image by
Herbert Bayer
The lonely metropolitan, 1932
You could have seen here a long time companion of mine: the lonely metropolitan by Herbert Bayer…but now you can´t anymore,
(I first saw the image in the archives of the Folkwang Museum…an original…it was before I even started studying photography)
I was asked by BILDKUNST.DE
to delete the images by
(these were the names spelled out)
Loretta Lux,
Man Ray,
Valie Export,
August Sander
Lotte Reiniger
and every other artist represented by them or to pay a fee for publishing their images.
They represent around 126 000 artists from around the world.
I am working on this blog for my fun,
and for the enjoyment of people interested in photography and art.
There is no income generated whatsoever by this site for me.
Many of the images I use here are floating all over the net,
other images I scanned to upload them to my blog.
To share them, to enrich the world with the work of artists I do admire.
No, my blog is not important.
But it is part of what I would call our common wealth.
I don´t think that I am the source of income losses for the artist,
or anybody else.
Art as part of everyday life,
art easily accessible by everybody without barriers and fees,
art as part of the free flow of thoughts and
communication.
But not in the case of artist represented by Bild-Kunst.
Eyes in the Big City
by Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935)translated by david raphael israelin collaboration with(& thanks to) Indeterminacy
When toward your work you’re wending
in early morn
and in the station standing
with woes forlorn
the City smooth as asphalt
reveals before your gazes
in the funneling of humanity
en masse its million faces
two alien eyes one quick glance
the pupils lids & brow
what was it? maybe
your life’s lone chance
gone forever now!
Throughout your days you’ll amble
a thousand streetshow
many along your ramble
your face forget
an eye it is a’winking
the soul it is a’ringing
you’re reckoning its beckon
merely for a second
two alien eyes
one swift look
the pupils lids & brow
what was it? none
turns back the clock
gone forever now!
You’re obliged along your sojourn
to cities-wander
you see in a pulse-beat’s moment
the unknown other
perhaps it is a foe
maybe it’s a friend
it might amid your woe
be offering a hand
two alien eyes one swift look
the pupils lids & brow
’twas what? a page from
the great human book
gone forever now!
Poem added after Joannas comment.
The translation I found here.
Augen in der Großstadt
Wenn du zur Arbeit gehst
am frühen Morgen,
wenn du am Bahnhof stehst
mit deinen Sorgen:
dann zeigt die Stadt
dir asphaltglatt
im Menschentrichter
Millionen Gesichter:
Zwei fremde Augen,
ein kurzer Blick,
die Braue, Pupillen, die Lider –
Was war das?
Vielleicht dein Lebensglück…
vorbei, verweht, nie wieder.
Du gehst dein Leben lang
auf tausend Straßen;
du siehst auf deinem Gang,
die dich vergaßen.
Ein Auge winkt,
die Seele klingt;
du hast’s gefunden,
nur für Sekunden…
Zwei fremde Augen, ein kurzer Blick,
die Braue, Pupillen, die Lider –
Was war das? Kein Mensch dreht die Zeit zurück…
vorbei, verweht, nie wieder.
Du mußt auf deinem Gang
durch Städte wandern;
siehst einen Pulsschlag lang
den fremden Andern.
Es kann ein Feind sein,
es kann ein Freund sein,
es kann im Kampfe dein
Genosse sein.
Es sieht hinüber
und zieht vorüber…
Zwei fremde Augen, ein kurzer Blick,
die Braue, Pupillen, die Lider –
Was war das? Von der großen Menschheit ein Stück!
Vorbei, verweht, nie wieder.
Comments
The picture of the two hands with the eyes placed on top, for college work we have to explain what it might be interpreting. And was trying to find out what this picture actually meant before trying to explain how it is. If you could come back with an answer would be much appreciated.
danielle 🙂
Dear Danielle,
what do you feel looking at this photograph?
Observe your feelings,
and relate them to yourself and and the image.
Look at the images, I have posted before and after.
Imagine the hands are your hands.?Imagine lifting your hands as if they would be the hands in the photograph.?What do you experience?
Those eyes could be your eyes. You are looking at yourself.
Who is livng behind all those windows.
Who is living behind your eyes.
Have you ever felt lonely in a crowd?
Have you ever felt lonely in a place far from home?
I read Juahni pallasmaa’s The Eyes of the Skin as well as The Thinking Hand and am describing this image for a paper I’m writing for my urbanism class. Herbert Bayer is not a part of my curriculum and Juhanni Pallasmaa is not specifically a part of my curriculum, I just have an interest in connecting the sense of touch and the body back to architecture, urbanism and society.
Hey Pamela,
thanks for your reading suggestions….
I don´t know those books, but they do sound interesting.