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| Sidney Nolan Rosa Mutabilis 1945 enamel on board Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, Australia |
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| Sidney Nolan Desert 1986 acrylic on canvas Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
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| Sidney Nolan The Camp 1946 enamel on panel Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
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| Sidney Nolan Lublin, or, Baroque Exterior 1944 enamel on board Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide |
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| Weegee Hedda Hopper in Winged Hat ca. 1950 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| Weegee Public Library Hatchet Attack ca. 1945 gelatin silver print Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane |
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| Weegee New York Jail ca. 1944 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| Weegee Weegee's Naked City 1945 offset-print (paperback cover) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| Alfred Sisley Aqueduct at Louveciennes 1874 oil on canvas Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio |
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| Alfred Sisley Path at Les Sablons 1883 oil on canvas National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| Alfred Sisley The Loing at Moret 1891 oil on canvas McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas |
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| Alfred Sisley Washerwomen near Champagne 1882 oil on canvas National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Plate 1883 tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica) Newport Mansions Preservation Society, Rhode Island |
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| Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Vase ca. 1935 glazed earthenware Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto |
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| Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Sugar Bowl ca. 1885 tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica) Newport Mansions Preservation Society, Rhode Island |
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| Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Writing Case ca. 1860 calamander wood veneer over wooden body embellished with jasperware medallions Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto |
from For the Time Being
Narrator:
If, on account of the political situation,
There are quite a number of homes without roofs, and men
Lying about in the countryside neither drunk nor asleep,
If all sailings have been cancelled till further notice,
If it's unwise now to say much in letters, and if,
Under the subnormal temperatures prevailing,
The two sexes are at present the weak and the strong,
That is not all unusual for this time of year.
If, on account of the political situation,
There are quite a number of homes without roofs, and men
Lying about in the countryside neither drunk nor asleep,
If all sailings have been cancelled till further notice,
If it's unwise now to say much in letters, and if,
Under the subnormal temperatures prevailing,
The two sexes are at present the weak and the strong,
That is not all unusual for this time of year.
If that were all we should know how to manage. Flood, fire,
The desiccation of grasslands, restraint of princes,
The desiccation of grasslands, restraint of princes,
Piracy on the high seas, physical pain and fiscal grief,
These after all are our familiar tribulations,
and we have been through them all before, many, many times.
As events which belong to the natural world where
The occupation of space is the real and final fact
And time turns round itself in an obedient circle,
They occur again and again but only to pass
Again and again into their formal opposites,
From sword to ploughshare, coffin to cradle, war to work,
So that, taking the bad with the good, the pattern composed
By the ten thousand odd things that can possibly happen
Is permanent in a general average way.
Till lately we knew of no other, and between us we seemed
To have what it took – the adrenal courage of the tiger,
The chameleon's discretion, the modesty of the dove,
Or the fern's devotion to spatial necessity:
To practice one's peculiar civic virtue was not
So impossible after all; to cut our losses
And bury our dead was really quite easy.
These after all are our familiar tribulations,
and we have been through them all before, many, many times.
As events which belong to the natural world where
The occupation of space is the real and final fact
And time turns round itself in an obedient circle,
They occur again and again but only to pass
Again and again into their formal opposites,
From sword to ploughshare, coffin to cradle, war to work,
So that, taking the bad with the good, the pattern composed
By the ten thousand odd things that can possibly happen
Is permanent in a general average way.
Till lately we knew of no other, and between us we seemed
To have what it took – the adrenal courage of the tiger,
The chameleon's discretion, the modesty of the dove,
Or the fern's devotion to spatial necessity:
To practice one's peculiar civic virtue was not
So impossible after all; to cut our losses
And bury our dead was really quite easy.
– W.H. Auden (1941-42)