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)