User:Toby Decker
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''Saint-Séverin No. 3'', now housed in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, marks a time for Delaunay that he described himself as "a period of transition from Cézanne to Cubism." This is apparent in the heavily emphasized geometry of the piece. According to the Guggenheim's website, "Robert Delaunay chose the view into the ambulatory of the Parisian Gothic church Saint-Séverin...in which he charted the modulations of light streaming through the stained-glass windows and the resulting perceptual distortion of the architecture." Although colors play an important part in distinguishing the lines and shapes expressed in the painting, readers of ''The Dial'' would not have had the opportunity to reference the nuance added to the painting's patina by the varying shades of brown, red, blue and green. Because ''The Dial'' was printed in black and white, the reader would have been delivered into the world of Delaunay's piece from a distorted perspective of distortion--though this is somewhat unfortunate, it seems fitting, especially considering that Eliot's ''Waste Land'' included layers of content about such themes as decay and disenchantment. | ''Saint-Séverin No. 3'', now housed in the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, marks a time for Delaunay that he described himself as "a period of transition from Cézanne to Cubism." This is apparent in the heavily emphasized geometry of the piece. According to the Guggenheim's website, "Robert Delaunay chose the view into the ambulatory of the Parisian Gothic church Saint-Séverin...in which he charted the modulations of light streaming through the stained-glass windows and the resulting perceptual distortion of the architecture." Although colors play an important part in distinguishing the lines and shapes expressed in the painting, readers of ''The Dial'' would not have had the opportunity to reference the nuance added to the painting's patina by the varying shades of brown, red, blue and green. Because ''The Dial'' was printed in black and white, the reader would have been delivered into the world of Delaunay's piece from a distorted perspective of distortion--though this is somewhat unfortunate, it seems fitting, especially considering that Eliot's ''Waste Land'' included layers of content about such themes as decay and disenchantment. | ||
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| + | It is significant that the scene depicted in Delaunay's painting is comprised completely of stone. The view leads through the church's ambulatory, complete with carved columns and vaulted ceilings; the monotony of the subject medium complements The Waste Land's repeated return to inorganicism: | ||
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| + | <blockquote> | ||
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| + | What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow | ||
| + | Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, | ||
| + | You cannot say, or guess, for you know only | ||
| + | A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, | ||
| + | And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, | ||
| + | And the dry stone no sound of water. Only | ||
| + | There is shadow under this red rock, | ||
| + | (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), | ||
| + | And I will show you something different from either | ||
| + | Your shadow at morning striding behind you | ||
| + | Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; | ||
| + | I will show you fear in a handful of dust. | ||
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| + | </blockquote> | ||
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