 |
| Mathew Brady Madame Medori (opera singer) ca. 1857 salted paper print from glass negative (hand-colored) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Pierre-Louis Pierson Virginie ca. 1860-70 salted paper print from glass negative (hand-colored) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Onésipe Aguado Woman seen from the back ca. 1862 salted paper print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Joseph Cundall Grenadier Guards Drummer ca. 1856 salted paper print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Louis-Adolphe Humbert de Molard Louise-Marie-Julie 1849 salted paper print from paper negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Édouard Baldus Groupe dans le parc du château de La Faloise 1856 salted paper print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Heaven and Earth
Where one finishes, the other begins.
On top, a band of blue; underneath,
a band of green and gold, green and deep rose.
John stands at the horizon: he wants
both at once, he wants
everything at once.
The extremes are easy. Only
the middle is a puzzle. Midsummer –
everything is possible.
Meaning: never again will life end.
How can I leave my husband
standing in the garden
dreaming this sort of thing, holding
his rake, triumphantly
preparing to announce this discovery
as the fire of the summer sun
truly does stall
being entirely contained by
the burning maples
at the garden's borders.
– Louise Glück, from The Wild Iris (Ecco Press, 1992)
 |
| Louis-Pierre-Théophile Dubois de Nehaut En soirée, janvier 1856 1856 salted paper print from paper negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Roger Fenton Laughing Satyr ca. 1854-58 salted paper print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Roger Fenton Aelius Caesar ca. 1854-58 salted paper print from glass negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Anonymous British photographer Basilica of Constantine, Rome ca. 1850-60 salted paper print from paper negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Anonymous British photographer Antonine Column, Rome ca. 1850-60 salted paper print from paper negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Gustave Le Gray Chêne dans les rochers à Fontainebleau ca. 1849-52 salted paper print from waxed paper negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Daisies
Go ahead: say what you're thinking. The garden
is not the real world. Machines
are the real world. Say frankly what any fool
could read in your face: it makes sense
to avoid us, to resist
nostalgia. It is
not modern enough, the sound the wind makes
stirring a meadow of daisies: the mind
cannot shine following it. And the mind
wants to shine, plainly, as
machines shine, and not
grow deep, as, for example, roots. It is very touching,
all the same, to see you cautiously
approaching the meadow's border in early morning,
when no could possibly
be watching you. The longer you stand at the edge,
the more nervous you seem. No one wants to hear
impressions of the natural world: you will be
laughed at again; scorn will be piled on you.
As for what you're actually
hearing this morning: think twice
before you tell anyone what was said in this field
and by whom.
– Louise Glück, from The Wild Iris (Ecco Press, 1992)
 |
| Eugène Cuvelier Fontainebleau Forest ca. 1860-65 salted paper print from paper negative Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| James Knight A Peep in Leigh Woods ca. 1853-56 salted paper print Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |