Passing Silhouettes

Anonymous English Makers
Dress
ca. 1760
printed taffeta of Spitalfields silk
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Anonymous English Makers
Robe à l'anglaise
(with fichu and apron in cotton gauze)
ca. 1780
cotton chintz imported from India
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Anonymous American Makers
Hoop
"Bradley's Patent Duplex Elliptic Spring Skirt"
ca. 1867-68
steel and cotton
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Anonymous English Makers
Dolman Jacket
ca. 1887
embroidered and beaded silk faille
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Anonymous Burmese Makers
Court Costume
ca. 1890-1915
cotton embroidered with sequins and glass
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco

Marie-Louise Bruyère (Paris)
Evening Gown
1947
silk
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Antonio del Castillo for House of Lanvin
Hat
ca. 1960
wool felt and silk faille
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Norman Norell
Evening Gown
1971
silk-satin, silk-chiffon, plastic sequins, fox fur
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Kansai Yamamoto
Ensemble
(cape, blouse, culottes)
1971
synthetic satin and wool-knit
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Laura Ashley
Dress
1974
cotton
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Roberto Capucci
"Fumo" Evening Gown
1985
slubbed silk
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Christian Lacroix
Dress
1988
silk and cotton
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Jacqueline de Ribes
Evening Gown
1990
silk satin
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Jean-Paul Gaultier
Kilt Trousers
1993
wool tartans
Philadelphia Museum of Art

Comme des Garçons (Japan)
Dress
1996
cotton and polyester
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Iris van Herpen
"Alchemy of Light" Dress
2016
silk tulle, thermoplastic polymer, transparent liquid polyurethane
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Telemachus' Detachment

When I was a child looking
at my parents' lives, you know
what I thought? I thought
heartbreaking. Now I think
heartbreaking, but also

insane. Also

very funny.

– Louise Glück (1996)

Made in 2010

Tim Davis
Couch in Car
2010
pigment print
Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Scott Daniel Ellison
Snowman and Wolf
2010
acrylic on board
NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Raphaëlle de Groot
1273 petites choses qui ne servent plus
2010
inkjet print
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec

Donna Karan
Dress
2010
wool-blend jersey
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Roger Shimomura
The Lineup #2
2010
acrylic on canvas
Wichita Art Museum, Kansas

Andrei Roiter
Contact
2010
oil on canvas
Kunstmuseum, The Hague

Patrick Wilson
Insomniac
2010
acrylic on canvas
Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, California

Sean Scully
Wall of Light - Grey Pink
2010
oil on aluminum
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

Max Kozloff
Portrait of designer Kevin Walz
2010
C-print
Art Institute of Chicago

Daan van Golden
Mozart
2010
oil on canvas
Kunstmuseum, The Hague

Johannes Kahrs
Untitled (young man 1)
2010
oil on canvas
Dallas Museum of Art

Koos Breukel
Mees Jongema
2010
C-print
Kunstmuseum, The Hague

Vincent Fecteau
Untitled
2010
painted papier-mâché
Art Institute of Chicago

Vincent Fecteau
Untitled
2010
painted papier-mâché
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

Tony Campbell
The Raft
2010
pigment print
New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut

AES+F (art collective)
The Feast of Trimalchio: Arrival of the Golden Boat
2010
C-print
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Caramel Drizzle

"Caramel syrup or caramel drizzle?"
     "Sorry?"
     "Caramel syrup or caramel drizzle?
     This is overheard conversation. I look up: it is a tall slim woman with a ponytail buying the drink at a Starbucks counter. She is wearing a dark blue uniform. We are in an airport. She is probably a flight attendant.
     Long pause for deliberation. She has not encountered this choice before.
     "I'll take the drizzle."

Now I see her from behind, over there, with her blond ponytail and sticking-out ears, drinking her caramel drizzle. 
     While she stood at the counter and deliberated, I was deciding that the drizzle was a smaller amount of caramel than the syrup, even though surely syrup must be involved in the drizzle.

Later, she walks away with another airline employee, the empty cup in her hand, the caramel drizzle inside her. 
     And then she turns out to be the attendant on my flight – her name is Shannon. So, her caramel drizzle will also be going with us to Chicago.

– Lydia Davis, from Our Strangers (2023)

Profile Studies - I

Leonardo da Vinci
Head of a Warrior
(study for painting, The Battle of Anghiari)
ca. 1504-1505
drawing
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Marcantonio Raimondi
Roman Coin with Head of the Emperor Titus
ca. 1520
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Jacopo da Trezzo
Portrait of Philip II of Spain
ca. 1559-62
onyx cameo with enameled-gold mount
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Agostino Carracci
Heads of Two Women
ca. 1590-1600
drawing
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Anonymous Italian Artist
Antoninus Pius and Faustina the Elder
16th-17th century
carnelian intaglio
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

Giovanni Bonazza
Flavius Ansprandus, Lombard King
ca. 1700-1720
marble relief
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Anonymous Dutch Artist
Silhouette of a Woman
ca. 1775-1800
drawing
Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen

Johann Peter Pichler
Maria Christina, Archduchess of Austria
(sister of Marie Antoinette)
ca. 1785
drawing
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

François-Frédéric Grobon
Portrait Study of Anthelme-Eugène Grobon
1834
drawing
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon

Alexander Hugo Bakker-Korff
Portrait of the artist's sister Ada
ca. 1851
oil on canvas
Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden

William Wyon
Portrait Head of Queen Victoria
(Royal Academy of Arts Medal)
1874
silver
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Roland Larij
Study Head
ca. 1885
oil on panel
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Achille Lauge
Portrait of a Woman
ca. 1894
oil on canvas
Musée des Augustins de Toulouse

Emil Orlik
Portrait Study of a Woman
1899
lithograph
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

James Abbe
John Barrymore in The Jest
1919
gelatin silver print
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Stephen Conroy
The Poor King's Brother
1987
drawing
Scottish National Galleries, Edinburgh

from September Is

Memory is deeply not alive; it's a mock-up

And this renders it hateful. Yet, it is not fiction,
Is a truth, indeed a sad and monstrous truth.

– Mary Jo Bang (2007)

Ribot - Sloan - Knight - Modigliani

Théodule Ribot
Lamb Chops and Kidneys
ca. 1880
oil on canvas
Musée de l'Oise

Théodule Ribot
Still Life with Pumpkin, Plums, Cherries, Figs and Jug
ca. 1860
oil on canvas
Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao

Théodule Ribot
The Burnt Dish
1863
etching
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Théodule Ribot
The Peelers
1863
etching
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

John Sloan
Silhouette of James Preston
ca. 1896
drawing
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington

John Sloan
Self Portrait
1946
drawing
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington

John Sloan
Hudson Sky
1908
oil on canvas
Wichita Art Museum, Kansas

John Sloan
Road to Santa Fe
1924
oil on canvas
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona

Laura Knight
Backstage at the Birmingham Rep
ca. 1930
pastel on paper
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia

Laura Knight
Trio Gymnastique
1932
aquatint
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Laura Knight
Carmo's Circus
1935
drawing
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

Laura Knight
Circus Dressing Room
ca. 1935
aquatint
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia

Amedeo Modigliani
Head
1911-12
limestone
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

Amedeo Modigliani
Portrait of a Man
1913
oil on canvas
Denver Art Museum

Amedeo Modigliani
Jeanne Hébuterne
1918
oil on canvas
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena

Amedeo Modigliani
Girl with Polka-Dot Blouse
1919
oil on canvas
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

from The Sea and the Mirror

Antonio:

As all the pigs have turned back into men
And the sky is auspicious and the sea
Calm as a clock, we can all go home again.

Yes, it undoubtedly looks as if we
Could take life as easily now as tales
Write ever-after: not only are the

Two heads silhouetted against the sails
– And kissing, of course – well-built, but the lean
Fool is quite a person, the fingernails

Of the dear old butler for once quite clean,
And the royal passengers quite as good
As rustics, perhaps better, for they mean

What they say, without, as a rustic would,
Casting reflections on the courtly crew.
Yes, Brother Prospero, your grouping could

Not be more effective: given a few
Incomplete objects and a nice warm day,
What a lot a little music can do. 

Dotted about the deck, they doze or play,
Your loyal subjects all, grateful enough
To know their place and believe what you say.

Antonio, sweet brother, has to laugh.
How easy you have made it to refuse
Peace to your greatness! Break your wand in half,

The fragments will join, burn your books or lose
Them in the sea, they will soon reappear,
Not even damaged: as long as I choose 

To wear my fashion, whatever you wear
Is a magic robe; while I stand outside
Your circle, the will to charm is still there.

As I exist so you shall be denied,
Forced to remain our melancholy mentor,
The grown-up man, the adult in his pride,

Never have time to curl up at the centre
Time turns on when completely reconciled.
Never become and therefore never enter
The green occluded pasture as a child.

     Your all is partial, Prospero;
          My will is all my own:
     Your need to love shall never know
     Me: I am I, Antonio,
          By choice myself alone.

– W.H. Auden (1942-44)