Marisol

Rudy Burckhardt
Marisol Exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery
1957
photographic print
Archives of American Art, Washington DC

Marisol
Sculptures on View - Leo Castelli 
1957
offset print
(exhibition announcement)
Archives of American Art, Washington DC

Marisol
Untitled Sculpture
(as photographed by Leo Castelli Gallery)
ca. 1957
 found wooden printer's tray with ceramic figures
Archives of American Art, Washington DC

Marisol
Untitled Sculpture
1960
bronze
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Marisol
Marisol - Recent Sculpture - Stable Gallery
1962
offset-print
(exhibition invitation)
Archives of American Art, Washington DC

Marisol
The Jazz Wall
1963
painted wood and found objects
Art Institute of Chicago

Marisol
Women and Dog
1963-64
painted wood, plaster and found objects
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Hans Namuth
Marisol Escobar
1964
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Frederick McDarrah
Marisol Escobar in her Studio with Wood Sculpture
1966
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Marisol
Hugh Hefner
1966-67
painted wood, brass and steel
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Marisol
Bob Hope
1967
painted wood
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Marisol
Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon
1972
marble
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Marisol
I Hate You
1973
colored pencil and crayon on paper
Art Institute of Chicago

Marisol
Cultural Head
1973
lithograph
Art Institute of Chicago

Marisol
Marisol Paints - The New York Cultural Center
1973
lithograph
(exhibition poster)
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

Marisol
Nelson Rockefeller
1974
carved slate
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Marisol
Bloodshot
1976
colored pencil on paper
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Channel 13

It came down to this: that merely naming the creatures

                    Spelt their doom.

Three quick moves translated camelopard, dik-dik, and

                    Ostrich from

Grassland to circus to Roman floor mosaic to

                    TV room.

Here self-excusing voices attended (and music,

                    Also canned)

The lark's acrobatics, the great white shark's blue shadow

                    Making sand

Crawl fleshwise. Our ultimate "breakthrough" lenses took it

                    In unmanned.

Now the vast shine of appearances shrinks to a tiny

                    Sun, the screen

Goes black. Anaconda, tree toad, alpaca, clown-face

                    Capuchin –

Launched at hour's end in the snug electronic ark of

                    What has been.

– James Merrill (1985)

Sinuosities - VII

Alexander Archipenko
Turning Torso
1921-22
bronze
Museum Folkwang, Essen

Ottomar Anschütz
Model throwing Javelin
1888
albumen print
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna

Antonio Balestra
Two Classical Warriors
ca. 1690
etching
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Michelangelo Cerquozzi
Thief on the Cross
ca. 1640
oil on slate
Kunstmuseum Basel

Wilhelm Tischbein
Wounded Achilles
1818-19
watercolor and gouache on paper
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Adriaen van der Werff
Adam and Eve rebuked by God
1717
oil on panel
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Louis Tuaillon
Sandal-Binder
ca. 1900
bronze
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Roman Empire
Youth with Phrygian Cap
2nd century AD
marble
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

John Singer Sargent
Figure Study
ca. 1890-95
drawing
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Walter Hirsch
Untitled
2002
gelatin silver print
Moderna Museet, Stockholm

Anonymous Italian Artist
Antique Statue of Apollo Sauroctonus
(illustration to Winckelmann)
1767
etching
Hamburger Kunsthalle

Jules-Joseph Lefebvre
Study for Chloé
1875
oil on panel
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha

Maurice Henry
Orpheus and Eurydice in the Metro
ca. 1970
lithograph
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims

Lovis Corinth
Figure Studies
1904
drawing
National Museum, Warsaw

Alessandro Allori
Susanna and the Elders
1561
oil on canvas
Musée Magnin, Dijon

William Adolphe Bouguereau
Return of Spring
1886
oil on canvas
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha

As we were just going out the door, an evil omen befell: a hawk pursuing a swallow collided with Leucippe, striking her head with its wing.  I was quite upset, and raising my eyes to heaven, said: "O Zeus, what are you trying to tell us by this sign?  If you have really given us this bird as a warning, please send your message again in a still more perspicuous sign."

Then, turning around, I happened to face an artist's studio and saw a painting on display whose allusions could but confirm the ominous bird.  It showed the rape of Philomela, Tereus attacking her, her tongue cut out.  The plot of the drama was there in every detail – the robe, Tereus, the banquet.  A maid was holding the unfolded robe: Philomela stood beside her and pointed to the pictures she had woven; Procne nodded that she understood; her eyes glowed fiercely and angrily at the picture.  King Tereus of Thrace was embroidered there, wrestling Philomela to his lust; her hair had been torn, her waistband broken, her dress ripped open, one breast exposed; she planted her right hand against his eyes and with her left tried to hold the torn shreds of her garment across her breasts.  Tereus held Philomela tightly in his arms, drawing her body as close as he could to his own and tightening his embrace on her flesh – so deftly the artist designed this figured weft.  The rest of the icon showed the women showing Tereus his dinner – scraps in a basket – the head and hands of his infant son.  They are laughing, at the same time terrified.  Tereus is shown leaping up from his couch and drawing his sword against them.  He plants one leg on the table, which is neither standing nor fallen, a picture of impending collapse.

– Achilles Tatius, from Leucippe and Clitophon (2nd century AD), translated from Greek by John J. Winkler (1989)

Ancient Divas - III

Abraham Janssens
Hercules ejecting Faunus from the Bed of Omphale
1607
oil on canvas
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Anonymous Genoese Artist
Bacchus and Ariadne
ca. 1650-1700
oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Filippo Lauri
Circe and Ulysses
ca. 1660
oil on canvas
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

Jean-Léon Gérôme
Leda
ca. 1895
drawing
(study for painting)
Morgan Library, New York

Leonardo Grazia (Leonardo da Pistoia)
Death of Cleopatra
ca. 1540
oil on slate
Galleria Borghese, Rome

Giorgio Vasari
Judith and Holofernes
ca. 1554
oil on panel
Saint Louis Art Museum

Abraham Bloemaert
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
1593
oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Jacopo Bertucci (Jacopone da Faenza)
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
ca. 1540
oil on canvas
Gallerie Estense, Modena

Lorenzo de Caro
Esther before Ahasuerus
ca. 1758
oil on canvas
Detroit Institute of Arts

Pompeo Batoni
Samson and Delilah
1766
oil on canvas
Detroit Institute of Arts

Nicolas Régnier
Artemisia with the Ashes of Mausolus
ca. 1650
oil on canvas
Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart

Hans Baldung
Lucretia
1520
drawing
Städel Museum, Frankfurt

Anonymous Italian Artist after Michelangelo Anselmi
Lucretia
ca. 1590
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Salvator Rosa
Jael slaying Sisera
ca. 1650
drawing
Morgan Library, New York

workshop of Gérard de Lairesse
Death of Dido
ca. 1700
watercolor on paper
Art Institute of Chicago

Bernardino Luini
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
ca. 1525-30
oil on panel
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

from Long-legged Fly

That civilisation may not sink

Its great battle lost,
Quiet the dog, tether the pony
To a distant post.
Our master Caesar is in the tent
Where the maps are spread,

His eyes fixed upon nothing,

A hand under his head.

Like a long-legged fly upon the stream

His mind moves upon silence.

– W.B. Yeats (1939)

 

Murky Mournings

Bernardo Cavallino
The Way to Calvary
ca. 1645
oil on canvas
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

Pedro Orrente
The Crucifixion
ca. 1620
oil on canvas
High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Anonymous Italian Artist
Descent from the Cross
ca. 1580-1620
oil on slate
Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica

Johann Wenzel Bergl
Descent from the Cross
1760
oil on canvas
Národní Galerie, Prague

Santi di Tito
The Lamentation, with Donor
1593
oil on panel
Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence

Bertholet Flémal
The Lamentation
ca. 1660-70
oil on canvas
Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe

Annibale Carracci
The Lamentation
1585
oil on panel
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Denys Calvaert
Pietà
ca. 1595
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Sisto Badalocchio
The Deposition
ca. 1610
oil on canvas
Galleria Nazionale di Parma

Francesco Francia (Francesco Raibolini)
The Deposition
1515
oil on panel
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Jacopo da Empoli (Jacopo Chimenti)
The Deposition
ca. 1590
oil on panel
Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica

Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet
The Deposition
1714
oil on canvas
Musée des Augustins de Toulouse

Anonymous Italian Artist
The Entombment
ca. 1500-1525
bronze plaquette
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Daniel Seiter
Dead Christ with Angels
ca. 1690
oil on canvas
Galleria Sabauda, Turin

Nicolas Tournier
Christ carried to the Tomb
ca. 1635
oil on canvas
Musée des Augustins de Toulouse

Alessandro Turchi (l'Orbetto)
Dead Christ mourned by the Magdalen and Angels
ca. 1616-17
oil on slate
Galleria Borghese, Rome

from Lines written in Dejection

When have I last looked on 
The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies
Of the dark leopards of the moon?
All the wild witches, those most noble ladies,
For all their broom-sticks and their tears,
Their angry tears, are gone.
The holy centaurs of the hills are vanished;

I have nothing but the embittered sun . . . 

– W.B. Yeats (1919)