Yesterday, I posted the above image (painting by Gustave Courbet), saying Hurricane Sandy brought it to mind. Today, I saw the image below — an uncanny resemblance.
Rocco Douso vs. Hurricane Sandy, 5:30 p.m., October 30, 2012, Bayside, New York. (Photo: Rocco Douso)
After Hurricane Sandy, a swan makes its way down a flooded street in Lindenhurst, New York. (Photo taken on Oct. 30, 2012 by Jason DeCrow/AP)
THE SWAN
Poem by Mary Oliver
Did you too see it, drifting, all night, on the black river?
Did you see it in the morning, rising into the silvery air –
An armful of white blossoms,
A perfect commotion of silk and linen as it leaned
into the bondage of its wings; a snowbank, a bank of lilies,
Biting the air with its black beak?
Did you hear it, fluting and whistling
A shrill dark music – like the rain pelting the trees – like a waterfall
Knifing down the black ledges?
And did you see it, finally, just under the clouds –
A white cross Streaming across the sky, its feet
Like black leaves, its wings Like the stretching light of the river?
And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?
Winds from Hurricane Sandy washed this boat onto the tracks at the Metro-North’s Ossining Station in Ossining, New York. (MTA New York photo via AP)
Many post-Hurrican Sandy sights are surreal — just in time for Halloween. I can imagine the above scene of the boat on the train tracks in a Stephen King book! Maybe one is in the works.
The above photo called to mind the great Surrealist — Belgian painter René Magritte (1898-1967).
Growing up in Chicago, I frequently visited the Art Institute, home of one of Magritte’s most discussed works “Time Transfixed” (included at right) — and was always fascinated by this painting (who wouldn’t be?).
According to Magritte: “I decided to paint the image of a locomotive . . . In order for its mystery to be evoked, [and] another immediately familiar image without mystery—the image of a dining room fireplace—was joined.”
Siding has blown off a house in Scituate, Massachusetts due to high winds from Hurricane Sandy. Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters
“The Artist on the Seashore at Palavas” by Gustave Courbet (1819-1877)
Many of the photographs taken before, during, and after Hurricane Sandy have reminded me of favorite paintings, including the one above by French artist Gustave Courbet.
Morning on Pier 86, New York City, October 30, 2012.
(Photo by Mike G, via New York Times)
A dog looks out from an open window as its companion takes pictures from a car parked near the seawall in Scituate, Massachusetts. Photo by Elise Amendola/AP, Oct. 29, 2012.
East River (New York City) by Edward Hopper (1920)
The calm after Hurricane Sandy in New York City made me think of the above painting by Edward Hopper (1882-1967).
A man watches the rising tide in Battery Park as Hurricane Sandy makes its approach in New York. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters, Oct. 29, 2012)
Today, our thoughts are with the people from Georgia to Maine affected by Hurricane Sandy. There are no words that can adequately express our concern, but we just wanted to thank all the brave souls — rescue workers, firefighters, medical personnel, and others — who have helped (and continue to assist) the weak, sick, infirm, and those in harm’s way.
Of the hundreds of Sandy-related photos I’ve viewed during the past few days, the one featured above by Andrew Kelly of Reuters is my favorite. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that this is one of the best photographs I’ve ever seen — anywhere, anytime.
The photo’s composition is masterful — the top bar of the fence parallel with the horizon line, the man in the foreground facing the Statue of Liberty in the distance, the ripples on the ocean mirrored by the rippled water on the ground, the bench on the right a counterpoint to Liberty Island beyond.
Then there’s the man in blue standing on the left-hand bench looking out to sea like an explorer. I was going to call the color of his pants and jacket “Titian blue,” but this photo is reminiscent of a Edward Hopper painting — and I didn’t want to mix my art-related metaphors.
While I couldn’t find any Hopper paintings of “man on shore facing impending storm,” I did find many of people facing the vast sea, even if they were just sitting on the beach. The man in blue in this photo doesn’t want to stay home. He is a New Yorker and he wants to be where the action is. He wants to meet and greet Sandy, wants to see what she’s all about. And if this whole storm took him by surprise and he’s unprepared, no problem — he’s a New Yorker and will improvise, just give him some Glad Bags and he’ll make himself some rain boots.
This photo speaks volumes more to me, but, for now, I think I’ll just leave it at that.
Photo: “It’s almost eerie that the city that never sleeps is at a standstill” by Kavita Dalal.
Silver Birch Press 