When
Margo Roby asked us to write a poem about an idyllic place, it didn’t take me
long to come up with an idea. I clearly
pictured a place that was very special to me.
I ‘painted’ a short idyll, and wanted to complete it with a photograph,
but realized it would take me forever to find it hidden somewhere in the house
in the depths of a still unpacked box.
In my mind I saw a dirt road, more of a narrow pathway really, cutting
through fields of yellow rye. The road
led to a dark stretch of forest. And
then there was the sky. The enormous
semispherical sky, overpowering, and consuming everything else. As I traveled that idyllic place of mine, I
was reminded of other, very similar, places, that my mind kept safe for me without
my realizing it. Pine forests, dirt
roads, rolling waves of rye fields, the endless skies…lovingly and painstakingly
painted. I remembered the works of an
artist. In the blessed days of the all
knowing ignorance of youth I proclaimed that I did not like his art. Now I owe him my allegiance.
Ivan
Ivanovich Shishkin
(January
25th 1832 – March 20th 1898)
In
Russia every child with a sweet tooth is familiar with Shishkin. ‘Club-footed Bear Cub’ is delicious chocolate
candy, one of all time favorites.
The picture on the wrapper is a reproduction of Shishkin’s
‘Morning In The
Pine-Tree Forest.’
1889
That’s my first
association with Shishkin – candy. The
next is photography. It is not
surprising that my thought took me from a photograph to Shishkin’s
paintings. They do possess an impressive
photographic quality. That was the
precise reason for my earlier ‘dislike.’
Although I’m still drawn to other styles, I’m a lot less arrogant now. My more mature, older self does like
Shishkin. I walk through his paintings,
breathing them in. I marvel at their
incredible detail, and I see big things I never noticed before. Now that I’m so far away from the subject of
his work, I appreciate both – the subject and the work – so much more.
So,
I chose one of Shishkin’s paintings, placed my poem-idyll below the image, and
posted.
'Noon. Outskirts of Moscow.'
1869
A pathway in the rye,
A forest in the distance,
Above - the endless sky.
My idyll of existence.
I was surprised and touched by
the resonance that short post received.
People loved the painting. (My
humble caption got some favorable comments, too.) A little while later I was in for another
surprise, when Margo Roby, in the spirit of her newly found love for Shishkin,
picked his painting as one of the visual prompts for her Tuesday Tryouts.
'Forest Reserve. Pine Grove.'
1881
And again, his work moved people, and
inspired wonderful poetry. It really
means a lot to me – to have an opportunity to share a little bit of Russia with
you all. To pass on my love for
Russia. If you want a glimpse of, or a
good look at, the truly Russian landscape, go to Shishkin, you won’t be
disappointed. With a name like that he
must know a thing or two about Russian forests!
(‘Ivan’ is historically a traditional Russian name, and ‘shishka’ means ‘a
pine cone’ in Russian!)
Live for the
Love of it,
The
Happy Amateur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Shishkin
http://www.thehappyamateur.com/2012/01/pathway-in-rye.html
http://www.thehappyamateur.com/2012/01/pine-grove.html
http://margoroby.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/idyll-thoughts-tuesday-tryouts/
http://margoroby.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/into-place-tuesday-tryouts/
