Emerging from Dimness

Christoph Gertner
Amorous Couple, with Death lurking in the Shadows
ca. 1600
oil on slate
Národní Galerie, Prague

Hendrick van Steenwyck the Younger
Esther and Mordecai
(scene from the Biblical book of Esther)
1616
oil on panel
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

attributed to Luciano Borzone
Portrait of Pompilio Ambanelli
ca. 1620
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

David Teniers the Younger
Dinner in the Barn
1634
oil on panel
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

attributed to Francesco Cairo
Martyrdom of St Agnes
1635
oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

attributed to Govert Flinck
Study Head of Young Man
ca. 1637
oil on canvas
Leiden Collection, New York

Gerard ter Borch
A Musical Company
ca. 1642-44
oil on panel
Leiden Collection, New York

Pieter Verelst
Head of an Old Man
1648
oil on panel
Musée des Augustins de Toulouse

Michiel Sweerts
Woman Spinning
ca. 1656
oil on canvas
Museum Gouda

Anonymous Dutch Artist working in Dordrecht
Still Life
ca. 1660-80
oil on panel
Leiden Collection, New York

Onorio Marinari
Mater Dolorosa
ca. 1670-80
oil on canvas
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota

Anonymous Lombard Artist
The Deposition
ca. 1680-90
oil on panel
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Pompeo Batoni
Vulcan at the Forge
1750
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Franz Anton Maulbertsch
Abraham prevented from sacrificing Isaac
ca. 1755
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Francisco Goya
Portrait of army doctor José Queraltó
1802
oil on canvas
Neue Pinakothek, Munich

Théodule Ribot
The Empty Bottle
ca. 1876-81
oil on canvas
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Men improve with the Years

I am worn out with dreams;
A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams;

And all day long I look
Upon this lady's beauty
As though I had found in a book
A pictured beauty,
Pleased to have filled the eyes
Or the discerning ears,
Delighted to be but wise,
For men improve with the years;
And yet, and yet,

Is this my dream, or the truth?
O would that we had met
When I had my burning youth!
But I grow old among dreams,

A weather-worn, marble triton
Among the streams.

– W.B. Yeats (1919)

Sander - Spencer - Salle - Spowers

August Sander
Equestrian Team
ca. 1924
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

August Sander
Mother with Three Children
ca. 1916
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

August Sander
Painter Anton Räderscheidt
1926
gelatin silver print
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

August Sander
Painters Marta Hegemann and Anton Räderscheidt
ca. 1924
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Stanley Spencer
Man with a Hat
1930
drawing
Manchester Art Gallery

Stanley Spencer
Interior at Cookham with Spring Flowers
1937
oil on canvas
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

Stanley Spencer
The Marriage at Cana: Servant in Kitchen announcing the Miracle
1953
oil on canvas
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick

Stanley Spencer
Parents Resurrecting
1933
oil on canvas
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

David Salle
Fast and Slow
1994
lithograph and woodcut
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

David Salle
Hammer Head
2004
oil on linen
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine

David Salle
High and Wide
1994
lithograph and woodcut
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

David Salle
The Emperor
2000
oil and acrylic on canvas
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

Ethel Spowers
Football
1936
color linocut
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Ethel Spowers
Harvest
1932
color linocut
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Ethel Spowers
Durham Cathedral
ca. 1924
color woodblock print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Ethel Spowers
Still Life
1929
wood-engraving
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Sonnets from China

                                 VII

He was their servant (some say he was blind),
Who moved among their faces and their things:
Their feeling gathered in him like a wind
And sang. They cried, "It is a God that sings."

And honoured him, a person set apart,
Till he grew vain, mistook for personal song
The petty tremors of his mind or heart
At each domestic wrong. 

Line came to him no more, he had to make them
(With what precision was each strophe planned):
Hugging his gloom as peasants hug their land,

He stalked like an assassin through the town,
And glared at men because he did not like them,
But trembled if one passed him with a frown.

– W.H. Auden (1938)

Dimly Perceived

Pedro de Campaña (Pieter de Kempener)
Crucifixion
ca. 1550
oil on panel
Národní Galerie, Prague

attributed to Domenico Brusasorci
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1550-60
oil on canvas
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Felice Riccio (il Brusasorci)
Dead Christ mourned by Angels
ca. 1590
oil on black marble
Národní Galerie, Prague

Paul Bril
Landscape with Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli
1595
oil on copper
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Simon Vouet
Man with Figs
(male Carnival reveler wearing women's clothing)
ca. 1615
oil on canvas
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen

Alessandro Turchi (l'Orbetto)
Dead Christ in the Tomb
ca. 1616-17
oil on slate
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Domenico Fetti
Christ on the Mount of Olives
ca. 1617-19
oil on canvas
Národní Galerie, Prague

Quiringh van Brekelenkam
Sentimental Education
ca. 1660-65
oil on panel
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Christopher Paudiss
Self Portrait
1661
oil on panel
Národní Galerie, Prague

attributed to Pietro Locatelli
Hunt of Diana
ca. 1670
oil on copper
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Jan van Somer
Card Players
ca. 1680
mezzotint
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Hubert Robert
Ancient Structure with a Pool
1798
oil on canvas
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

Henri Fantin-Latour
Reclining Woman
ca. 1901
oil on canvas
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Imogen Cunningham
Ben
1910
gelatin silver print
High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Gerhard Richter
Portrait of Heidi Kuhn
1968
oil on canvas
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Ross T. Smith
Mark and David Graham
1998
Fujicolor print
Auckland Art Gallery

While I, from that reed-throated whisperer
Who comes at need, although not now as once
A clear articulation in the air,
But inwardly, surmise companions
Beyond the fling of the dull ass's hoof
– Ben Jonson's phrase – and find when June is come
At Kyle-na-no under that ancient roof
A sterner conscience and a friendlier home,

I can forgive even that wrong of wrongs,
Those undreamt accidents that have made me
– Seeing that Fame has perished this long while,
Being but a part of ancient ceremony –
Notorious, till all my priceless things
Are but a post the passing dogs defile.

– W.B. Yeats (1914)

Made in 1978

Gary Robinson
First Increased Funding for Public Libraries Solidarity Ball
1978
screenprint (poster)
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Clark McDougall
East Broadway, Buffalo
1978
screenprint
Museum London, Ontario

Maxwell Bates
Woman in Blue
1978
oil on canvas
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia

Bernd and Hilla Becher
Winding Tower no. 3
1978
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Bernd and Hilla Becher
Winding Tower no. 5
1978
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Bernd and Hilla Becher
Winding Tower no. 8
1978
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Bernd and Hilla Becher
Winding Tower no. 9
1978
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Robert Owen
Blue Wall, Burano, Italy
1978
C-print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Robert Owen
Green Hose, Burano, Italy
1978
C-print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Robert Owen
Green Sheet, Burano, Italy
1978
C-print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Robert Owen
Pink Wall, Burano, Italy
1978
C-print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Michals Duane
The Old Man photographs the Young Man
(from portfolio, Homage to Cavafy)
1978
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Kenneth Josephson
Chicago
1978
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

William Harper
Brooch
1978
quartz, pearl, moonstone, silver, gold and enamel
Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin

Grant Mudford
Los Angeles
1978
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberrar

Wayne Sorce
The Luis Medina Bathroom
1978
C-print
Art Institute of Chicago

Sonnets from China

                                 VI

He watched the stars and noted birds in flight;
A river flooded or a fortress fell:
He made predictions that were sometimes right;
His lucky guesses were rewarded well.

Falling in love with Truth before he knew Her,
He rode into imaginary lands,
By solitude and fasting hoped to woo Her,
And mocked at those who served her with their hands.

Drawn as he was to magic and obliqueness,
In Her he honestly believed, and when
At last She beckoned to him he obeyed,

Looked in Her eyes: awe-struck but unafraid,
Saw there reflected every human weakness,
And knew himself as one of many men. 

– W.H. Auden (1938)