21 July 2008
n is for nude
There's been a bit of slippage in the self-imposed rules of the object photography, and I fear I've fallen foul of Marcuse's critique of identifying the thing with its function:
'The "thing identified with its function" is more real than the thing distinguished from its function, and the linguistic expression of this identification (in the functional noun, and in the many forms of syntactical abridgement) creates a basic vocabulary and syntax which stand in the way of differentiation,separation, and distinction. This language, which constantly imposes images, militates against the development and expression of concepts. In its immediacy and directness, it impedes conceptual thinking; thus, it impedes thinking. For the concept does not identify the thing and its function.' - Marcuse, One Dimensional Man
Ono! I've managed to impede thinking. Again.
Anyway, this is a postcard of a nude woman reading a book. It manages to combine two of my representational interests, namely women reading and early pornography. She also has a lovely posterior. I bought the picture in Greenwich market. The gentleman who sold it to me told me that lots of people like to put old pictures of naked women in their toilets. I don't know how he knew that, and I don't know what the link between naked women and toilets is. Perhaps they are comforting in small, animally spaces.
