Swans reflecting elephants
Louise
This is obviously a highly intellectual news group. However, I permit myself
to interrupt your highly intellectual discussion with a small question.
Unfortunately I am only a poor plebeian mortal, but I seem to be develloping
a humble interest in the art of surrealism.
In Salvador Dalķ's painting "Swans Reflecting Elephants" a mysterious man is
standing in the background. Who is this man? Despite my efforts I have not
been able to find any information about the painting anywhere.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Louise
P.S.
In you own opinion, are you really having professional discussions or are
you just picking on each other?
P.S.
This is not supposed to be rude. If it seems that way it simply because your
heavy criticism and hostility against each other has scared me so much I
have to hide in exaggerated politeness. Sorry.
Nikolaus Maack
> This is obviously a highly intellectual news group. However, I permit myself
> to interrupt your highly intellectual discussion with a small question.
> Unfortunately I am only a poor plebeian mortal, but I seem to be develloping
> a humble interest in the art of surrealism.
Louise, from my perspective, everyone in this newsgroup is a mere mortal.
Even Dale. So feel free to throw yourself into whatever the hell it is
we're whining about this week. Of course I'm a god-hugging, sexist,
mystic, theist, trouble-making butthead, so what do I know?
> In Salvador Dalķ's painting "Swans Reflecting Elephants" a mysterious man is
> standing in the background. Who is this man? Despite my efforts I have not
> been able to find any information about the painting anywhere.
Well, here's a picture of the painting (as good as I could find, using
"google") but I can't see the man you're talking about.
http://www.museummasters.com/pages/dali_swansreflect.html
They won't let me make this picture any larger. Where is the man?
> P.S.
> In you own opinion, are you really having professional discussions or are
> you just picking on each other?
Bit of both, I suspect. Mostly just picking on each other.
> P.S.
> This is not supposed to be rude. If it seems that way it simply because your
> heavy criticism and hostility against each other has scared me so much I
> have to hide in exaggerated politeness. Sorry.
No sweat. But, believe me, if there is a way to be offended by a post,
someone in alt.surrealism will find it. I betcha someone even manages to
get irked by your "excessive politeness". I once saw Dale rag someone
because they said they wouldn't fight. Dale told them something along the
lines of, if you're not willing to debate the issues, then what are you
doing here? Get dirty or get lost.
I don't think it has to be that way, but I believe in God and have earwigs
in my head, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
Nik
--
Every good piece of art kills something soft and small.
The Nik Maack Art Gallery
http://www.nikart.com
cythera
>"Louise" (louise_...@mail.tele.dk) writes:
>Louise, from my perspective, everyone in this newsgroup is a
>mere mortal. Even Dale. So feel free to throw yourself
>into whatever the hell it is we're whining about this week.
"We"? As far as I can tell, you're in a group of one.
And you complain so much about Dale and me we should chip in
and buy you a spot at the Wailing Wall.
>> In Salvador Dalķ's painting "Swans Reflecting Elephants" a
>> mysterious man is standing in the background. Who is this
>> man?
>Well, here's a picture of the painting (as good as I could
>find, using "google") but I can't see the man you're talking
>about.
>http://www.museummasters.com/pages/dali_swansreflect.html
Oh, for pity sake! He's right there on the left-hand side.
cythera
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Parry
> > This is obviously a highly intellectual news group. However, I permit myself
> > to interrupt your highly intellectual discussion with a small question.
> > Unfortunately I am only a poor plebeian mortal, but I seem to be develloping
> > a humble interest in the art of surrealism.
>
> I'm a god-hugging, sexist, > mystic, theist, trouble-making butthead.
“Louise” wrote:
> > In Salvador Dalí's painting "Swans Reflecting Elephants" a mysterious man is
> > standing in the background. Who is this man? Despite my efforts I have not
> > been able to find any information about the painting anywhere.
>
“Nikolaus” wrote:
> Well, here's a picture of the painting (as good as I could find, using
> "google") but I can't see the man you're talking about.
>
> http://www.museummasters.com/pages/dali_swansreflect.html
>
> They won't let me make this picture any larger. Where is the man?
You can get to a slighter larger version by right-clicking the image
(http://www.museummasters.com/art/dali/SWANSR_1lrg.jpg), but you still
can’t make out details of the face. The guy’s on the left side. To me,
he looks like he was culled from a photo library, so he may have no
connection with the artist.
“Louise” wrote:
> > P.S.
> > In you own opinion, are you really having professional discussions or are
> > you just picking on each other?
> > P.S.
> > This is not supposed to be rude. If it seems that way it simply because your
> > heavy criticism and hostility against each other has scared me so much I
> > have to hide in exaggerated politeness. Sorry.
I’ve found this group receptive to all sorts of discussions, though the
number of regular users is small so sometimes your snowball can’t get up
a head of steam, so to speak. The “picking on” you perceive is likely
connected to long-standing disputes and/or postures reprehensible to a
surrealist viewpoint. And, anyway, a robust level of criticism helps
keep moths off your concepts.
-- Parry
“Nikolaus” wrote:
> I believe in God and have earwigs in my head
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Nikolaus Maack
> "We"? As far as I can tell, you're in a group of one.
Aren't we all, in the end, a group of one, a solo performance? We can
link our names to those we have respect for, but, finally, when we watusi
off this mortal dance floor, we will be judged by our own merits. Well,
our own merits, and the merits of the morticians who dress us and apply
our make-up once we're dead. Treat funeral workers right, or you'll wind
up in a box wearing plaid and polkadots together, with a face like Howdy
Doody.
"He looks so life like, lying there. Still-life like. Well, okay,
cubist. Sort of 'Nude Descending a Staircase' meets 'Captain Kangaroo' at
a circus."
>>http://www.museummasters.com/pages/dali_swansreflect.html
>
> Oh, for pity sake! He's right there on the left-hand side.
I thought that might be him. On my monitor, which is relatively small, he
is extremely difficult to see. But looking closely, I can make out that
the man is Jerry Lewis dressed as a Hitler youth.
Louise
So to sum up the man is either A) Jerry Lewis dressed as a Hitler youth; or
B) culled from a photo library without any connection with the artist. Well,
I guess one doesn't exclude the other.
Nice. Makes just about as much sense as the rest of the world.
Auf Wiedersehen.
Louise.
cythera
A key to understanding what the artist is saying might be to
look at the constituent parts of the painting (the rocks, the
trees, et al). Almost everything has either a double or triple
aspect.