Journal of a Nobody
The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space. ~Italo Calvino
Commonplace book of a teacher, poet, and counselor.
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André Kertész, Study of People and Shadows, 1928
From the Getty Museum:
Made from the stairwell of Andre Kertész’s apartment at 5 rue de Vanves, Paris, this bird’s-eye view of people and pets casting long shadows on the sidewalk is a spontaneous still-life composition. The arrangement of figures is haphazard, yet the bright ground and clean outlines in the upper right balance the weight of shadows and dark figures in the left corner. Each human figure wears a hat: some blend in with the clothing, others appear like dots on the ground. The shadow of the dog’s body in profile and its curled tail presents a more animated view of the animal than does its actual body, which is seen on the right.
