 |
| Léon-François Benouville Joan of Arc hearing her Voices before 1859 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen |
 |
| Édouard de Beaumont Salutation at the Masquerade ca. 1860 watercolor on bristol board Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Honoré Daumier The Print Collector ca. 1857-63 oil on canvas Art Institute of Chicago |
 |
| Honoré Daumier Crispin and Scapin (scene from Les Fourberies de Scapin by Molière) ca. 1864 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
 |
| Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux Costume Ball at the Palais des Tuileries 1867 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
 |
| Frédéric Bazille Family Reunion 1867 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
 |
| James Tissot Young Women examining Japanese Artifacts 1869 oil on canvas Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio |
 |
| Berthe Morisot Catching Butterflies 1874 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
 |
| Eva Gonzalès Box at the Théâtre des Italiens (detail) 1874 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
 |
| Henri Fantin-Latour Around the Piano 1885 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
 |
| Henri Delavallée The Boot Boy 1890 oil on canvas Indianapolis Museum of Art |
 |
| Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec The Two Friends 1894 oil on panel National Gallery, London |
 |
| Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Waiting ca. 1887 oil on canvas Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts |
 |
| Jean-Louis Forain The Widower ca. 1885 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
 |
| Jean-Louis Forain Scene in Court ca. 1910 oil on canvas Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
Costumes Exchanging Glances
The rhinestone lights blink off and on.
Pretend stars.
I'm sick of explanations. A life is like Russell said
of electricity, not a thing but the way things behave.
A science of motion toward some flat surface,
some heat, some cold. Some light
can leave some after-image but it doesn't last.
Isn't that what they say? That and that
historical events exchange glances with nothingness.
– Mary Jo Bang (2015)