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| Thomas Eakins Elizabeth MacDowell Kenton ca. 1880-90 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Oscar Gustav Rejlander Girl in Greek Dress 1860 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Charles DeForest Fredricks Clown ca. 1860 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Parable of the Gift
My friend gave me
a fuchsia plant, expecting
much of me, in cold April
judgment not to leave it
overnight in nature, deep
pink in its plastic
basket – I have
killed my gift, exposed
flowers in a mass of leaves,
mistaking it
for part of nature with
its many stems: what
do I do with you now,
former living thing
that last night still
resembled my friend, abundant
leaves like her fluffy hair
although the leaves had
a reddish cast: I see her
climbing the stone steps in spring dusk
holding the quivering
present in her hands, with
Eric and Daphne following
close behind, each
bearing a towel of lettuce leaves:
so much, so much to celebrate
tonight, as though she were saying
here is the world, that should be
enough to make you happy.
– Louise Glück, from Meadowlands (HarperCollins, 1996)
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| Lewis Carroll The Last Sitting (Alice Liddell) 1870 albumen silver print from glass negative (bequest of Maurice Sendak) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Lewis Carroll St George and the Dragon (Xie Kitchin and her brothers) 1875 albumen silver print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Lewis Carroll Flora Rankin (center), Irene MacDonald and Mary Josephine MacDonald at Elm Lodge 1863 albumen silver print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Jeremiah Gurney Wohes Family, New York ca. 1870-80 albumen silver print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Franz Antoine Frau Hofrat Josefine Raymond ca. 1850-70 albumen silver print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Pierre-Louis Pierson La Fillette ca. 1860-70 albumen silver print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Henry Peach Robinson Fear ca. 1860 albumen silver print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
The Winged Horse
Here is my horse Abstraction,
silver-white, color of the page,
of the unwritten.
Come, Abstraction,
by Will out of Demonic Ambition:
carry me lightly into the regions of the immortal.
I am weary of my other mount,
by Instinct out of Reality,
color of dust, of disappointment,
notwithstanding
the saddle that went with him
and the bronze spurs, the bit
of indestructible metal.
I am weary of the world's gifts, the world's
stipulated limits.
And I am weary of being opposed
and weary of being constantly contradicted by the material, as by
a massive wall where all I say can be
checked up on.
Then come, Abstraction,
take me where you have taken so many others,
far from here, to the void, the star pasture.
Bear me quickly,
Dream out of Blind Hope.
– Louise Glück, from Vita Nova (Ecco Press, 1999)
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| Anonymous French photographer Standing Model, posed in profile ca. 1860-70 albumen silver print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Louis Igout Album d'Études - Poses ca. 1880 albumen silver prints from glass negatives Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Felice Beato Samurai, Yokohama 1864-65 albumen silver print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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| Babayeva Studio (Russia) Marine Painter Ivan Aivazovsky 1893 albumen silver print from glass negative, with miniature oil painting inset Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |