Unmeaning

Peter Paul Rubens
The Holy Women at the Sepulchre
ca. 1611-14
oil on panel
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California

Peter Paul Rubens
Christ and the Woman taken in Adultery
1614
oil on panel
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels

Peter Paul Rubens
St Cecilia
ca. 1639-40
oil on panel
Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Peter Paul Rubens
St Francis receiving the Stigmata
1633
oil on canvas
Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent

Sanford Roth
Edith Sitwell
ca. 1959
gelatin silver print
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Sanford Roth
Leonor Fini
ca. 1952
gelatin silver print
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Sanford Roth
Marie Laurencin
ca. 1960
gelatin silver print
Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Sanford Roth
Bruno Caruso
ca. 1947
gelatin silver print
Art Institute of Chicago

Robert Rauschenberg
Untitled
1968
screenprint
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Robert Rauschenberg
Storyline I
1968
lithograph
Wichita Art Museum, Kansas

Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Weil
Sun Dancer
ca. 1950
cyanotype
Menil Collection, Houston

Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Weil
Balance
ca. 1950
cyanotype
Menil Collection, Houston

William Marshall Craig
Baking or Boiling Apples
ca. 1805
hand-colored engraving
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia

William Marshall Craig
Band Boxes
ca. 1805
hand-colored engraving
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia

William Marshall Craig
Hair Brooms
ca. 1805
hand-colored engraving
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia

William Marshall Craig
Mackerel
ca. 1805
hand-colored engraving
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia

from Part Two of The Age of Anxiety

Quant said:

                   It is here, now.

     For the huge wild beast of the Unexpected

     Leaps on the lax recollecting back;

     Unknown to him, binoculars follow
     The leaping lad; lightning at noonday

     Swiftly stooping to the summer-house

     Engraves its disgust on engrossed flesh,

     And at tea-times through tall french windows

     Hurtle anonymous hostile stones.

     No soul is safe. Let slight infection

     Disturb a trifle some tiny gland,

     And Caustic Keith grows kind and silly

     Or Dainty Daisy dirties herself.

     We are mocked by unmeaning; among us fall

     Aimless arrows, hurting at random

     As we plan to pain. 

– W.H. Auden (1944-46)