freewheelin-on-line take 7 |
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freewheelin 205 September 2002 |
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The
French painter Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) was shackled with an
obsessive love for his wife. Consequently, she appears in a lot of his
paintings – indeed if you look closely you can see her head, bathed
in blue, in the bottom right hand corner of this cover which is taken
from a painting by Bonnard. The purpose of the blue above her head is
that it matches the blue of the sky and thus it places her close to
heaven. The
painting is however called ‘The Open Window’ so Pierre, being the
jealous kind, wants to draw the viewer away from gloating at his wife
towards what is going on outside his lounge in the South of France. Outside the window in my picture, I have Dylan, looking like a deranged gardener with a guitar, walking towards Bonnard’s wife with intent. Pierre won’t be too pleased about that but there is a joint obsession on display here: ours with Dylan and Bonnard’s with his wife. The difference is that our obsession cannot be as intense as Bonnard’s. Of course it can’t. Can it? But hold on a minute, Dylan isn’t looking at Pierre’s wife at all – he is looking straight at us. As Alfred Hitchcock might say: ‘It’s a take!’. |
Theo Casamegas |
