#Eugene Mirabelli

[museenkuss]

Thomas Eakins: Naked series. Female with dark mask, poses 7,4,5 (ca.1883). Composite albumen print, 8.73125 x 9.525 cm. photos via Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts

"Women who were accustomed to disrobe for a painter prudently hesitated to pose in the same way for the painter's camera. Indeed, a couple of the most haunting early photographs of the unclothed figure are those taken by the painter Thomas Eakins of women in his studio, elegant and enigmatic figures who stand at ease with their faces turned resolutely from us, save for one in a black mask and another in a white blindfold."

Mirabelli, Eugene: "Looking and Not Looking: Pornographic and Nude Photography", in: Grand Street (Autumn, 1985), pp. 197-215.

Thomas Eakins: Naked Series. Brooklyn No. 1, Masked Girl (1881-1884). Albumen silver prints, 8 x 20.7cm

"Finding models willing to pose nude for art classes was a perennial problem for Eakins. At the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia art school where he taught and served as director from 1882 to 1886, the artist often recruited his students---both male and female---as models. As Eakins's utter frankness in dealing with unclothed figures raised eyebrows from all quarters, many female models chose to wear black masks to hide their identity. Eventually complaints from students who claimed they had been coerced to pose naked contributed to Eakins's forced resignation from the Academy in 1886."

Text and photos via Philadelphia Museum of Art

[literarykids]

Renato!

Renato! by Eugene Mirabelli, McPherson & Company, $20, 577 pages. “The gods are immortal and we are not, and no, we are not free to live like gods. We die. We don’t want to be dispersed or dissolved into the void, we don’t want to lose each other.” Appearing in the waning pages of Eugene Mirabelli’s masterful multi-generational literary opera, Renato! these musings on the meaning of mortality…

[chuck-writes-things]

Stumbled across this story while researching sci/fi fantasy mags for submissions, and I really enjoyed it. (And by enjoyed it I mean I got so into it my husband was asking me about stuff and I couldn't actually respond to him because I needed to keep reading; when I was finished I sighed a deep breath and worried that I'll never be paid for my words because damn that was such a well-made little short story.) Go read it. Do it now. Especially if you like linguistics.