When Words Fail — Bombus Press

When words fail: An Art 'Playlist'

In the mid-1870's, Vincent van Gogh worked as a clerk for Goupil & Cie, an art dealership with branches in various European cities. In his later career as a painter, he would take his experience of sorting through thousands of images as the backbone for his investigations with brush and canvas. As an Art History major, one of the foundations of study is learning from the established canon of works, while also being able to locate them within their historical contexts. Yet this is not a unique experience, as anyone who spends any time on the internet will be familiar with the deluge of content that can be had at one's fingertips. This collection of nine pieces, spanning the mediums of painting to installation, acts as a companion to our musical playlist. So, when words fail...

Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Untitled, (1991)

Doris Salcedo, A Flor de Piel (2011-12)

Claude Cahun, Self Portrait (1927)

Edgar Degas, Heads of a Woman and a Man, (1877-80)

David Hockney, Domestic Scene, Los Angeles (1963)

Xu Bing, A Book from the Sky, (1987-91)

Lin Tianmiao, The Proliferation of Thread Winding (1995)

John Singer Sargent, Six Studies for “Gassed” (1918-19)

James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Blue and Silver - Chelsea (1871)

MARILYN SCHOTLAND is a poet from Philadelphia currently studying for a BA in History of Art at the University of Michigan. She is the recipient of a Hopwood Award, and a nominee for Bettering American Poetry. Recent and forthcoming publications can be found in Cotton Xenomorph, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Occulum, and Five:2:One.