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| Edward Baird The Birth of Venus 1934 oil on canvas National Galleries of Scotland |
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| William Nicholson Poppies in Pewter ca. 1933-34 oil on panel National Galleries of Scotland |
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| William Nicholson The lustre bowl with green peas 1911 oil on canvas National Galleries of Scotland |
from A Letter to Wallace Stevens
1
After the Reformation had settled the loamy soil
and the lettuce-green fields of dollars,
the clouds drifted away, and light fell everywhere.
Even the snow bloomed and New Hampshire was a big peony.
A red barn shone on a hill
with scattered hemlocks and white pines
and the gates of all the picket fences were big shut-eyes.
2
Sometime after the Civil War, the bronze wing of liberty
took off like the ribboning smoke of a Frick factory,
and all the citizens in towns from Stockbridge to Willamette
ran wild on the 4th. The sound of piccolos lingered,
and the shiny nickel of the sun stood still before it
fizzed in the windshield of a Ford.
By then you were a lawyer.
3
Charles Ives was a bandmaster in Danbury, and you didn't
give him the time of day. He played shortstop on the piano.
He never made it to his tonic home base, and his half-tones
were like oak leaves slapping clapboard.
– Peter Balakian (1996)
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| Samuel Peploe Tulips - The Blue Jug ca. 1919 oil on canvas National Galleries of Scotland |
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| Spencer Gore Conversation Piece and Self-portrait ca. 1910 oil on panel National Galleries of Scotland |
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| Spencer Gore The Green Dress ca. 1908-1909 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| James Guthrie Study for the portrait of Lady Helen Munro Ferguson 1909 drawing National Galleries of Scotland |
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| Avigdor Arikha Library interior with Persian helmet, mirror, and books 1972 drawing British Museum |
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| John Singer Sargent Detail of Palma Cathedral, Majorca ca. 1908 drawing National Galleries of Scotland |
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| John Singer Sargent Detail of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice ca. 1904-1908 oil on canvas Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge |
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| Anonymous Dutch photographer Gallery at the Rijksmuseum with ancient artifacts in Modernist vitrines ca. 1960 photograph Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
from Seven Penitential Psalms
6
There was a horse farm, long white paddocks, beside the railroad.
Can you see where this is going? Those horses were beautiful and – wet clover,
Loose fence posts – hard to keep safe. The day two mares and a gelding
Stopped an express (no humans hurt, train delayed while the track was cleared),
My brother slipped off to the scene. He craved blood, I think, because he'd
Reached the age that needs to feel beyond doubt that the world is real.
A boy, ten or twelve, on a bike; some horses; a train.
From the blue it comes back, and when I recall his crazy bravado, describing
What remained of the giants that once lipped apples from our palms, I'm surprised
At my rage: Who'd put horses there? Who a railroad? Who a boy?
– V. Penelope Pelizzon (2005)
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| James Havard Thomas Woman thrashing rye, Valle di Pompei, Italy before 1921 drawing (study for relief sculpture) British Museum |
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| Christopher Wood Figure Study before 1930 drawing National Galleries of Scotland |
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| Christopher Wood Bridge over the Seine 1927 oil on canvas British Government Art Collection |
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| Ishbel McWhirter Portrait of A.S. Neill, founder of Summerhill 1964 oil on canvas National Galleries of Scotland |
– poems from the archives of Poetry (Chicago)