Monday 21 November 2011

over the sea to Skyros



 Euterpe Parry-Hughes, Swansea shipowner, despairingly closes the slim volume of her dilettante husband Dylan's latest poetry, "from which", as posterity has drily noted, "the dust is seldom blown". She gazes across the Bay to the Mumbles, and considers shipping him out on one of her Chile-bound guano schooners, and having him dropped off on Juan Fernandez as they go. "Maybe he'll find his muse there," she thinks. "Or a goat. Wotevs."

One Alberto Granados is trying to find out more about this painting. Any clues, or further interpretations, more than welcome!

7 comments:

  1. "Aware that her taste in clothing was a little dated, Andrea gazed wistfully through the window, unable to go out en femme."

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  2. "What a pity those messy ships have to spoil my view every morning"

    or
    "Could someone do something about the light?"

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  3. I recognise this, having dutifully collected the IKEA catalogue since 1882. This one's from the 1891 (Summer) edition, the first to feature full-colour oil-painted illustrations rather than monochrome daguerrotypes. Although the lady is of no great significance, she happens to have been named Liv Borg and she worked as a model for said homewares purveyor in order to raise - alone - her family of eight. This image is from the 'Drawing room' section and showcases the 'Bickenback' foldaway reclining chair as well as the 'Wicca' dining chair, the 'Chukit' crocheted throw, and the 'Smog' rug. In a puddle on the dirt street outside, we see the 'Skuna' toy ship, complete with with miniature tender, that is also featured in the 'Bairnware' section where one can see it being nudged around the 'Klang' bathtub of water by Liv's own youngest, Bjorn. In an interesting aside, during many hours of sitting for this picture, Liv was inspired by the dining chair seat construction to invent the tennis racquet, trialling it first on little Bjorn who quite took to the tedious bat-and-ball game that developed therefrom and handed down his prowess to later generations of Borgs. I would be happy to lend Alberto the catalogue so as to assuage his rather touching obsession.

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