force embodied in the light at the window is actually capable
of breathing fresh, 'grace-filled' life into Canova's recumbent
figure below.
Christopher takes a spiritually infused humanistic approach
to this photograph. Lifson takes an art-historical approach
based on the interaction of forms. Both acknowledge that a
relationship exists between the two highly lit areas of the image,
but how are we to determine precisely what that relationship is?
I don't think that
the
question
is resolved by
knowing
that
Mapplethorpe
placed
this
photograph above
him as he was
dying, for during
the same period
the artist also
photographed
himself as a living
memento mori,
his ghostly face reflecting the skull carved onto the head of
his cane. What seems clear is that Mapplethorpe embraced
the juxtaposition of these two forms – the harsh, modern,
right-angle glare of the window above and the soft, supple
curves and folds of the figure below – and that by including
the square he was complicating the image in aesthetic terms.
Thomas Barbey, from left clockwise: Shortcut to China (1939-2001), Sowing
the Seeds of Love (2004), Isaac Newton's Puzzling Dream (2000-2001)
HYLAND
