The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke
Master Mercury
can anybody tell me what this song is about?!
Master Mercury
--
My goddess hear my darkest fear
I speak too late
It's for evermore that I wait
Dear friend goodbye
No tears in my eyes
So sad it ends as it began
fmercury
Master Mercury wrote in message <8c2tbs$5qm1n$1...@fu-berlin.de>...
oli_...@my-deja.com
http://queen.frnet.com/fairy/index.html
óli
In article <8c2tbs$5qm1n$1...@fu-berlin.de>,
"Master Mercury" <master....@gmx.de> wrote:
> Hoy
>
> can anybody tell me what this song is about?!
>
> Master Mercury
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Master Mercury
--
If you gotta make love do it everywhere
That's what love is that's what love is
Alex Van Starrex
Without getting too gross, it seems to be about masturbation.
--
Personal website:
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~avanstar
"The best personal site on the Web"- Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/icon/9909/25/showcase.html
Master Mercury wrote in message <8c2tbs$5qm1n$1...@fu-berlin.de>...
>Hoy
>
>can anybody tell me what this song is about?!
>
>Master Mercury
>
>
jenni
>
>Without getting too gross, it seems to be about masturbation.
ummm,
Without gettting too mean, it seems to be about a famous painting.
jenni
"All's fair in Love and War, but War is Hell"
Remove 'plaint'
vinylfreak
>Hoy
>
>can anybody tell me what this song is about?!
You could go to deja news and look out for Cathy's posts on the
painting.
Perhaps she may send it through again but you cannot really beat the
info within her post.
--
vinylfreak
Kafe59
Roni
review of your visit to the Fricken Museum. There might be some new people
here, who missed it the last time.
Roni
Cathy wrote (some time ago):
This is really quite long, so you may want to print it out and take it to
the loo with you.
I took advantage of the unusually mild January weather on the 16th and
ventured over to the Frick museum in NYC to see the "Victorian Fairy
Paintings" exhibition. One of the paintings on exhibit, as many of you may
know, is Richard Dadd's "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke". The museum is
located in a tastefully opulent mansion which was at one time home to Henry
Clay Frick and his family. Frick was a Pittsburgh steel industrialist, and
had his home designed by architect Thomas Hastings in 1913. I must say that
the outside of the mansion was very unassuming. It looked more like a
library than a residence.
I wandered on into the museum, paid my admission and was asked to check my
briefcase. Too big. So instead I shoved my camera into my coat pocket (which
I later found out was not allowed to be used anywhere inside the museum
except for the absolutely magnificent indoor garden) checked the bag, and
took my notebook.
First I made my way from room to room to view the Frick permanent
collection. The private collection features works by such renowned artists
as Gainsborough, Renoir, El Greco (which is Spanish for "The Greco") Manet,
Monet and Degas. I was surprised at the amount of people who were visiting
this particular museum, since I don't recall it being a well-known name, but
I'm no museum expert. The museum was fairly crowded, probably due to the
large crowds of people who were drawn out of their homes on this first
beautiful, warmish sunny day we've had in quite a while. Another possible
reason was that the "Victorian Fairy Painting Exhibit" was ending it's run,
as it was scheduled to close the next day. I made my way down the narrow
marble spiral stairway and into the exhibit area to seek out Dadd's work.
I now truly understand the impact that this painting has had on people. This
was absolutely without a doubt the most incredibly detailed painting I had
ever seen. I was sucked right into it. It had taken me a while to get close
enough to actually see the detail, seeing as that it was the most popular
and commonly discussed painting in the room. People were at it with
magnifying glasses. I tried to follow their convexed gazes as their lenses
traveled across the canvas. Luckily I was able to see the glorious result of
the intense effort and painstaking detail that went into it. It took Dadd
six years to complete this work, and I must say I can completely understand
why. He must have had brushes that were made with split hairs, the patience
of a saint, and all the time in the world.
Dadd painted the FFMS from 1858 to 1864, while he was a patient at
Bethlehem Hospital, a mental institution. He was committed for murdering his
own father, and was subsequently diagnosed as schizophrenic. The staff
there was compassionate enough to allow Dadd to paint, and in 1865 he wrote
a long account in verse explaining the painting's genesis. He identified
each character by name as they bear witness to the nymph in yellow as he is
about to split a hazelnut. The shell was to be used in the construction of
Queen Mab's coach. The Arch Magician gives the command "Except I tell you
when, strike if you dare". Squinty Pedagogue is a critic whose "business it
is to teach to do/Do it himself? Oh! No! Tis you". We are watching the scene
through tall timothy grasses, as if to implant the notion in our heads that
perhaps in the future we should watch our step when walking through some
brush. In the end, the verse keeps the painting's secret to itself and
doesn't reveal it's meaning to us. "But whether it be or be not so/You can
afford to let things go/For naught as nothing it explains/And nothing from
nothing/nothing gains".
It appears as if the painting may have been worked out initially in
monochrome (the seed pods in the foreground appear to be black and white
toned), and that Dadd filled in each element seperately with color. The
medium was oil on canvas, and I was amazed at an almost cloisonne type of
look to the work; it didn't have the usual texture of an oil
painting. It was almost smooth, except for slightly raised lined such as in
the grasses and other detail. I just then overheard someone say that they
thought the painting had more of an enamel feel to it than an oil. Then
someone behind me said "Be careful not to get too close- the fairies will
pull you right into the painting" to which someone else replied "Too late".
I remarked that I was thinking the same thing. And just as I got close
enough to take a good look, the guard came over and asked that other people
have a chance because the people who had just been in front of me had been
hogging it up for about five minutes, and now there was a line. Mind you,
the painting is only about 20x36", if even that, so in order for the
slightly myopic such as myself to get an eyeful you had to have your face
right in it. So, now that it appears to the newcomers that I am the Fairy
hog, I took my twelve seconds and moved it on along for a little while.
I went up into the indoor garden for a little while, and scribbled down a
lot of these notes. The garden is absolutely spectacular. Marble flooring,
busts on pedestals, Roman columns, more paintings.There are marble benches
situated symmetrically around the perimeter of the fountain area, which is
the focal point of the room, and situated two steps down. The fountain is
surrounded by an oval pool which is lined with blooming bromeliads. The
arched ceiling is made entirely of white frosted glass,which floods the room
with subdued natural lighting with a little help from rows of incandescent
arches on the outside.
I went back to the painting again, and managed to get my nose in there for
another full minute. I could lose myself in it for hours. You just cannot
believe the incredible amount of work that must have gone into this
painting. The pebbles are so realistic that it's frightening. I read in the
extremely informative notes next to the painting that it was never exhibited
during Dadd's life, and has become the focus of a cult following. Now, one
may initially think that the following is due to the connection with Queen,
but I never heard any of the people there discussing the work mention either
the band or Freddie. Apparently, the painting is well known in art circles
based upon it's own merits.
The notes also said that it was considered the masterpiece of all fairy
paintings, and I would have to agree. There were many other beautiful
paintings in this exhibit, but none with the attraction that this one had. I
particularly liked "The Disenchantment of Bottom" (Bottom is a character in
Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", as are Oberon and Titania). There
was an interesting placement of light and shadow; very effective.It appears
as if a flash of lightning had occurred, and we are witness to the split
second flash of light that reveals several good/evil fairies surrounding him
in otherwise total darkness.
Another painting I took to was one called "Queen Mab's Cave" by Joseph
Mallord William Turner. There are several paintings by this artist in the
permanent collection, but this one was part of the Fairy exhibit. There was
a ghostly, misty lake with what appeared to be a small island in the middle,
with fairies flying about. Near the center of the painting was a bright pool
of light, which appeared to me as if it were the place which the fairies
emerged from. Very serene, yet energetic.
I would have liked to have stayed longer, but I really wanted to take
advantage of what I had left of daylight to get out and take some pictures.
So at 3:45 I walked away and continued along on my excursion. All in all it
was a great day, and I'm having a tough time picking out my favorite part.
The painting can be seen at Queen Heaven,
http://queen.frnet.com/fairy/index.html . On that page, you can access
large pieces of the painting at a time which help show the detail, but do
the original no justice. There is also a link to the painting as shown in
one piece. I am also aware that somewhere is Dadd's account of the scene, so
if anyone knows where that is please post it.
I told you it was long.
Cathy
thanks again
Roni
Cathy
>
> Hope you don't mind Cathy, but I took the liberty of posting your excellent
> review of your visit to the Fricken Museum. There might be some new people
> here, who missed it the last time.
>
........
Didn't mind at all, Roni. Thanks for taking the time to post it; I
didn't want to post it again myself for fear of appearing like an
obsessive, egotistical one-trick pony to some. Maybe I'll post it to a
website one of these days--I don't suppose I ever realized that there
would be any kind of "demand" for it, and posting a URL would be a more
convenient (and less show-offy) way of providing the info.
> Roni
>
Cathy
Ector
>I
>didn't want to post it again myself for fear of appearing like an
>obsessive, egotistical one-trick pony to some.
No chance of that, dear. Thanks to you, I now own a poster print of "The Fairy
Feller's Master Stroke." Took a couple of over-seas calls to London, so it is
the most expensive poster I've ever purchased, but it was worth every red
American cent, and I'm damn proud to be the first kid on my block to hang one
on his wall. Thanks a million!
--Johnny
Cathy
> Thanks to you, I now own a poster print of "The Fairy
> Feller's Master Stroke." Took a couple of over-seas calls to London,
PHONE calls!?! You're on the *Internet*, boy!!! I wish I'd known that
you had planned on purchasing it. I would have sent you to
http:\\www.tate.org.uk .
> so it is
> the most expensive poster I've ever purchased, but it was worth every red
> American cent, and I'm damn proud to be the first kid on my block to hang one
> on his wall.
Well, if you lived on my block, you'd be the second.
> Thanks a million!
>
You're welcome!
I accept cash…
> --Johnny
Cathy
Ector
>
>PHONE calls!?! You're on the *Internet*, boy!!! I wish I'd known that
>you had planned on purchasing it. I would have sent you to
>http:\\www.tate.org.uk .
Boy?
Yes dear, I realize this is the Internet. And I also was aware of Tate
Gallery's e-mail and web site. I just wasn't comfortable using my credit card
over the net (overseas), so I phoned in my order. Better safe than sorry.
Besides, I don't get to talk to my cousins across the pond very often.
Cheerio,
--Johnny
Cathy
>
> Cathy wrote:
>
> >
> >PHONE calls!?! You're on the *Internet*, boy!!! I wish I'd known that
> >you had planned on purchasing it. I would have sent you to
> >http:\\www.tate.org.uk .
>
> Boy?
>
Figure of speech… as an American, I'm sure you're familiar with Foghorn
Leghorn. Nothing to do with age. I know you're as old and moldy as I
am. Maybe moldier, for all I know.
> Yes dear,
Dear?!?!
> I realize this is the Internet. And I also was aware of Tate
> Gallery's e-mail and web site. I just wasn't comfortable using my credit card
> over the net (overseas), so I phoned in my order. Better safe than sorry.
You're right, but if I had to worry about who was stealing my credit
card number all of the time, I'd never be able to use it at all.
Paranoia may destroyaaaaaaa....
> Besides, I don't get to talk to my cousins across the pond very often.
Good an excuse as any to use that 11+ prefix (right?).
>
> Cheerio,
>
> --Johnny
Seeyas!!
Cathy