was a guitarist. He rose to fame as a member of the Yardbirds and afterward founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group, Bogert, and Appice. He switched to an instrumental style focused on innovative sound in 1975 and his releases spanned genres from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion, and electronica
Ennio Morricone Film and TV/Classical Born: 10 November 1928, Rome, Italy Nationality: Italian Died: 6 July 2020, Selcetta, Italy
Morricone was a composer, orchestrator, trumpet player, and conductor. He composed over 400 scores for film and television and over 100 classical works. The score to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is one of the most influential soundtracks in history. He became a studio arranger for RCA Victor in 1955 after playing the trumpet in jazz bands throughout the 1940s. Throughout his career, he composed music for artists such as Paul Anka, Andrea Borcelli, and Milva. He gained international fame for composing music for Westerns from 1960-1975 and in 1978 composed the official theme for FIFA World Cup
They shout out with their political gust Manifesto promises made of dust And voters have no clue who they can trust But should we come together and regroup
What issues matter when they knock the door But do they listen or simply ignore As questions asked go deep to shake their core But should we come together and regroup
I’ll look at the names on the ballot sheet Without one name that has my faith complete
And to be honest, choice hides in the dark So to whom do I give my voter’s mark The reality of elections is stark But should we come together and regroup
Why I Never Became a Dancer 1995 Video Art Super 8 film Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom
Featuring scenes from Emin’s hometown of Margate ‘Why I Never Became a Dancer’ features the beach, the ‘golden mile’,’ and the games arcade with Emin narrating a story from her early teens.
Tracy Emin 1963-
Tracy Emin Young British Artists, Photographer, Painter, and Conceptual Artist Born: 3 July 1963, London, UK Nationality: British
Emin is an artist particularly known for her autobiographical and confessional work. She uses a variety of media including drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, film, neon text, and needlecraft. Emin was regarded as the ‘enfant terrible’ of the Young British Artists during the 1980s but is now a Royal Academician
They came in to the little town A semi-naked band subdued and silent All that remained of their tribe. They came here to the place of their old bora ground Where now the many white men hurry about like ants. Notice of the estate agent reads: ‘Rubbish May Be Tipped Here’. Now it half covers the traces of the old bora ring. ‘We are as strangers here now, but the white tribe are the strangers. We belong here, we are of the old ways. We are the corroboree and the bora ground, We are the old ceremonies, the laws of the elders. We are the wonder tales of Dream Time, the tribal legends told. We are the past, the hunts and the laughing games, the wandering camp fires. We are the lightening bolt over Gaphembah Hill Quick and terrible, And the Thunderer after him, that loud fellow. We are the quiet daybreak paling the dark lagoon. We are the shadow-ghosts creeping back as the camp fires burn low. We are nature and the past, all the old ways Gone now and scattered. The scrubs are gone, the hunting and the laughter. The eagle is gone, the emu and the kangaroo are gone from this place. The bora ring is gone. The corroboree is gone. And we are going.’
Oodgeroo Noonuccal Born: 3 November 1920, North Stradbroke Island, Australia Nationality: Australian Aboriginal Died: 16 September 1993, Brisbane, Australia
Oodgeroo Noonuccal was a political activist, artist, and educator. She is best known for campaigning for Aboriginal rights and her poetry. She was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse
In love, there is no deeply hidden secret Nor is there anything bizarre Give all of the self and let love be returned Without holding back When there is nothing to fear By placing desire at love’s bequest It may be a challenge For true love sets the mark high But true lovers hear it call Give all to love And follow the dream
Antonio Carlos Jobim Bossa Nove, Jazz Born: 25 January 1927, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Nationality: Brazilian Died: 8 December 1994, New York, USA
A primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova, Jobim was a composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. He is considered one of the greatest exponents of Brazilian music and internationalized the bossa nova and merged it with jazz in the 1960s. He is often referred to as the father of the bossa nova
Fix You Album: X&Y Date: 2005 Genre: Alternative/Indie Artist: Coldplay
Coldplay was formed in London in 1997. The line-up consists of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion, and creative director Phil Harvey. Initially called Starfish the band met at University College London and began playing together in 1996. Coldplay are one of the best-selling musical acts of all time with over 100 million global album sales
There are times when I have been caught off-guard And the easy path has become so hard Leaving my heart and soul battered and scarred Some stages of this life are all uphill
The future isn’t always mine to see When my eyes see what I desire to be But fate dictates that isn’t right for me Some stages of this life are all uphill
Yet there is no choice but the way ahead The easy path, now a challenge instead
And with body and mind feeling the ache It feels like my heart is about to break In the end, it’s the worthy path to take Some stages of this life are all uphill
Those early days after it all came out And everything seemed surrounded by doubt And I had no voice left with which to shout My old jeans still feel like my closest friend
Once darkest blue now they’re faded and pale I recall when I bought them in a sale And they have been there with me without fail My old jeans still feel like my closest friend
Now in my wardrobe, they are hung with pride For being there throughout, right by my side
I know frayed edges have seen better days Faded and frayed like me in many ways Getting old with memories in a haze My old jeans still feel like my closest friend
Untitled (1964) 1964 Watercolour Watercolour on paper Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, USA
In this neutral monochromatic painting, Pearlstein exhibits his attention to the figure in perspective. A foreshortened male nude in a sparse setting is lying on his side leaning on his elbow. The model’s body melts into the environment in places reflecting the artist’s interest in the nude as a series of interlocking shapes and forms
Phillip Pearlstein 1924-2022
Phillip Pearlstein American Realism Born: 24 May 1924, Pennsylvania, USA Nationality: American Died: 17 December 2022, New York, USA
Pearlstein was a painter known for his Modernist Realist nudes. A preeminent figure painter from the 1960s to the 2000s he led a revival in realist art
Today the Masons are auctioning their discarded pomp: a trunk of turbans, gemmed and ostrich-plumed, and operetta costumes labeled inside the collar “Potentate” and “Vizier.” Here their chairs, blazoned with the Masons’ sign, huddled like convalescents, lean against one another
on the grass. In a casket are rhinestoned poles the hierophants carried in parades; here’s a splendid golden staff some ranking officer waved, topped with a golden pyramid and a tiny, inquisitive sphinx. No one’s worn this stuff for years, and it doesn’t seem worth buying; where would we put it? Still,
I want that staff. I used to love to go to the library — the smalltown brick refuge of those with nothing to do, really, ‘Carnegie’ chiseled on the pediment above columns that dwarfed an inconsequential street. Embarrassed to carry the same book past the water fountain’s plaster centaurs
up to the desk again, I’d take The Wonders of the World to the Reading Room where Art and Industry met in the mural on the dome. The room smelled like two decades before I was born, when the name carved over the door meant something. I never read the second section,
“Wonders of the Modern World”; I loved the promise of my father’s blueprints, the unfulfilled turquoise schemes, but in the real structures you could hardly imagine a future. I wanted the density of history, which I confused with the smell of the book:
Babylon’s ziggurat tropical with ferns, engraved watercourses rippling; the Colossus of Rhodes balanced over the harbormouth on his immense ankles. Athena filled one end of the Parthenon, in an “artist’s reconstruction”, like an adult in a dollhouse.
At Halicarnassus, Mausolus remembered himself immensely, though in the book there wasn’t even a sketch, only a picture of huge fragments. In the pyramid’s deep clockworks, did the narrow tunnels mount toward the eye of God? That was the year
photos were beamed back from space; falling asleep I used to repeat a new word to myself, telemetry, liking the way it seemed to allude to something storied. The earth was whorled marble, at that distance. Even the stuck-on porticoes and collonades downtown were narrative,
somehow, but the buildings my father engineered were without stories. All I wanted was something larger than our ordinary sadness — greater not in scale but in context, memorable, true to a proportioned, subtle form. Last year I knew a student, a half mad boy who finally opened his arms
with a razor, not because he wanted to die but because he wanted to design something grand on his own body. Once he said, When a child realizes his parents aren’t enough, he turns to architecture. I think I know what he meant. Imagine the Masons parading,
one of them, in his splendid get-up, striding forward with the golden staff, above his head Cheops’ beautiful shape — a form we cannot separate from the stories about the form, even if we hardly know them, even if it no longer signifies, if it only shines
Mark Doty Born: 10 August 1953, Tennessee, USA Nationality: American
Doty is a poet and memoirist best known for a series of meditations on the essential themes of life and mortality, beauty and loss haunted by AIDS ‘My Alexandria’ (1995). Doty won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008
They shall not grow old so the poet said As we take our spot, checking line and space With eyes looking straight, and lifting the head
Remembrance and pride etched onto the face For this time we can stand with grateful pride Reflecting that in the way we stand tall Regardless of service or old ranks held We are here, standing proud, for them, instead
As from the silence comes the Last Post’s call We think of the fields where young men were felled For this, a ‘better world,’ they gave their all Until the politicians were quelled
While in the bunkers, men of power hide Remember the heroes of youth who died
Ode to Boy Album: You and Me Both Date: 1983 Genre: R&B/Soul Artist: Yazoo
Yazoo were a synth-pop duo from Essex, UK, consisting of Vince Clarke (keyboards), formerly of Depeche Mode, and Alison Moyet (vocals). The duo formed in 1981 after Clarke responded to an advertisement by Moyet, however, they had known each other since their school days
The smoothest skin that’s cold to touch Born in the days of ancient time With perfect curves that flow sublime In the ways of art, they knew much More than now, it seems to be such Venus in beauty carved in stone A goddess of love looking coy As she bathed in the water’s joy It’s a Greek thing of beauty shown This goddess wants to bathe alone
The Banquet of Anthony and Cleopatra 1744 Historical Painting Oil on panel The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Originally painted on a wall in the ballroom of the Palazzo Labia, Venice, ‘The Banquet of Anthony and Cleopatra’ was drawn from Pliny the Elder’s Natural History that tell of a wager between Mark Anthony, the Roman Consul in Egypt and Cleopatra on who could provide the most extravagant feats. Cleopatra outwits Anthony dissolving a precious pearl in a cup of vinegar she then drinks it to win the bet
Tiepolo 1696-1770
Tiepolo Rococo, Baroque Born: 5 March 1696, Venice, Italy Nationality: Italian Died: 27 March 1770, Madrid, Spain
Tiepolo was a painter and printmaker who painted in the Rococo style. He is regarded as an important figure of the 18th-century Venetian school and had a prolific output not only in Italy but also in Germany and Spain
While idling against the door I saw the sunshine reflections in her hair Moving like flames Tumbling onto her shoulders Mingling with her lightly tanned skin And the pastel pink of her top That struggled to contain Her breath within her breasts My lazy eyes lowered to the bare skin Of her midriff as it tormented The waistband of her skirt Of white flowing cotton Easing over her hips and thighs As she walked in the sunshine That illuminated her form With hints of tantalizing delight Turning my thoughts from The flaming reflections in her hair To those with a burning desire
Send me a leaf, but from a bush That grows at least one half hour Away from your house, then You must go and will be strong, and I Thank you for the pretty leaf
Bertolt Brecht Born: 10 February 1898, Augsburg, Germany Nationality: German Died: 14 August 1956, East Berlin, East Germany
Brecht was a theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. He had his first successes as a playwright in Munich during the Weimar Republic and moved to Berlin in 1924. During his time in Berlin, he wrote “The Threepenny Opera” with Kurt Weill and began a life-long collaboration with the composer Hanns Eisler
Benjamin Britten Opera, Orchestral, Chamber Music Born: 22 November 1913, Lowestoft, England Nationality: British Died: 4 December 1976, Aldeburgh, England
Britten was a composer, conductor, and pianist. A central figure of 20th century British music Britten’s range included opera, vocal music, orchestral, and chamber pieces. He is best known for the opera “Peter Grimes” 1945, the orchestral showpiece “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” (1945), and the “War Requiem” (1962)
Talk Talk were a British synth-pop band formed in 1981. The group achieved chart success with singles such as “Talk Talk” (1982), “Such a Shame” (1984), and “It’s My Life” (1984). In the mid-eighties, the band moved to a more experimental approach of jazz and free improvisation pioneering what has become known as post-rock
Just like an itch so it begins As slowly it spreads to my cheeks And twitches like impulsive freaks Each sensation as bedtime grins Or as sunrise thinks of its wins I can’t hold it no matter how Much or what new gimmicks I try I feel like I’m chewing a sigh Until there’s nothing for it now But set it free in its own show
Rowboat 1958 Neo-Expressionism Oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
In stark contrast to the urban scenes of New York painters, Park created ‘the good life’ of California with images of family, hillsides, beaches, and sunlight. He focused on the common man and woman and how they interacted with the world around them. Pak celebrated the magic and vitality of the natural world. In ‘Rowboat’ he resents two men suspending their everyday lives for a few hours in a joyful watery realm
David Park 1911-1960
David Park Bay Area Figurative Movement, Abstract Expressionism Born: 17 March 1911, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Nationality: American Died: 20 September 1960, Berkley, California, USA
Park was a painter and considered a pioneer of the Bay Area Figurative Movement in painting during the 1950s. In May 2007, his painting ‘Standing Male Nude in the Shower’ sold for over a million dollars at Sotheby’s, New York
Up from the bronze, I saw Water without a flaw Rush to its rest in air, Reach to its rest, and fall.
Bronze of the blackest shade, An element man-made, Shaping upright the bare Clear gouts of water in air.
O, as with arm and hammer, Still it is good to strive To beat out the image whole, To echo the shout and stammer When full-gushed waters, alive, Strike on the fountain’s bowl After the air of summer
Louise Bogan Born: 11 August 1897, Maine, USA Nationality: American Died: 4 February 1970, New York, USA
Bogan was a poet. Appointed the Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress in 1945. she was the first woman to hold the office. Bogan wrote poetry, fiction, and criticism and was a regular poetry reviewer for “The New Yorker.”
Sunshine replaced the fierce winds in Late April and the coming of spring felt delayed Like the rush hour bus waiting for the first crimson tulip
Of course, that is all academic now As we are finding the way to the celebration Of Midsummer coercing the June sunshine
The longest day comes with its own finality Like a judgement on the first half of the year in a memory Of dancers around the Maypole with crimson tulips in their hair
BOND Classical Pop Born: 2000 Nationality: Australian
BOND is a string quartet formed by music producer Mike Batt and promoter Mel Bush in 2000. The current line-up consists of Tania Davis (first violinist), Eos Counsell (second violin), Elspeth Hanson (viola), and Gay-Yee Westerhoff (cello). Hanson replaced original band member Havlie Ecker 2ho left in 2008 to have a child
Matthew and Son Album: Matthew and Son Date: 1967 Genre: Pop Artist: Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His style consists of pop, folk, rock, and Islamic music. He converted to Islam in 1977 and, auctioning all his guitars for charity, left his musical career to pursue educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community. In 2006, Cat Stevens returned to music releasing his first album in 28 years using the stage name Yusuf as a mononym
Some say it was a pear Eve ate. Why else the shape of the womb, or of the cello Whose single song is grief for the parent tree? Why else the fruit itself tawny and sweet which your lover over breakfast lets go your pear- shaped breast to reach for?
Linda Pastan Born: 27 May 1932, New York, USA Nationality: American Died: 30 January 2023, Maryland, USA
Pastan was a poet of Jewish heritage. She was Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991 to 1995 and was well known for her poems addressing family life, domesticity, motherhood, and the female experience
Deep within the labyrinths of my mind I have hidden my heart in a safe place Without the walls of stone that’s too unkind
I do not seek love, that’s already mine So have no need to turn my heart to stone Always I’ll let my soul with hers entwine Now I know I will never be alone
She is the someone who makes me feel whole As I close my eyes to look at her face And our love surges through every bone To life’s temptations, her love turned me blind And to my heart that will be just fine
For such a love my heart can but extol As with her I so gladly share my soul
James Horner Film and TV Born: 14 August 1953, California, USA Nationality: American Died: 22 June 2015, California, USA
Horner was a composer of film scores. Over a career of more than 30 years, he worked on 160 film and television productions. Horner won many accolades including two Academy Awards. Horner was also known for integrating choral and electronic elements with traditional orchestrations and for using Celtic musical motifs
Lady Album: Time Date: 1998 Genre: R&B/Soul Artist: Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers was a singer and songwriter, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. He sold over 100 million records worldwide during his career, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time
A lesson learned as to lose a hater or few I have had to rename my blog, the world is not such a nice place, and people are not always what they seem
And the lesson learned – TRUST NO ONE
Form: Decima
Tis no place to share private things Inviting haters to comment While gossip will simply invent And say it the way their mind sings No matter for what pain it brings In life, we learn who we can trust So even here I must use that And be careful in my chitchat My senses are not left to bust Whilst they do what they think they must
David Hockney, Age 32 1997-98 Portraiture Oil on board Sadie Coles Gallery, London, UK
Peyton has created many portraits of David Hockney. ‘David Hockney, Age 32’ depicts Hockney looking out towards the viewer as if seeking approval. It is akin to a snapshot of a friend or family member in its innocence and candid nature.
Elizabeth Peyton 1965-
Elizabeth Peyton Realism Born: 1965, Connecticut, USA Nationality: American
Peyton is a contemporary artist, painter, and printmaker. She is known for her depictions of figures from her life and those beyond it, including friends, historical personae, and contemporary icons such as artists, writers, actors, and musicians
I don’t question emotions when I look into your eyes For there I find the beauty of truth and love in our soul And I pay no heed to the heat of wanton lust-fuelled sighs Of physical desire that can never make me feel whole The hot panting breath that is only evidence of lust Leaves the body sated but the mind is filled with dismay But that is not love when the heart cannot offer no trust Looking in the eyes of love, I don’t want to look away I knew my heart was always yours from the first tender kiss Entwining us as one as one kiss followed another The wonder of our love revealing our destiny’s bliss A destiny of joy forever ours to discover As we share a soul for all eternity, you and me Together in Nirvana as Fate has decreed it be
What needs my Shakespear for his honour’d Bones, The labour of an age in piled Stones, Or that his hallow’d reliques should be hid Under a Star-ypointing Pyramid? Dear son of memory, great heir of Fame, What need’st thou such weak witnes of thy name? Thou in our wonder and astonishment Hast built thy self a live-long Monument. For whilst to th’sharne of slow-endeavouring art, Thy easie numbers flow, and that each heart Hath from the Leaves of thy unvalu’d Book, Those Delphick lines with deep impression took, Then thou our fancy of it self bereaving, Dost make us Marble with too much conceaving; And so Sepulcher’d in such pomp dost lie, That Kings for such a Tomb would wish to die
John Milton Born: 9 December 1608, London, England Nationality: English Died: 8 November 1674, London, England
Milton was a poet, polemicist, and civil servant. He is best known for the epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’ (1667), composed in blank verse over ten books and written at a time of religious flux and political upheaval. Milton served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell
The sun sinks slowly behind distant hills As I drift in thought beneath purple skies The passing day appears in random stills Of memory; both the lows and the highs Like echoes released on my sleepy sighs As the darkness of night now comes to be The silvery moon beckons close your eyes So golden-hued dreams can chuckle with glee As in my slumber, I let thoughts be free So the journey of dreams is all I see
Monday is the town’s market day Bargains laid on every stall Fruit and veg you can get it all Whilst walking round making your way Hearing the sounds of music play The butcher man shouting his ware The price per pound of his fine fare But up along the other side Glamourous undies I confide Oversize knicks are always there
Chinatown 1912 Ashcan Oil on Canvas Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
‘Chinatown’ depicts a tenement building in New York City’s Chinatown alluding to the social realities of the city’s immigrant and working-class populations in the early 20th century. The viewer is confronted by a woman dressed in black offering her profile for consideration. A barely legible sign in the window announces ‘SUM YET PLEASURE’ is suggestive of the woman’s occupation. On the rail of a balcony sits an outstretched cat, traditionally a symbol of promiscuity as if to support the assumption
Stuart Davis 1892-1964
Stuart Davis Modern Art, American Modernism Born: 7 December 1892, Pennsylvania, USA Nationality: American Died: 24 June 1964, New York, USA
Davis was an early modernist painter. He is known for his jazz-influenced proto-pop art paintings of the 1940s and 1950s. Davis, already a famous painter, felt the negative effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s and was among the first artists to apply for the Federal Arts Project
Since my wife was born she must have eaten the equivalent of two-thirds of the original garden of Eden. Not the dripping lush fruit or the meat in the ribs of animals but the green salad gardens of that place. The whole arena of green would have been eradicated as if the right filter had been removed leaving only the skeleton of coarse brightness.
All green ends up eventually churning in her left cheek. Her mouth is a laundromat of spinning drowning herbs. She is never in fields but is sucking the pith out of grass. I have noticed the very leaves from flower decorations grow sparse in their week long performance in our house. The garden is a dust bowl.
On our last day in Eden as we walked out she nibbled the leaves at her breasts and crotch. But there’s none to touch none to equal the Chlorophyll Kiss
Michael Ondaatje Born: 12 September 1943, Colombo, Sri Lanka Nationality: Sri Lankan-Canadian
Ondaatje is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, and filmmaker. His literary career began in 1967 with his poetry collection ‘The Dainty Monsters’ and the critically acclaimed ‘The Collected Works of Billy the Kid’ (1970)
In sacred exchanges rings of gold Glisten in the sunlight between grey clouds Tamer than the storms of the night before And congratulatory smiles tossing rice That sticks to the wet ground like a memory
Memories of love made in a ceremony Before the fierce storms return But tonight the lovers are out of range Separate in their own moment of bliss
Howard Shore Film and TV Born: 18 October 1946, Toronto, Canada Nationality: Canadian
Shore is a composer, conductor, and orchestrator best known for his film scores. He has composed scores for over 80 films including ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit.’
I Don’t Care Album: Hormonally Yours Date: 1982 Genre: Alternative/Indie Artist: Shakespears Sister
Shakespears Sister are a pop and rock duo formed in 1988 by Irish singer-songwriter Siobhan Fahey. They are best known for the 1992 single ‘Stay’ which was at #1 on the UK Singles Chart for eight weeks
Bauhaus (Dessau) Night View of the Balconies of the Studio Building at the Bauhaus, Dessau by Lyonel Feininger
Bauhaus (Dessau)/Night View of the Balconies of the Studio Building at the Bauhaus, Dessau 1929 Photography Gelatin Silver Print Harvard Art Museums/Busch-Reisinger Museum, USA
In 1926, when the Bauhaus moved from Weimer to Dessau, Feininger stopped teaching but continued his association with the school until it was forced to close. He did not exhibit his photographs in his lifetime but continued exploring avant-garde techniques of framing and unusual vantage points including night imagery and dislocating perspectives.
Lyonel Feininger 1871-1956
Lyonel Feininger Modern Art, Expressionism, Cubism, Der Blaue Reiter Born: 17 July 1871, New York, USA Nationality: German-American Died: 13 January 1956, New York, USA
Feininger was a painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He is also known as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. His work, characterized by prismatically broken, overlapping forms in translucent colors with references to architecture and these made him one of the most important artists of classical modernism
Mine own John Poynz, since ye delight to know The cause why that homeward I me draw, And flee the press of courts, whereso they go, Rather than to live thrall under the awe Of lordly looks, wrappèd within my cloak, To will and lust learning to set a law: It is not for because I scorn or mock The power of them, to whom fortune hath lent Charge over us, of right, to strike the stroke. But true it is that I have always meant Less to esteem them than the common sort, Of outward things that judge in their intent Without regard what doth inward resort. I grant sometime that of glory the fire Doth twyche my heart. Me list not to report Blame by honour, and honour to desire. But how may I this honour now attain, That cannot dye the colour black a liar? My Poynz, I cannot from me tune to feign, To cloak the truth for praise without desert Of them that list all vice for to retain. I cannot honour them that sets their part With Venus and Bacchus all their life long; Nor hold my peace of them although I smart. I cannot crouch nor kneel to do so great a wrong, To worship them, like God on earth alone, That are as wolves these sely lambs among. I cannot with my word complain and moan, And suffer nought, nor smart without complaint, Nor turn the word that from my mouth is gone. I cannot speak and look like a saint, Use willes for wit, and make deceit a pleasure, And call craft counsel, for profit still to paint. I cannot wrest the law to fill the coffer With innocent blood to feed myself fat, And do most hurt where most help I offer. I am not he that can allow the state Of him Caesar, and damn Cato to die, That with his death did scape out of the gate From Caesar’s hands (if Livy do not lie) And would not live where liberty was lost; So did his heart the common weal apply. I am not he such eloquence to boast To make the crow singing as the swan; Nor call the liond of cowardes beasts the most That cannot take a mouse as the cat can; And he that dieth for hunger of the gold Call him Alexander; and say that Pan Passeth Apollo in music many fold; Praise Sir Thopias for a noble tale, And scorn the story that the Knight told; Praise him for counsel that is drunk of ale; Grin when he laugheth that beareth all the sway, Frown when he frowneth and groan when is pale; On others’ lust to hang both night and day: None of these points would ever frame in me. My wit is nought–I cannot learn the way. And much the less of things that greater be, That asken help of colours of device To join the mean with each extremity, With the nearest virtue to cloak alway the vice; And as to purpose, likewise it shall fall To press the virtue that it may not rise; As drunkenness good fellowship to call; The friendly foe with his double face Say he is gentle and courteous therewithal; And say that favel hath a goodly grace In eloquence; and cruelty to name Zeal of justice and change in time and place; And he that suffer’th offence without blame Call him pitiful; and him true and plain That raileth reckless to every man’s shame. Say he is rude that cannot lie and feign; The lecher a lover; and tyranny To be the right of a prince’s reign. I cannot, I; no, no, it will not be! This is the cause that I could never yet Hang on their sleeves that way, as thou mayst see, A chip of chance more than a pound of wit. This maketh me at home to hunt and to hawk, And in foul weather at my book to sit; In frost and snow then with my bow to stalk; No man doth mark whereso I ride or go: In lusty leas at liberty I walk. And of these news I feel nor weal nor woe, Save that a clog doth hang yet at my heel. No force for that, for it is ordered so, That I may leap both hedge and dyke full well. I am not now in France to judge the wine, With saffry sauce the delicates to feel; Nor yet in Spain, where one must him incline Rather than to be, outwardly to seem: I meddle not with wits that be so fine. Nor Flanders’ cheer letteth not my sight to deem Of black and white; nor taketh my wit away With beastliness; they beasts do so esteem. Nor I am not where Christ is given in prey For money, poison, and treason at Rome– A common practice used night and day: But here I am in Kent and Christendom Among the Muses where I read and rhyme; Where if thou list, my Poinz, for to come, Thou shalt be judge how I do spend my time
Thomas Wyatt Born: 1503, Kent, England Nationality: English Died: 11 October 1542. Dorset, England
Wyatt was a 16th-century politician and lyric poet. He is credited with bringing the sonnet to English literature. Following his father into the court of Henry VIII after his education at St. John’s College, Cambridge Wyatt was entrusted by the king with many important diplomatic missions. Thomas Cromwell was his principal patron in public life. Following the death of Cromwell Wyatt was recalled from abroad and imprisoned for treason. Ultimately, he was acquitted and released shortly before his death in 1542. Wyatt’s poetry may have been published anonymously during his lifetime, however, none was published and printed under his name until some 15 years after his death
From the Back of the Wardrobe 