--caravaggio

attack on academia!

In honor of the first volley launched in my all-out assault on the academic world (aimed precisely to a small New Jersey town) I would like to share some particularly triumphant images.
First, Giuditta Che Taglia la Testa a Oloferne, by Caravaggio. The title might be translated Judith Slashing the Head of Holofernes. (Taglia is the third person present indicative of tagliare, to slash. Testa means head, and in French the word is tete, pronounced "tet.")
Second, Portrait of Georgia O'Keefe, taken in 1920 by A. Stieglitz, photographer hero. (Did you know she was actually very short? Stieglitz, though, he photographed her like an Amazon, a queen. Cross-reference: Irving Penn's portraits.)

Edward Atkinson Hornel

At first glance, this painting seemed to me very straightforward and easy, something to hang on the wall of a library. But as I looked more closely, it took on a somewhat sinister feel--though perhaps sinister is not the right word. The commentary on the Tate site pointed out that the girls seem almost to blend into the landscape. To me they are porcelain dolls, a more innocent and round-faced "belle dame sans merci." (see Keats) Their dresses seem crafted of the same textures as the swans' bodies, and their bodies seem as natural to the ground as the leaves they are surrounded by. In short, I like it very much. The title is Autumn; happy October.