Poetics of photography

A photo in honor of the poetic photography of Ernst Haas.

We received a new addition today, a print of a view of Paris from Notre Dame, taken during a cloudy sunset by Ernst Haas. He shot the original on January 1, 1954 and called it "Cloudy Paris."

Haas took photos of major cities around the world, did a book of images depicting the creation of the world, experimented in fascinating ways with color film. Some of his images include reflections in pools, streets, and store front windows; shadows; florals; street signs; "motion" shots; portraits of the famous; abstracts; and people from many cultures.

He thought of photographs as poems – and his photos "read" like poems. Follow this link to his website and you will find further links to galleries of his images:
http://www.ernst-haas.com/introduction3.html

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In every artist there is poetry. In every human being there is the poetic element. We know, we feel, we believe…

The artist must express the summation of his feeling, knowing, and believing through the unity of his life and work. One cannot photograph art. One can only live it in the unity of his vision, as well as in the breadth of his humanity, vitality and understanding…

There is no formula – only man with his conscience speaking, writing, and singing in the new hieroglyphic language of light and time.

~ Ernst Haas

Collecting twigs

What if you could visit Paris, just for a little while? C and I did today through a movie, "Avenue Montaigne." A story about a young woman who comes to The City of Light from the provinces to check out the big city. Through her waitressing at a café in a posh, artistic district, we meet others: a professional concert pianist and his wife, a famous soap-opera star, a newly-widowed art collector, and his son. They are all in life transitions, and their stories unfold before us as they struggle with their decisions.

We loved it; it was just what we needed on this rainy Sunday in The City of Trees. Views of Paris, the Eiffel, cafes, the magnificent Theatre des Champs-Elysees with its wonderful staircase (Stravinsky’s "Rite of Spring" was first performed there). And seeing people for whom art and music is entwined with love and life. Powerful scenes: When the pianist slips away from the formal orchestra rehearsal and instead plays for patients at a local hospital. When the elderly Jacques tells how he and his wife were "like beavers building a dam" against the dullness of everyday life by collecting artwork, "twig by twig" until they had amassed an incredible collection they lived with each day until her death.

Now, on to a new week of creating and collecting twigs…

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The many great gardens of the world, of literature and poetry, of painting and music, of religion and architecture, all make the point as clear as possible: The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden. If you don't want paradise, you are not human; and if you are not human, you don't have a soul.
--Thomas Moore

America is my country and Paris is my hometown.
--Gertrude Stein

With an apple I will astonish Paris.
--Paul Cezanne

A little exploration...

A few things I've found on the web...

The Williams College Museum of Art is opening a new exhibit of early works of Andy Warhol, including several pieces featuring shoes. One description: "A parade of 14 hand-colored lithographs of shoes – always alone, never in a pair…" (this is before the Campbell’s soup can era)

WCMA is also featuring an exhibit with an intriguing title, "The Moon Is Broken: Photography from Poetry, Poetry from Photography." The work of regional poets, inspired by the photos of such photographers as Eugene Atget, Julia Margaret Cameron, Man Ray, and Walker Evans, are displayed with the photos. "The museum encourages contributions of original poems inspired by these works for inclusion in a reading this spring," says the info on the website.
http://www.wcma.org/

One of the new exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art features Canadian artist and photographer, Jeff Wall. If you go to the site you can view an online exhibit of his work (useful for those of us who live some distance from NYC).

Another online exhibit available on MoMA features the work and life of Venezuelan artist Armando Reveron. He not only did numerous unusual dream-like paintings, but built the curious "El Castillete" (the little castle), where he lived and worked most of his life.
http://www.moma.org/

A different kind of art can be seen on the pages of Space.com, where there are two galleries of fascinating photos of the McNaught comet taken by various people throughout the northern hemisphere.
www.Space.com

Enjoy the journey...

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My paintings are not about what is seen. They are about what is known forever in the mind.
– Agnes Martin