Quotes for the Moment

First, let me wish you all a Happy Labor Day and as so many will say today, I cannot believe the summer is over. Now we have to again face reality.

I know this is an art blog, but it is also a platform where I can communicate with so many more people than I ever could speak with in person. I can think of few issues that are more important than what is happening in this country today. So, every once in a while, my writings will veer toward the political. For this Missive I have sought out images that for me complement favorite quotations that I have collected over the years.

Let’s start with none other than Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) who is quoted as saying “A Leader is a dealer in hope”. The idealized vision of Napoleon Crossing the Alps commissioned by Charles IV of Spain, from Jacques Louis David, now in the Napoleon Museum, Malmaison. It has been called propaganda. What do you expect in an election year? We learned from the recent Democratic Convention that one candidate is offering us hope at this time.

In this drawing by Honoré Daumier (1808-1879) called “The Accusation” from the Morgan Library let’s say the indignant Judge is yelling at the defendant. I could imagine him then quoting German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) “I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”

On the long-running series “Shark Tank, investor Rohan Oza said, “If you are not willing to break through the wall you are bound to end up behind it” We heard at the Democratic Convention the cry “We are not going back”. Both remind me of the surrealist painter, René Magritte’s, “False Mirror” (1928) in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. There have been varying interpretations of this work as there are meant to be for Surrealism. One is the eye is not just a window to the soul, but shapes reality according to our subjective experiences. For me, it is seeing beyond ourselves.

Looking way back the Greek Philosopher Plato (ca. 427 – 348 BC) said, “Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools speak because they have to say something.” Looking not quite so far back the painter Quentin Masssys (1509-1575) created this masterpiece now in the Phoebus Foundation in Antwerp. Its title, “The world feeds many fools,” was a popular Netherlandish saying.

In the 2005 film “The Interpreter”, Nicole Kidman has a wonderful line, “Vengeance is a lazy form of grief”. The works of art I could find were all about vengeance and not its insecurities, but I think a flag flown by some at the January 6th insurrection says it all, but no one has taken credit for being its creator.

One last quote, "When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." Is attributed to the writer Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951)

In 1935 as the Nazi’s were gathering momentum, Lewis published a novel, “It Can’t Happen Here” which foresaw the U.S. past president. This image was posted on Facebook by a retired schoolteacher from the Southeast. Though she probably would not mind, in this climate I am not identifying her further.