'Because things don’t appear to be the known thing; they aren’t that what they seemed to be neither will they become what they might appear to become.'
Posted by
Martin Cohen and
Tessa den Uyl |
| New Mexico, 1874 |
This peaceful scene (the whole right part looks almost like a romantic painting) of a game of croquet set in the American South, generated considerable media interest, once it was established that one of the men pictured was none other that the notorious outlaw, Billy the Kid. Billy, it should be explained, was considered to be both ruthless and dashing, and had a dramatic end at an early age involving a shoot out with the sherifs.
Juxtaposed, then, as art critics might say, with this quintessentially genteel act, the game of croquet, redolent of English afternoon teas and cucumber sandwiches, we have a powerful perhaps slightly piquant reminder that even a murderer, a desperado, can have another, gentler side. (Even if, as anyone who has actually played croquet knows, the game is actually quite cruel and remorseless, as players wreck the hopes of their opponents by blasting their wooden balls into the shrubbery.)
 |
| Billy himself, looking just a little bit dangerous? |
I did look up a bit about Billy, but isn't the interest in the image just the 'conventional' view of what it means to be an outlaw? In other words, we create our stereoptypes. A picture of Billy thus 'should' show him doing something dangerous, or maybe dashing. Not to say leaningon his croquet stick isn't a 'little bit' dashing too!
ReplyDeleteA crocodile is an interesting coutrer-example, of course Tessa is right, they are the most lovely little things when young, quite cuddly, and of course crocodile Mums must be very attentive.
I did look up a bit about Billy, but isn't the interest in the image just the 'conventional' view of what it means to be an outlaw? In other words, we create our stereoptypes. A picture of Billy thus 'should' show him doing something dangerous, or maybe dashing. Not to say leaningon his croquet stick isn't a 'little bit' dashing too!
ReplyDeleteA crocodile is an interesting coutrer-example, of course Tessa is right, they are the most lovely little things when young, quite cuddly, and of course crocodile Mums must be very attentive.
I did look up a bit about Billy, but isn't the interest in the image just the 'conventional' view of what it means to be an outlaw? In other words, we create our stereoptypes. A picture of Billy thus 'should' show him doing something dangerous, or maybe dashing. Not to say leaningon his croquet stick isn't a 'little bit' dashing too!
ReplyDeleteA crocodile is an interesting coutrer-example, of course Tessa is right, they are the most lovely little things when young, quite cuddly, and of course crocodile Mums must be very attentive.