FASCINATING LIAISONS BETWEEN WORDS AND IMAGES
Well, I’ve done it again: I’ve used the term ‘ekphrasis’ in a title, knowing full well that this word can mean the kiss-of-death in any discussion or social interaction. Picture yourself at a busy cocktail party, for example, where attention spans usually run about 3 minutes, and someone asks you to explain ‘ekphrasis’ (yes, it …
Continue reading “PART I, Chapter I: Ekphrasis for People in a Hurry”
Let me introduce you to the ancient and well-fought ‘battle of the arts’. In our age of popular culture and an increasing trend toward ‘interdisciplinarity’, the very idea of a ‘struggle’ between art forms might seem silly and irrelevant. But it has been a serious topic that was central to discussions about the nature of …
Continue reading “Chapter 2: Is a Picture Really ‘Worth a Thousand Words’?”
John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” gives us a wonderful perspective on the representational differences between poetry and the visual arts. In this ode, Keats has constructed an ekphrastic response to an urn which may or may not have existed. It is possible that Keats based his notion of the urn on …
Just as artists/illustrators determine which perspective best fits their interpretation of a text – as we saw in the various illustrations of Judith and Holorfenes – so can poets take individual perspectives in regard to artworks. Below are a number of categories suggested by Gisbert Kranz (Das Bildgedicht, 1975) which are useful in identifying the …
The complexities and varieties of ekphrastic responses to artworks can be demonstrated by looking at just some of the (vast body of) poetry that has been written about the paintings of Pieter Breughel the Elder. In a fascinating book titled Breugel’s Peasants: Art and Audience in the Northern Renaissance (1994), Margaret Sullivan points out that “Breughel has the …
Continue reading “Chapter 5: Perspectives II: Pieter Breughel and the Poets”
Although Brueghel’s ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus’ has been given so much attention by poets, there is another painting by his hand which has evoked a similar variety of fascinating responses. Hunters in the Snow is part of Breughel’s seasonal series representing the months of the year, of which only 5 remain: Hunters in the Snow …
Continue reading “Chapter 5, continued: Breughel and ‘The Hunters in the Snow’”
What inspires an ekphrastic poem? This question, posed in relation to Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn (see comments), led me to think about particular paintings, such as Breughel’s Hunters in the Snow, and their unique ability to inspire so many creative responses. The subject-matter of the painting itself – a ‘peopled’ winter landscape – …
Continue reading “Chapter 5 (cont): Four poets on “The Hunters in the Snow””
Three baseball umpires were asked to explain the basis on which they made their ‘calls’. The first umpire said: “Well, there are ‘balls’ and there are ‘strikes’ and I call them as they are”. The second umpire responded, “There are ‘balls and there are ‘strikes’ and I call them as I see them.” The third umpire was silent …
Having carefully set up a picture of what ekphrasis is and how it operates, here is where I get to blow it all out of the water! Consider the greased pig. A bizarre type of country game played on farms or at state fairs, emerged in North America around the mid-1800’s. In this game, contestants, …
“Sculpture has the longest memory of the arts: from the Paleolithic era, we find stone carvings and clay figures embedded with human longing. And poets have long been fascinated by the idea of eternity embodied by the monumental temples and fragmented statues of ancient civilizations. From Keats’s Grecian urn and Shelley’s “Ozymandias” to contemporary verse …
Continue reading “Chapter 8: Up Close and Personal: Poets meet Sculptures”
What’s nicer than being given a poem for Christmas? Or a painting? Well, in this spirit, I am passing on to you a wealth of presents: two poems and two paintings that are just the perfect gifts for this time of year! The paintings are the Ghent Altarpiece (Adoration of the Lamb) by the Van Eyck brothers …
INTRODUCTION In this chapter, we will explore the fascinating poetry written about Dutch Golden Age Painting. At the same time, the chapter is a summing-up of our exploration of ekphrasis so far. From here on, we will consider not only ekphrastic texts, but other intriguing types of word/image relationships as well (illustration and emblem books, …
Continue reading “Chapter 9: English Poets on Dutch Golden Age Paintings”
The Lady Vanishes To fully appreciate the uniqueness of Dutch portraiture, it is helpful to consider it in the context of portraiture of the Italian Renaissance, both of which are products of very specific cultural expectations and norms. First of all, Italian Renaissance portraits of women were not trying to be truthful copies of the …
The Jewish Bride and The Regents of the Old Mens’ Almshouse To explore some of the conventions of portraiture mentioned in Part I, I have selected two portraits that capture opposing sides of Dutch culture of the time: Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride and Frans Hals, Regents of the Old Mens’ Almshouse. The two ekphrastic poems …
Continue reading “Chapter 9, Section 2 (Painted Ladies, continued)”
Your first view of a Dutch Still Life painting – whether in a museum or in an art book – may have left you a bit puzzled. What at first glance might have appeared to be a lovely, extravagant table setting, a pretty arrangement of flowers, or a tantalising bowl of exotic fruits, upon closer …
Continue reading “Chapter 9, Section 3: The Art of Still Life”
The new sense of prosperity that we find depicted in 17th century still- life painting was not confined to the Dutch table, but to depictions of the houses and streets of towns like Delft and Haarlem. This found its form in a new and poplar genre of painting called the ‘cityscape’, which reflected a collective …
Continue reading “Chapter 9, Section 4: Cityscapes and the Delft School”
Dutch landscape painting, as with the other genres, developed in response to the flourishing Dutch economy and pride in city and country life. Most people lived in the cities (such as Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague), which gave the countryside a particular attractiveness. Popular subjects to paint were meadows with cows, the …
Continue reading “Chapter 9, Section 5: Painting the Dutch Landscape”
Gamers and Revellers Jan Steen, Twelfth Night (1668) . Kassel Old Masters Gallery in …
Continue reading “Chapter 9, Section 6: Down and Dirty with the Dutch”
This brief journey into the fascinating world of ekphrasis will not end here, as there is still much to explore in relationships that we find between poetry and painting. Poets continue to be inspired by the arts, the arts continue to change and develop in interesting ways, and when the two meet, we are often …
William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) William Carlos Williams was an American poet and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism and his innovative poetry (both its form and content) reflected many art movements associated with modernism. His verse departed from the influences of ‘the European academies’ and, instead, experimented with new techniques that did away with metaphor …
Continue reading “William Carlos Williams: Doctor, Poet, Painter”