Equestrienne
There’s something sickly in the scene
The colors gray with hues of green
And lines of red to draw the eye
Away from where the action lies.
She sits, demure, upon the back
Of horse controlled by the flicked whip’s crack
Held cruelly by the circus master
Who, sneering, steps with jutting posture
She and he two cross antagonists
As evidenced by the man’s left fist.
Thinly drawn and rapidly painted
The circus scene is somewhat tainted
As each figures’ idiosyncrasies
Are acerbically rendered by Henri’s
Penchant for verging on caricature.
Exposing the ugly in his characters
Is exhibited by the grotesque faces
Made prominent by the empty space
‘Tween man and woman, who are ignored
By the jaded jays who stand quite bored.
Sporting top hats and wearing frowns,
They watch instead the antics of clowns.
This depiction of the three-ring circus
Is typical of the painter’s fetish
For garish themes – the cabaret,
Parisian nightclubs, a whole array
Of low-brow venues which Henri
Would favor, not out of ennui,
But violent shame – embarrassment:
His child-sized legs, a deformed foot
Drove him away from high society
To seek the rooms of notoriety.
He strips away their trappings of glamour,
Revealing the truth of their chaos and clamor.
No comments:
Post a Comment