The place between the petal’s/edge and the

Toward the end of William Carlos Williams’ poem “the rose is obsolete,” he writes

Further Explorations of Martha Dix’s Hair

OK, it was probably a mistake even to try this, but as Martha Dix’s hair continued to intrigue me, I wasn’t ready to leave well enough alone. Egon Schiele’s Mountain Torrent (1918) sets the stage for the collage at the head of this post, with Martha Dix’s hair rendered twice from John Perceval’s Ocean Beach, Sorrento (1957) and once more from van Gogh’s A Crab on its Back (1887) to round out the set of three.

A Bowl of Potatoes and More Old Shoes

The Kröller-Müller Museum’s website comments on van Gogh’s Still Life with Potatoes (1889) that “In Arles, Van Gogh is far away from the artistic milieu in Paris. He embarks, once and for all, on a quest for his own style and is unbound by realism. Thus, the colours in this still life are not ‘after nature.” I might say, rather, “van Gogh captures the essence of potatoes” or “van Gogh could make art out of anything.” Whatever the case, I couldn’t let well enough alone, so set the bowl of potatoes against a backdrop of the moon rising over a field of wheat sheaves.

A Teapot, Heads of Garlic, and Old Shoes

One of the things I enjoy doing these days is wandering through galleries at the Metropolitan Museum. Before I go, I scope out a painting or two (or three) that I want to make sure and see. Inevitably, and also delightfully, I end up standing in front of one I’d not seen before, like Gaughin’s Still Life with Teapot and Fruit (1896), or revisiting one of the many pairs of shoes van Gogh painted that I’d forgotten was at the Met.

The Quinces Again, A Pile of French Novels, and Other Rainy Day Pursuits

I could not seem to leave van Gogh’s Quinces alone, particularly after my friend Curt* alerted me to abstracts by Serge Poliakoff. I intended to do more with the Quince collage above, but a Poliakoff cut-out admonished me that it wished to stand alone.