In the culturally stunned, dystopic states of North America a poet needs a different (though no greater) kind of faith and commitment from that of poets under other cruel and t/ruthless political regimes. Faith in poetry itself, more perhaps than has been required in other, older societies. Commitment to a poetics not defined by the market, not complacent courtier verse or prose cut by template. A poetics of longing, of organic necessity. Adrienne Rich via Levy and Wood s Lot
On April Fools Day at the Phillips Collection I learned about “dandyism!†The artificiality and excessive refinement of the “dandy†was characterized by Boldini’s painting of Whistler. That boy and his momma, they did get around. Whistler held a tophat and he had a splendid moustache and sculpted eyebrows. He displayed all the self absorbtion of a blogger.
The painting was included in the Sichert/Degas/Lautrec exhibit, on loan from the Tate. (Follow that link and you can see a complete catalog of what was at the Phillips. But I have to say that Miss La La looks a lot better hanging by her teeth in person, than she does in pixels on the monitor).
Not far away from Whistler, Degas’ L’absinthe glowed a sickly green with friends of mine seated at the table. I made up a little critical story as I looked. The picture, I think, is best viewed from the left. The gallery’s lighting cast a glare on the brush strokes on her lips that was removed by moving to the left. The subjects themselves, in the right of the panel, move the viewer to the left to gain comfort in perspective. Oh, and then there’s the political thing… Contemporaneous English critiques of Degas’ work were posted in the room. Middle class values overshadowed the critics’ ability to see what was in front of them.
