Close-Ups - III

Henri Matisse
Head of a Woman
1917
oil on panel
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha

Jean-Louis Forain
Portrait of cabaret singer Valéry Roumy
ca. 1878-81
drawing (colored chalks)
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Paula Modersohn-Becker
Self Portrait
1906
oil on panel
Landesmuseum, Hannover

Umberto Boccioni
Self Portrait
ca. 1915
drawing
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Giambattista Tiepolo
Study of Model with Closed Eyes
ca. 1750
drawing
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Anonymous French Artist
Mask of Satyr
17th century
giltwood
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Anonymous Netherlandish Artist
Head of John the Baptist
ca. 1550
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Lisette Model
Opera, San Francisco
1949
gelatin silver print
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Hans Holbein the Elder
Head of Crossbowman taking Aim
1514-15
drawing
(study for altarpiece of St Sebastian)
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Correggio (Antonio Allegri)
Head Studies
ca. 1513-15
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Lovis Corinth
Portrait of Fritz Thieme
ca. 1910
oil on canvas
Landesmuseum, Hannover

Alessandro Allori
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1580
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

Federico Barocci
Head of a Woman
ca. 1569
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Marcus Tuscher
Self Portrait
ca. 1745
drawing
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Léon Riesener
Study Head of Woman
ca. 1850
drawing
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Head of a Woman
1915
woodcut
High Museum of Art, Atlanta

 from The Island of Statues

The Island.  Flowers of manifold colour are knee-deep before a gate of brass, above which, in a citron-tinctured sky, glimmer a few stars.  At intervals come mournful blasts from the horns among the flowers.

          First Voice.  What do you weave so fair and bright?

          Second Voice.  The cloak I weave of Sorrow.

                              Oh, lovely to see in all men's sight
                          Shall be the cloak of Sorrow,
                               In all men's sight.

          Third Voice.  What do you build with sails for flight?

          Fourth Voice.  A boat I build for Sorrow. 

                             Oh, swift on the seas all day and night
                         Saileth the rover Sorrow,
                             All day and night. 

          Fifth Voice.  What do you weave with wool so white?

          Sixth Voice.  The sandals these of Sorrow.

                           Soundless shall be the footfall light,
                       In each man's ears, of Sorrow,

                           Sudden and light.

– W.B. Yeats (1885)