Thursday, October 26, 2023

Visual Relics (1914-1928)

Edward Steichen
Heavy Roses
1914
photogravure
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Paul Strand
City Hall Park, New York
1915
photogravure
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

André Kertész
Soldiers Bathing, Zebegeny, Hungary
1915
gelatin silver print
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

André Kertész
My Brothers, Budapest
1919
gelatin silver print
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio

André Kertész
Jenő Kertész (younger brother)
ca. 1919-25
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

André Kertész
Jenő Kertész (younger brother)
ca. 1919-25
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

André Kertész
Jean Jaffe (journalist)
1926
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

André Kertész
Satiric Dancer, Paris (Magda Forstner)
1926
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

André Kertész
Paris
1928
gelatin silver print
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

Edward Weston
Tina Modotti
1921
gelatin silver print
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

Edward Weston
Shells
1927
gelatin silver print
Milwaukee Art Museum

Eugène Atget
Fountain of the Médicis, Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
ca. 1923-25
albumen print
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Cecil Beaton
Self Portrait
ca. 1924
gelatin silver print
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Cecil Beaton
Self Portrait
ca. 1924
gelatin silver print
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Cecil Beaton
Lady Ottoline Morrell
1927
gelatin silver print
Princeton University Art Museum

Arnold Genthe
Lee Miller
ca. 1927
gelatin silver print
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

from Pity the Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form

Pity the bathtub its forced embrace of the human
Form may define external appearance but there is room
For improvement within try a soap dish that allows for
Slippage is inevitable as is difference in the size of
The subject may hoard his or her bubbles at different
Ends of the bathtub may grasp the sponge tightly or
Loosely it may be assumed that eventually everyone gets in
The bath has a place in our lives and our place is
Within it we have control of how much hot how much cold
What to pour in how long we want to stay when to
Return is inevitable because we need something
To define ourselves against even if we know that
Whenever we want we can pull the plug and get out
Which is not the case with our own tighter confinement
Inside the body oh pity the bathtub but pity us too

– Matthea Harvey (2000)