skip to main | skip to sidebar

The Virtual World

Poetry, the imagination, and the creative life.

Friday, July 09, 2010

Where Paint and Poetry Meet


This is a fascinating article. I love how the painting was created in reference to a poem, rather then the reverse. What do you call the inverse of Ekphrastic? Is there a name fore it?

Charles Demuth's 'The Figure 5 in Gold' is a witty homage to William Carlos Williams and one of his poems.

On its own, this visual impact might have made Charles Demuth's most famous work into an icon of American art. But "The Figure 5 in Gold" has much more going for it. It's the best work in a genre Demuth created, the "poster portrait." It's a witty homage to his close friend, the poet William Carlos Williams, and a transliteration into paint of his poem, "The Great Figure." It's a decidedly American work made at a time when U.S. artists were just moving beyond European influences. It's a reference to the intertwined relationships among the arts in the 1920s, a moment of cross-pollination that led to American Modernism. And it anticipates Pop art.
Posted by Peter at 9:24 PM
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

1 comment:

Susan Rich said...

Thank you. Love this!

July 10, 2010 4:02 PM

Post a Comment

Newer Post Older Post Home
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Prufrock: a decompostition
    you and I spread out against the sky half-deserted shells What is it? our visit. a talking angel yellow fog there will be time to prepare a ...
  • Word Wars
    The 17th Annual Seattle Scrabble Tournament is happening at the downtown Red Lion Hotel this weekend. My favorite Scrabble word? It uses all...
  • (no title)
    I received my contributor's copies of BAP 2007 in the mail yesterday. One paperback and one hardbound. I *love* the cover image. Dean an...
  • Tremor — JAMA
    My good friend Ted McMahon brought the latest issue of JAMA ( Journal of the American Medical Association ) to our poetry group last night,...
  • Happy Happy
    The floors are all sanded down and are looking great. It's amazing how much paler they are with all the old finish gone. We are going wi...
  • CD Wright as the Love Child of Ron Silliman & Dolly Parton
    A fascinating essay by Joel Brouwer, about the work of poet CD Wright, in the current issue of Parnassus . Here's a quote: " . . . ...
  • The "New" Poetry Northwest
      The inaugural issue of the "new" Poetry Northwest came in the mail Saturday, and what a delight! The new Poetry Northwest is go...
  • Cinematic Techniques and Poetry
    I've heard it said that it is "hard to be a poet living in an age of prose." But heck, let's face it, we're not livin...
  • New Intern
      I received my new driver's license in the mail today; and while putting my old one away in a box in my bedroom closet, I found this ol...
  • Baggage Claim
    I got in about midnight last night, and seemed to wait forever at baggage claim. A black high-heeled shoe (a very expensive-looking Manolo B...

Some Poems Online

  • "Magnolia Blossom"
  • Body Talk
  • Crossing the Pear
  • "Wordsword" "Adagio"
  • "Twenty Years After His Passing, My Father Appears . . ."
  • "Think or Swim"
  • "The Cruciverbalist"
  • "Reconsidering the Seven"
  • "October Journal"
  • "Nursemaid's Elbow"
  • "Lost in Translation"
  • "Holy Shit"
  • "Her Name is Rose"
  • "Fugue"
  • "Anagrammer" (video)
  • "Anagrammer"
  • "After the Pillow Book"

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (15)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  May (2)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (4)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (3)
  • ►  2012 (44)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (3)
    • ►  October (4)
    • ►  September (3)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (3)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (7)
    • ►  February (6)
    • ►  January (6)
  • ►  2011 (96)
    • ►  December (5)
    • ►  November (6)
    • ►  October (3)
    • ►  September (8)
    • ►  August (7)
    • ►  July (8)
    • ►  June (7)
    • ►  May (9)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (10)
    • ►  February (13)
    • ►  January (10)
  • ▼  2010 (121)
    • ►  December (12)
    • ►  November (7)
    • ►  October (11)
    • ►  September (9)
    • ►  August (8)
    • ▼  July (10)
      • The new season of Project Runway starts tonight. I...
      • Interesting brief article over at Huffington Post:...
      • Some recent poetry I've been reading. . .
      • Interesting article about the difficulties of read...
      • From Judith K's blog: a poingnant story about aski...
      • New compost bins, virtual garden tour
      • Colton Harris-Moore Caught?
      • Where Paint and Poetry Meet
      • Happy Fourth of July!From The Whitman Archive: a r...
      • This looks like an interesting book — from an Engl...
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (14)
    • ►  April (10)
    • ►  March (11)
    • ►  February (8)
    • ►  January (12)
  • ►  2009 (147)
    • ►  December (8)
    • ►  November (8)
    • ►  October (11)
    • ►  September (5)
    • ►  August (5)
    • ►  July (10)
    • ►  June (9)
    • ►  May (20)
    • ►  April (20)
    • ►  March (14)
    • ►  February (19)
    • ►  January (18)
  • ►  2008 (246)
    • ►  December (22)
    • ►  November (16)
    • ►  October (27)
    • ►  September (22)
    • ►  August (27)
    • ►  July (25)
    • ►  June (28)
    • ►  May (23)
    • ►  April (21)
    • ►  March (21)
    • ►  February (12)
    • ►  January (2)
  • ►  2007 (340)
    • ►  December (20)
    • ►  November (26)
    • ►  October (38)
    • ►  September (24)
    • ►  August (24)
    • ►  July (35)
    • ►  June (31)
    • ►  May (27)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (30)
    • ►  February (25)
    • ►  January (30)
  • ►  2006 (421)
    • ►  December (30)
    • ►  November (28)
    • ►  October (38)
    • ►  September (34)
    • ►  August (41)
    • ►  July (37)
    • ►  June (35)
    • ►  May (27)
    • ►  April (47)
    • ►  March (34)
    • ►  February (34)
    • ►  January (36)
  • ►  2005 (414)
    • ►  December (41)
    • ►  November (36)
    • ►  October (45)
    • ►  September (32)
    • ►  August (42)
    • ►  July (37)
    • ►  June (33)
    • ►  May (39)
    • ►  April (30)
    • ►  March (35)
    • ►  February (25)
    • ►  January (19)
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetry can communicate before it is understood. ~T. S. Eliot

*


Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~ Plato

*


A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep. ~ Salman Rushdie

*


Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. ~ Novalis

*


Poetry is what maintains our capacity for contemplation and difficulty. — Carolyn Forche

*


Poetry must have something in it that is barbaric, vast and wild. — Denis Diderot

*


Sometimes something wants to be said, sometimes a way of saying wants to be used. — Paul ValĂ©ry

*