“…water is the element in which the primal mysteries of all life dwell. Birth and death, past, present, and future intertwine their dances there.”
“The springs, the lakes, and the marshy lowlands…belong…to female spirits.”
― Walter F. Otto, Dionysus Myth and Cult
This folio of 11 photomontages, using found images, is from 2017.
1. Sophia at a Pool
2. Women at a Pool No. 1
3. Girl with Doll at a Pool
4. Dancers at a Flooded Vault
5. Woman with Child at a Well
6. Sophia with a Dragonfly
7. Sophia over a Pool
8. Women at a Pool No. 2
9. Woman Over a Pool
10. Woman with Frond & Jug at a Pool
11. Sophia Mirrored in a Pool
No. 1 “Sophia at a Pool”
Woman: from Anon., “Robe de Tulle, Brodée en Lames. Coeffure à la Paysanne en Perles”, (fashion plate, publisher J.P. Lemaire), 1808. Shrub with Bird: from Jacques Callot, “Nightingale in a Bush:”, etching, 1621 – 1635. Background: from Elias Stark, “Landscape with Pond”, etching, 1891.
No. 2 “Women at a Pool”
Woman in foreground: from Charles Shepherd, “Nautch – girl”, India, Albumen silver print, 1862. Women in background: from Andrea Mantegna (school of), “Four Dancing Women”, engraving, 1497 – 1550. Background: from Andreas Schelfhout, “Woodland Scene with Pond”, etching, 1852.
[Woman in foreground digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]
No. 3 “Girl with Doll at a Pool”
Girl with Doll: from photograph by the artist. Pig: from photograph by the artist. Background: from Anon., “Pond with two herons”, after Julius Jacobus van de Sande Bakhuyzen, drypoint / etching, 1850 – 1875.
No. 4 “Dancers at a Flooded Vault”
Dancers: from H. Johnston “The Bayadères”, drawing; (Robert Jacob Hamerton, lithograph, London, 1838). Water and sky: from Peter Henry Emerson, “Sunrise at Sea”, Photogravure, London, 1887. Site with vault: from Anon., “Casa detta di Castore e Polluce, Pompeii”, albumen print, publisher Fratelli Alinari, c1880 – c1895.
[Water and sky digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]
No. 5 “Woman with Child at a Well”
Woman and Child: from Lékégian, G., “Woman with vase and small child”, Albumen print from glass negative, 1890. Well: from Dreanna L. Belden, “Stone well by a tree in an unidentified town in Texas”, date unknown. Swallows: from Wenceslaus Hollar (possibly), “Herons and swallows”, Etching, 1654 – 1750. Background: from Gustave Le Gray, “Curtain of Trees” (Forest of Fontainebleau), Salted paper print from a paper negative, c1849.
[Background and Woman with Child digital images courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]
No. 6 “Sophia with a Dragonfly”
Woman: from J. Pascal Sébah, “Type de Femme Fellah”, Albumen print from glass negative, 1870 – 1880. Boat: from Newman, E. M., “The Osberg ship, Viking relic, 8th century”, 1860 – 1920. Dragonfly: from Johannes Bronkhorst, “Three Dragonflies and Five Smaller Insects”, ink on paper, 1685 – 1727. Water: from photograph by the artist, Rushcutter’s Bay Sydney, 2017. Background: from Ermete Pierotti, “View of the Pool of Bethesda”, lithograph, 1864.
[Digital image of woman courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]
No. 7 “Sophia over a Pool”
Women: from Emile Béchard, “Arab ladies going to the baths, Egypt”, albumen print from glass negative, 1870 – 1879. Butterfly wings: from Jan van Kessel, “Insects, Butterflies, and a Dragonfly”, black chalk, watercolour and gouache on parchment, c17. Background: from Félix Bonfils, “Palestine: Mer Morte (Dead Sea)”, tinted albumen silver print, 1877.
[Digital image of women and background courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]
No. 8 “Women at a Pool”
Women: from Emile Béchard, “Arab ladies going to the baths, Egypt”, albumen print from glass negative, 1870 – 1879. Background: from Roelant Roghman, “Deer in the Hague Forest”, etching, 1637 – 1652.
[Digital image of women courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]
No. 9 “Woman over a Pool”
Woman: from Emile Béchard, “Arab ladies going to the baths, Egypt”, albumen print from glass negative, 1870 – 1879. Dragonfly wings: from Jan van Kessel, “Insects, Butterflies, and a Dragonfly”, black chalk, watercolour and gouache on parchment, c17. Background: from Félix Bonfils, “Pool of Hezekiah from the w(est?), Jerusalem”, albumen print, 1860?.
[Digital image of woman courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]
No. 10 “Woman with Frond and Jug at a Pool”
Woman: from Anon, “Woman with plant and vase”, albumen print from glass negative, 1870 – 1879. Water: from photograph by the artist, Rushcutter’s Bay, Sydney. Background: from Auguste Salzmann, “Jérusalem, Église de Sainte-Marie-Madeleine”, Salted paper print from paper negative, 1854.
[Digital image of woman courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]
No. 11 “Sophia Mirrored in a Pool”
Woman: from J. Pascal Sébah, “Type de Femme Fellah”, Albumen print from glass negative, 1870 – 1880. Water: from photograph by the artist, Rushcutter’s Bay Sydney, 2017. Background: from Félix Bonfils, “Tombeau des Rois, cour intérieure, Jérusalem”, Albumen print, 1867 – 1870.
[Background digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.]