[484] Hunters in the Snow

The third poem in this week's theme:

The over-all picture is winter
icy mountains
in the background the return
from the hunt it is toward evening
from the left
sturdy hunters lead in
their pack the inn-sign
hanging from a
broken hinge is a stag a crucifix
between his antlers the cold
inn yard is
deserted but for a huge bonfire
that flares wind-driven tended by
women who cluster
about it to the right beyond
the hill is a pattern of skaters
Brueghel the painter
concerned with it all has chosen
a winter-struck bush for his
foreground to
complete the picture

	-- William Carlos Williams

What I find most interesting about William Carlos Williams' take on Brueghel's
'Hunters in the Snow' is that unlike the other poets we've featured, Williams
talks, not about the scene shown in the painting, but about the painting itself.
There's an extra level of indirection here which is subtle but (I think) quite
important - especially given the context of Williams' work and the Imagist
movement.

The poem itself is simple and direct, a perfect example of Williams' inimitable
minimalism. It also stays true to the Imagist mantra "Show, don't tell"; the
difference, though, is that what's being shown is not a scene, but an image of
one. In that, it reminds me irresistibly of another painting I once saw - I
don't remember the name, but I'm pretty sure it was by Matisse; could some kind
soul on this mailing list illuminate me? - of a painting, which in turn showed
the view out of a window, and was placed directly in front of that window.
Strange loops, self-reference, wheels within wheels... Lovely.

thomas.

From: Daniel Percival <danielp@>

Hi!

>The poem itself is simple and direct, a perfect example of Williams' 
>inimitable
>minimalism. It also stays true to the Imagist mantra "Show, don't tell"; the
>difference, though, is that what's being shown is not a scene, but an image of
>one. In that, it reminds me irresistibly of another painting I once saw - I
>don't remember the name, but I'm pretty sure it was by Matisse; could some 
>kind
>soul on this mailing list illuminate me? - of a painting, which in turn showed
>the view out of a window, and was placed directly in front of that window.
>Strange loops, self-reference, wheels within wheels... Lovely.

The artist you're looking for is Rene Magritte--happily for me, I just saw 
a show of his work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  Magritte was 
deeply concerned with the distinction between a painting and its subject, 
probably most famously expressed in "La trahison des images," ("The 
treachery of images"), in which a realistic illustration of a pipe is 
captioned with the phrase "Leci n'est pas une pipe." (This is not a 
pipe.)  There's a web site with a searchable catalog of 300 of his 
paintings at http://www.magritte.com.  Several of his paintings treat the 
theme of a painting of a window placed in front of the window.  Just go to 
that site, follow the "Museum" link, then pick "window" from the theme menu 
of the search area on the left.  In the first two pages of results, 
paintings like the one you describe are "The Human Condition" (two 
versions) and "Where Euclide Walked."

Although some of Magritte's work can be a little bit obscure, he is one of 
my favorite artists and my favorite surrealist.  I appreciate the way he 
used images of the familiar in unfamiliar contexts, both to express his 
point about the nature of art and to evoke emotions--sadness, alienation, 
and a foundation of humor.  I'd say looking at a Magritte is not unlike 
reading good poetry.

Dan Percival
dperciva@