Thursday, January 15, 2026

Unsettled Presences

Will Barnet
Self Portrait
1952-53
oil on canvas
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Martin Borowski
Untitled
2002
oil on canvas
Galerie Neue Meister (Albertinum), Dresden

Hans Christiansen
Festival in Red
1901
lithograph
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Marilyn Dintenfass
Coronet III
2011
ultra-violet etching
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Marcel Duchamp
The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors Even
(Le Grand Verre)
1915-23
assemblage
(replica, signed by Duchamp, executed by Ulf Linde in 1961)
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Albrecht Dürer
Adam and Eve
1504
engraving
(unique impression of trial print)
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Thomas Eakins
Sketch for Swimming
ca. 1884
oil on cardboard
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Sam Francis
Blue Violet
1963
lithograph
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Trudi Jaeger
Untitled
1986
gesso and oil paint on canvas
KORO (Public Art Norway), Oslo

Henry Moore
Two Interlocking Figures
ca. 1969-70
etching
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Johs Rian
Clair de lune
1974
oil on canvas
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo

Gerhard Richter
Billiards
1985
oil on canvas
Kunsthalle zu Kiel

Auguste Rodin
Woman standing in Water
ca. 1898-1902
watercolor on paper
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Morton Schamberg
Composition
1916-
drawing (colored chalks)
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Helen Torr
Through the Door
ca. 1928
drawing
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Hann Trier
Archimedes disturbing his own Circles
1989
tempera with sand on canvas
Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal

Danaus:  I praise you, dear daughters for these wise prayers.  Now do not be afraid when you hear from your father this unexpected and untoward news.  From this lookout post, which received you as suppliants, I can see the boat.  It is unmistakable.  I cannot fail to observe the ship's sailing gear, its side-screens, and the prow which scans the way ahead with eyes, obeying all too well the guiding helm at the very stern of the ship, as if unfriendly to us; and the men on board the ship are conspicuously visible, their black limbs set against white garments.  Now the other ships and all the assisting forces are plain to see, and the leading vessel herself is close inshore, has furled her sail and is rowing in with all care.  Now you must look at this matter in a calm and disciplined way, and not forget these gods.  I will come back with helpers and defenders, since perhaps some herald or embassy may come here, wanting to seize their booty and take you away.  Nothing will come of that – don't be afraid of them; but all the same it's best, in case we should be slow in calling for help, at all costs never to forget your protection here.* Have courage; sooner or later, you know, on the destined day, any mortal who shows contempt for the gods will pay the penalty.

Chorus:  Father, I'm afraid, because the swift-winged ships have come, and there is hardly any time remaining.

Terrified fear grips me: has my fleeing
so great a distance really done me any good?
Father, I am beside myself with fright!

Danaus:  Take courage, children; remember, the vote of the Argives was decisive.  They will fight for you, I know if for sure.

Chorus:  The crazed family of Aegyptus are abominable, their appetite for battle insatiable.  And I am speaking to one who knows that.  

With timber-built, black-eyed ships
they have sailed here in wrathful haste,
with a great black army!

 – Aeschylus, from Suppliants (ca. 470-460 BC), translated by Alan H. Sommerstein (2008)

*i.e. the sanctuary offered by the shrine