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Friday 5 November 2010

Incoming Storm


.






In the dark
things were taken out

back
and dealt with




My Shanty, Lake George: Georgia O'Keeffe, 1922 (The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never seen any Georgia O'Keefes like that one. It's very nicely drawn, it looks a lot like a site near where I live (I'll take a photograph to prove it).

Anonymous said...

...And I love what you wrote and how it's formatted!

TC said...

Thanks, Arthur. I love this dark, muted early O'Keeffe.

It makes me wonder about what we don't know about what happened when the woodsmen took Snow White off into the woods, or about what happened to the former democratic philosophy of government in these parts (was there ever one?), among other things.

Angelica reminded me that about thirty years ago I painted a similar scene without having seen the O'Keeffe. And then I too actually remembered it, as the painting was literally staring me in the face (from above the stove, as I cooked dinner).

But I now suspect that the true "original" of this archetypal ur-image is that site near where you live, of which I do hope you will take and post a photograph at your earliest convenience.

Meanwhile, in your honour, here is another O'Keeffe from approximately the same period, this one a bit more on the radiant side: I am imagining it to approximate a vision of life privately attained by the widow of Thomas Hardy, upon his passing.

(And many had thought the old coot might well hang on forever...)

Anonymous said...

I'll do it right now. I'll borrow your whole post for the job, (but if you don't like it, just say & I can take it out). Can't you post a photo of your painting above the stove?

TC said...

Great photo, Arthur.

That was quick!

(No functional camera around here, alas, we are barely technological...)