Burnt Umber Research Articles

“Playing” with Color: How Similar Is the “Geometry” of Color Harmony in the CIELAB Color Space across Countries?

In physical environments and cultural landscapes, we most often deal not with separate colors, but with color combinations. When choosing a color, we usually try to “fit” it into a preexisting color context, making the new color combination harmonious. Yet are the “laws” of color harmony fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural products that vary from country to country? To answer these questions we conducted an experiment with 599 participants aged 18 to 76 from eight different countries, including Algeria (MA = 26.2 years; SD = 8.8; 49 men, 26 women), Belarus (MA = 19.8 years; SD = 9.1; 19 men, 63 women), Italy (MA = 29.0 years; SD = 12.8; 23 men, 67 women), Mexico (MA = 20.0 years; SD = 7.0; 34 men, 23 women), Nigeria (MA = 34.7 years; SD = 10.5; 29 men, 32 women), Russia (MA = 24.6 years; SD = 6.3; 17 men, 72 women), Saudi Arabia (MA = 24.5 years; SD = 8.6; 28 men, 38 women), and Chile (MA = 34.3 years; SD = 15.1; 35 men, 43 women). To create experimental stimuli, we used 10 color combinations composed by the Russian avant-garde artist Mikhail Matyushin and his disciples for the Reference Book of Color (1932) based on shades that were typical in architectural design—yellow ochre, light umber, light ochre, and burnt umber. We removed the “intermediary” linking color from each of the selected color triads and asked participants to adjust the color of this band according to their liking. Mapping 2995 color choices into CIELAB and CIELCh color space to identify their chromatic characteristics (hue, lightness, and chroma), we demonstrate graphically that color triads in different cultures have a different “geometry” in CIELAB color space and on the color circle. We conclude that the revealed patterns of these relationships reflect cross-cultural “shifts” in human perception of color harmony. The analysis presented in this paper will facilitate opportunities for architects, designers, and other color professionals to create culturally specific harmonic color combinations in urban environments.

Leopoldstadt

Leopoldstadt

The homeschooling timetable blanket

The homeschooling timetable blanket is a visualization of the 8 weeks that I spent supporting my 13-year-old son with home learning during January and February 2021. Each multi-colored crochet “granny” square represents 1 day of schooling. The red squares are weekend days, and the lime green ones are half-term holidays. Each treble crochet row within the multi-colored squares represents a 1 h lesson and is color coded per subject, e.g., red for science, yellow for history, burnt umber for PE, and so on.

The influence of mould fungus on pigments used in wall and ceiling décor on the example of the wooden church of Saint George in Ostropa

The influence of mould fungus on pigments used in wall and ceiling décor on the example of the wooden church of Saint George in Ostropa. This research aimed to establish the change in colour of selected pigments used in polychrome due to the effects of Aspergillus niger. The research was conducted on the following pigments: cremnitz white, zinc white, vermilion, colcothar, chrome green, artificial ultramarine, burnt umber, carbon black, smalt, minium, azurite, Prussian blue and chalk. Measurements were taken using a colorimeter in the CIELAB colour space. The biggest change in colour was exhibited by artificial ultramarine, while the most stable in colour turned out to be minium. The smallest change in colour of dried samples was shown by burnt umber, while the biggest change was noted again for artificial ultramarine.

Investigation of the Optical, Physical, and Chemical Interactions between Diammonium Hydrogen Phosphate (DAP) and Pigments

This research investigates and evaluates the optical, physical, and chemical interactions between diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAP) and seven pigments commonly encountered in archaeological and historic fresco and secco wall paintings and polychrome monuments. The pigments include cinnabar, French ochre, chalk, lapis lazuli, raw sienna, burnt umber, and red lead. The raw pigments were analyzed before and after the interaction with DAP, and the reaction products resulting from the contact of the pigments with the DAP solution were evaluated to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the effects of diammonium hydrogen phosphate on the color, morphology, and chemical composition of the pigments. The results indicated no significant change of the color or of the chemistry of cinnabar, French ochre, and lapis lazuli. Carbonate-containing pigments, such as chalk and calcium carbonate, were transformed into calcium phosphate, though without a significant change in color. Phase and strong color changes occurred only for the red lead pigment, associated with the transformation of red lead into hydroxypyromorphite. These data established the parameters and identified the risks of the direct application of DAP solutions on pigments. Further research will be undertaken to assess the potential use of DAP as a consolidant of wall paintings and other polychrome surfaces through testing on wall painting/polychromy mockups and on-site archaeological/historic painted surfaces.

Village from Muscel by Ion Marinescu Valsan State of Conservation and the Chromatic Palette

Ion Marinescu V�lsan (1865 - 1936) was a Romanian painter belonging to the modern Romanian art from the beginning of the 20th century. Many of the paintings painted by him have picturesque landscapes in his native town, Malureni, Arges County. He was influencedby Nicolae Grigorescu. Village from Muscel painting, by Ion Marinescu V�lsan, was examined by several non-invasive techniques (Vis, UV &grazing light examination, IR reflectography, optical microscopy and X-rays fluorescence spectrometry) to obtain information on its chromatic palette and state of conservation. Zinc white, Lead white, Prussian blue, Cinnabar, Chrome yellow, Yellow ochre, Red ochre, Viridian and Burnt umber were used as the pigments, while the preparation layer is from Chalk, Zinc white, Lead white, identified by XRF analysis.

Pre-treating dentin with chlorhexadine and CPP-ACP: self-etching and universal adhesive systems

Objective: The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of pre-treating dentin with chlorhexidine, at concentrations of 0.2% and 2%, and remineralizing paste containing CPP-ACP (MI Paste – GC) on the bond strength of adhesive systems.Material and methods: In total, 80 slides of dentin were used. These slides were 2 mm thick and were obtained from bovine incisors. Standard cavities were created using diamond bur number 3131. In the control groups, a Scotchbond Universal Adhesive (SUA) self-etching adhesive system of 3M ESPE and a Clearfil SE Bond (CSE) adhesive system of Kuraray were applied, following the manufacturer’s instructions. In the other groups, dentin was pretreated with chlorhexidine (0.2% and 2%) for 1 min and with MI Paste for 3 min. The cavities were restored with Z350 XT resin (3M ESPE). After 24 h of storage, the push-out test was applied at a speed of 0.5 mm/min.Results: The different dentin pretreatment techniques did not affect the intra-adhesive bond strength. There was a difference between treatment with MI Paste and chlorhexidine 0.2% in favor of the SUA, with values of 15.22 and 20.25 Mpa, respectively.Conclusions: The different pretreatment methods did not alter the immediate bond strength to dentin. Differences were only recorded when comparing the adhesives.

Study of the chemical composition and the mechanical behaviour of 20th century commercial artists' oil paints containing manganese-based pigments

The present study deals with 20th century manufactured artists' oil paints containing raw and burnt umber pigments, this is, natural earth pigments resulting from the combination of iron and manganese oxides. Manganese, in particular, is known to be a primary drier and to have a siccative effect on oil paint films.This research aims to show the diversity of formulations behind apparently same commercial names as well as to understand how the content of manganese, the presence of modern lipidic media and the hydrolysis mechanisms can promote significant differences in the expected mechanical properties of oil paint films, thus conditioning their long-term performance.Several manufactured artists' oil paint films containing manganese were selected. Dried films from raw and burnt umber oil paints by Winsor&Newton® (UK), Grumbacher® (USA), Gamblin® (USA) and Speedball® (USA) were studied and information about their chemical composition and mechanical behaviour is here presented. In addition to the identification and the study of the inorganic and organic components present in each formulation through LM, SEM-EDX, FTIR-ATR, XRD, GC-MS analysis, tensile tests were run and stress–strain curves were obtained. Together with evident hue differences, the obtained results showed significant differences in the chemical composition and the mechanical behaviour of the oil paint films.

Effect of nicosulfuron on plant traits of Xanthium strumarium

Field experiments were conducted in 2008 and 2009 at the Experimental Field Institute Padinska Skela PKB Agroe-konomik, near Belgrade, to quantify effects of nicosulfuron on plant traits (vegetative production and fecundity) of Xanthium strumarium. Plants of X. strumarium were grown in monoculture on plots of 5 × 4.2 m. Inter-row spacing was 24 cm and the distance between the rows was 70 cm. Plants were treated with nicosulfuron when they developed two pairs of leaves. The applied rates of nicosulfuron were 20, 40 and 80 g a.i. ha−1 and one control treatment (without herbicide application) was included. Vegetative parameters (height, fresh weight, leaf area and leaf area index (LAI)) were recorded just before herbicide application and four times after the herbicide treatment. Measurements were made at intervals of about two weeks. At maturity, fecundity of weeds (bur weight plant−1 and bur number plant−1) was measured. In both years, the application of nicosulfuron caused less growth (height, fresh weight and LAI) of X. stru-marium in comparison with the control. All rates of nicosul-furon reduced vegetative parameters, which decreased as rates of nicosulfuron increased. On the other hand, effects of nicosulfuron on bur production were not equivalent to its effects on vegetative parameters. Only the highest rate of nicosulfuron reduced bur production significantly.

Photochemical degradation study of polyvinyl acetate paints used in artworks by Py–GC/MS

Photochemical degradation of commercial polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) homopolymer and PVAc paints mixed with burnt umber, cobalt blue, cadmium red dark, nickel azo yellow and titanium white commonly used for artworks were studied by pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py–GC/MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR). Py–GC/MS with single-shot technique was used for the characterization of the thermal degradation of PVAc at different temperatures, while the double-shot technique of Py–GC/MS was used to reveal the differences in the specimens before and after UV ageing, including the changes of detectable amounts of deacetylation product – acetic acid and plasticizers such as diethyl phthalate (DEP). Furthermore, the relative concentration of the pyrolysis products of the paint samples could be measured and compared in the second step of the double-shot Py–GC/MS, which are highly dependent on the presence of pigments and the ageing status of PVAc paints.

Burnt Umber

Burnt Umber Leonore Hildebrandt (bio) A man has come down the embankment. He enters the house, heaves himself up the stairs as if drunk. In the morning he wakes on a wooden bench, the room full of stagnant hours. Instead of a bride, he finds an infant here, a girl asleep, and knows––washing up, both hands scooping cold water over his head, the short curls dripping like a dog’s pelt––that she will marry a soldier, no matter what she thinks. In this town, they all marry soldiers. Then he leaves the way he came, leaves everything as he found it: the sleeping girl, the wooden bench, the squat machinery brooding on the embankment, in this town where they bait the rats with birds. [End Page 68] Leonore Hildebrandt Leonore Hildebrandt has published poetry and translations in the Beloit Poetry Journal, Cerise Press, the Denver Quarterly, and the Quercus Review, among other journals. Her letterpress chapbook, The Work at Hand (2011) is available through Flat Bay Press, and a first book of poems, The Next Unknown, is forthcoming in 2012 with Pecan Grove Press. A member of the Flat Bay Collective, she teaches writing at the University of Maine and serves as an editor for the Beloit Poetry Journal. Copyright © 2012 University of Wisconsin Board of Regents

Preparation and Evaluation of Bi Doped Nb2O5 Oxide Thin Films

Bi doped Nb2O5 oxide thin films were prepared by multi target radio frequency reactive sputtering in a gas mixture of argon and oxygen at 500°C. The films were amorphous according to a crystalline evaluation by X-ray diffraction. It was inferred from the result of the surface observation in the scanning electron microscope image that the mixture films created a corpuscle. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that a chemical bond has changed by making a mixture film. These properties of prepared films strongly depended on the amount of Bi, and the films display a blue light burnt umber, burnt umber or black coloration after Li+ and electron insertion.

Growth kinetics of biopigment production by Thai isolated Monascus purpureus in a stirred tank bioreactor

Monascus purpureus is a biopigment-producing fungi whose pigments can be used in many biotechnological and food industries. The growth kinetics of biopigment production were investigated in a liquid fermentation medium in a 5-l stirred tank bioreactor at 30°C, pH 7, for 8 days with 100 rpm agitation and 1.38 × 10(5) N/m(2) aeration. Thai Monascus purpureus strains TISTR 3002, 3180, 3090 and 3385 were studied for color production, growth kinetics and productivity. Citrinin as a toxic metabolite was measured from the Monascus fermentation broth. The biopigment productions were detected from fermentation broth by scanning spectra of each strain produced. Results showed a mixture of yellow, orange and red pigments with absorption peaks of pigments occurring at different wavelengths for the four strains. It was found that for each pigment color, the color production from the strains increased in the order TISTR 3002, 3180, 3090, 3385 with 3385 production being approximately 10 times that of 3002. Similar results were found for growth kinetics and productivity. HPLC results showed that citrinin was not produced under the culture conditions of this study. The L*, a* and b* values of the CIELAB color system were also obtained for the yellow, orange and red pigments produced from the TISTR 3002, 3180, 3090 and 3385 strains. The colors of the pigments ranged from burnt umber to deep red.

Identification of additives in poly(vinylacetate) artist’s paints using PY-GC-MS

Commercial poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) paint formulations for artists include a number of compounds in addition to the PVAc polymer and pigments to improve the physical and chemical properties of the resulting product. Among the most common additives are surfactants, coalescing agents, defoamers, freeze-thaw agents and thickeners. These products significantly influence the behaviour of the dried film. Nevertheless, they are usually difficult to detect with conventional analytical methods given their low concentration. In order to identify these additives, present in the dried film as minor components, an analytical method based on in situ thermally assisted pyrolysis-silylation gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using hexamethyldisilazane as a derivatisation reagent is proposed. This method improves the conventional GC-MS analysis performed by direct pyrolysis and enables the simultaneous identification of the PVAc binding medium and the additives included by the manufacturer in the commercial paint. Five different commercial PVAc paints have been analysed, namely, armour green, burnt umber, oriental red, raw umber and white from Flashe. Internal plasticiser VeoVa consisting of C(10) fatty acids with highly branched chains has been recognised from the MS spectra. On the other hand, the differences found in the additive content of the studied paints, in particular the poly(ethylene glycol)-type surfactant, are in good agreement with their mechanical properties.

My Summer of ‘68

You can always get warm, but it's hard to stay cool. My mother's words, muttered every summer since I can remember, rang like a mantra in my head as I stood in the uncut grass of a football field (the 20-yard line, to be precise), knees locked and eyes forward, arms akimbo, to balance a 28-inch-long metal stick at a 45-degree angle, just so. Perspira tion trickled down my temples and collected under my jaw, but I held still. Since reaching my teens, I'd come to dread the wasteland of summer vacation: heat and more heat, the sodden press of humidity that forced my painfully coifed pageboy to retract its hooks, sun that turned my caramel complexion to burnt umber if I forgot to wear a hat. It was the 19th of August, 1968, four days until the Soap Box Derby Parade and nine days before my 16th birthday, and I still hadn't figured out how to keep my minimalist emergency 'do (French twist with bangs pinned to the side) from shrinking to that fine corona of frizz usually found in the National Geographic photographs of ostrich heads. Why, oh why was I standing here at attention like a tin soldier, ankle-deep in crabgrass in the middle of a sweltering Midwestern summer, sweating out all the good sense Mom had pressed into the curls on my head? Four months earlier, in April, a week or so after Martin Luther King Jr.'s murder, I was packing up my cello one afternoon after orchestra practice when Rhonda bounded up, flute propped on her shoulder like a baseball bat, and clapped me on the back. Rhonda was always doing things like that; copper-skinned and confident (even in glasses!) to the point of being uncomfortably gung-ho, she was what my grandmother would call, wrinkling her nose, sturdy. I started to straighten up, but she couldn't wait. Rita, she whispered, I've got a terrific idea. Let's try out for the majorette squad! Funny thing is, even though I gulped and felt my heart pound into my throat, I thought it was a great idea, too. In the Byzantine hierarchy of high school, majorettes and cheerleaders were the Cream. Cheerleaders enjoyed a noisy devotion from the masses, but majorettes were the serene wizards, the silvery circumferences of their batons humming before them like horizontal pirouettes. If I said yes, if I tried out and actually made the squad, maybe I could finally be?I closed my eyes to savor the possibility?popular. Just thinking the word sent a shiver of longing through me. What was it like? Ever since junior high, I'd been called brainier. I thought I was used to it, but sometimes, on pale green spring mornings or glimpsing the tentative expression on my face reflected in a store window, I'd wonder. Although I'd never been exactly reviled, had never borne the brunt of schoolyard taunts or classroom pranks, I'd also never been pursued by a boy,

No Relation to the Hotel

Page 30 American Book Review No Relation to the Hotel Louis McKee Living Will David Hilton Coffee House Press http://www.coffeehousepress.org 104 pages; paper, $15.00 Dear Warren: A new apartment furnished with the death rattles of crickets on an early fall evening. Already I’m known by name at Drug Fair; the varicose waitress calls me “Tuna on Toast with Tomato,” which she can not know is a “meter-making argument” natural childwarbler of the spermy winds that she is. One of my colleagues mourned to me yesterday that she’s “struggling through imagery.” Today is Thursday night, which I’ve decided to live as if Friday didn’t count—I’ll see how far back I can push the week—maybe get wrecked beginning on the Sabbath. David Hilton lived the life of a poet, a more or less typical life, circa late-twentieth-centuryAmerica. Unassuming. Unassertive. Relatively quiet. Born in California (“No relation to the hotel”—his joke carried over as the title of one of his earlier books), he spent most of his adult life in the Baltimore area, teaching for more than thirty years in the local community college and writing his poems in whatever stretches of time he could find or steal. He enjoyed moderate success: haphazard journal appearances, an occasion limited edition book from one or another of the better small presses, inclusion in significant anthologies which burned brightly for a few moments each. He had his readers, and he had a woman, Joanna, who believed in him, to whom he was married in the early seventies, and was with until the end. And then, of course, there was an end, with all the attendant difficulties and discomforts, but with a gentility, too, and a peace of heart and mind, to which the poems in Living Will testify. It’s said that our lives pass before our eyes at the end, that we rethink decisions and recast arguments. Others may choose to stay in the moment, to appreciate their blessings, to tinker a bit longer with the chaos, or perhaps even to rage. In this posthumous collection of Hilton’s poems, there is a bit of all of this. There is nostalgia; a touch of it shows up in the background of an elegy for poet Darrell Gray, whose friendship with Hilton went back to college days, “The Nights of ’67: For Darrel Gray”: “Darrel’s voice so young— / my 22-year-old mentor—husky-pure / from unfiltered Camels….” It is enough to have wanted to be John Keats debating Gaston Bachelard in a one-room room— oh, we all lived in “rooms”—book-crowded mattress on floor, “stereo” speakers exquisitely placed, table bare but for typewriter and debris, and great jugs of Carlo Rossi’s mountain red amid strewn “albums”…. It is obvious, from even his earlier poems, that Hilton had a good ear, and that the noises that occur in his lines are hardly casual, merely accidents. The braided sounds, chimes, and echoes surprise and delight the reader; the poems beg to be read aloud. Crystal fired the burnt umber hillside—everyone tripping to chords and quarks on KSAN crunching and throbbing the long breath of the universe we danced within…. “A ballet for the ear,” John Logan used to call such attention to the music of a poem. It is rare today to find a writer so well attuned. I may be tempted to quibble with the enjambment, the lines breaking on such soft, brittle words as “the” and “we,” but the flow is enthralling, undeniable.And part of this might in fact be the surprise of the line-breaks. There is an honest empathy in Hilton’s poems. One of the true pleasures to be found in Hilton’s work is his turn, in later years, to end rhyme. There had always been a quiet, loose compliance to form in Hilton’s poetry, but Warren Woessner, in his foreword , tells us that “a few years ago” Hilton decided to try (end) rhyme. “Suddenly all his poems rhymed! He did it so well that I didn’t notice it for a year.” Hyperbole , perhaps, but it’s believable...

Beowulf (review)

Reviewed by: Beowulf Karen Coats Hinds, Gareth , ad. Beowulf; ad. and illus. by Gareth Hinds. Candlewick, 2007118p Trade ed. ISBN 0-7636-3022-5$21.99 Paper ed. ISBN 0-7636-3023-3$9.99 R Gr. 7-10 This graphic-novel presentation of the traditional three-part tale of Beowulf gives young readers the Geatish warrior as the hypermuscular, hard-hitting, proto-comic-book superhero he's always been. Grim, rugged faces stare out of action-packed spreads peppered with palpably realistic black blood spatters and onomatopoeic fight grunts as the monsters chomp on various warrior appendages and our hero kicks, rips, and thwangs his various enemies into grisly submission and death. Hinds manages his palette to good effect, sticking mainly to sepia and burnt umber in the mead hall and teals for under the sea, so that the occasional punctuations of flame and the stark blackness of the monsters really stand forth, and the dusky purples of the final chapter lead readers visually into Beowulf's shadowlands. The text, though colloquial, remains a challenging read, as it retains the archaic rhythms and bardic vocabulary of the heroic epic; the adapter clearly provides history and some character-developing storytelling to establish the encounters, but leaves the fight scenes unencumbered with any text at all, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the flesh-ripping violence. The final chapter may be a little confusing for those not familiar with the story, but attentive observers will be able to follow the main plot through the pictures and will ponder over the thematics of including a distant cityscape, complete with suspiciously familiar twin towers, as a backdrop to Hrothgar's warning that Beowulf use his God-given gifts—fame, fortune, the power to command an empire—wisely and without arrogance, and remain ever mindful that death awaits us all. With treatments like this available, honors English may never be the same. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

IN SEARCH OF ETRUSCAN COLOURS: A SPECTROSCOPIC STUDY OF A PAINTED TERRACOTTA SLAB FROM CERI*

Painted terracotta slabs, which are characteristic of Etruscan art, are much less known than the funerary frescoes of the Etruscan necropolis, and have never been studied by advanced diagnostic techniques. To get information on the manufacturing methodology of these important works of art, detailed micro‐Raman and X‐ray diffraction measurements were performed on a polychrome terracotta slab representing a warrior, found in the ancient Etruscan town of Ceri. We have found that the terracotta slab, which was made using a calcium‐poor clay, was fired at a temperature in excess of 800°C. For the polychrome, we have identified red ochre, azurite, yellow ochre, burnt umber and carbon black pigments, and we propose the use of kaolin as a white pigment, thus providing a reliable, although not definitive, description of the colour palette. On the basis of the obtained results, which do not reveal the presence of organic binders, we propose that a second firing procedure was carried out on the work of art at between 250°C and 300°C, in order to fix the pigmented layers.

Edwin Forrest's Redding Up: Elocution, Theater, and the Performance of the Frontier

On a cold New York City night in mid-December, 1829, a twenty-two-year-old actor named Edwin Forrest revolutionized both the art of public speaking and the history of American drama. audience who came to the Park Theatre that night not only witnessed a star being born, but also experienced a seismic change in the way words conveyed meaning. Appearing onstage in John Augustus Stone's Metamora, or, Last of the Wampanoags, Forrest costumed in Indian tunic, pants, and moccasins, accoutered with tomahawk, club, and knife, and colored with a burnt umber concoction called Bollamenia. (1) When he bounded onto the scene at the beginning of the play, ejaculating the first of the many Indian sounds he would utter that night, few knew that American culture would be hearing the echoes of his voice for years to come. Forrest's singular performance as Metamora exists at the intersection between two distinct discourses: the discourse surrounding the voice, oratory, and elocution in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century America and the discourse of the frontier epitomized by the antebellum American fascination with Indian plays. Forrest's loud mouthed ranting style, as Walt Whitman dubbed it, (2) coupled with the actor's embodiment of a wild noble savage, does more than conveniently yoke together these two historically disparate discourses, however. Forrest's redding up--his merging of a savage voice with a savage performance--opens up a critical space between these two discourses that helps us read the discursive limitations of both, even as it reveals the critical traction Forrest got from both discourses to put pressure on the way American culture made, and continues to make, sense of the frontier. Critical discussions about the public sphere in the early republic have focused almost exclusively on those forms of written expression that articulated the nation. As Larzer Ziff states, The establishment of the United States and the spread of print culture went hand in hand. (3) It the written word--the res publica of letters as Michael Warner puts it (4)-that legitimated the nation and contributed to nation formation. needed for legitimacy summarizes Warner, was the derivative afterward of rather than the of the people. (5) Warner's overt privileging of writing over speech has been challenged by Christopher Looby, who has recently asserted that is a distinct countercurrent in the literature of the period that valorizes the grain of the voice in addition to, or instead of, the silence of print. (6) In a pointed reversal of Ziff's proposition, in fact, Looby suggests that vocal utterance has served, in telling instances, as a privileged figure for the making of the United States. (7) Looby's work has broken the stranglehold that textuality has had in critical discussions of early republican nationalism, revealing the risks that privileging the text can cause. Yet, Looby's attention to the vox Americana suffers from a kind of critical myopia surrounding not textuality, or orality, but rather performance. Revealingly, John Adams lamented to his friend, Benjamin Rush, that has often if not commonly in all the business of life, at least of public life, more effect than the characters of the dramatis personae or the ingenuity of the plot. Recollect within your own times. What but the scenery did thus? or that? or the other? Was there ever a coup de theatre that had so great an effect as Jefferson's penmanship of the Declaration of Independence? (8) Adams's antitheatrical prejudice--his insistence that theater is merely scenery--dovetails nicely with the impatient jealousy he felt towards Jefferson's seemingly effortless creativity: both theater and Jefferson, Adams snipes, deserve our contempt. Adams continued his tirade about the Declaration of Independence, confessing that he always considered it a theatrical show and that Jefferson ran away with all of the stage effect of that . …

Four Moons, and: The Potato Eaters

Four Moons And what a rare gift it was, this morning's Dream – there I stood: on the shore's edge As a mist began to fall, and a child came running Pointing to the sky, and there they were – [End Page 54] And did I say four? I should have said eight: For behind each luminous orb was a paler Version shadowing it with light – as if Orpheus was leading Eurydice back, And did I say eight? Well, I should have said, Sixteen, for the heavenly moons reflected Like a resurrection from deep – surfacing In a mirror of melt: waveless As mercury, an endless, shallow slate Waiting for me to wade – and I, I was ready – eager to bathe in that glow, Ready to return, eyes focused – till he turned. The Potato Eaters Her back is to us, but her head tilts toward the plate filled with creamy light, and jacketed potatoes: the aureate center, the corolla of this domestic tableau. A touch of Hansa yellow tempts us to smell butter, but it could be merely the amber glow of the ambergris flame, focusing our eyes with the child's to the fat spuds. The earth scent of potato permeates, merging whale oil with salt-sweat as it mingles into shades of viridian and even cadmium. Look – at the woman: how it rouges her face, how casually she wears a flush of tulip on one cheek. [End Page 55] She wears a flush of tulip on one cheek, but no one notices, or how her fork is poised to land on the central dish, but instead hovers like her eyes – waiting, anxious, poised and luminous – with what? Love? Fear? Her two-dimensions expand to three, as her life is framed and frozen. It's a trick, and yet she was real – never expected to travel to Paris, Rome, Tokyo, New York. Never expected to be scrutinized, idolized and hung in Amsterdam. Never expected she would outlast so many root crops, her burnt umber eyes pinned on the man who stares at another woman. The man who stares at the other woman looks concerned – or is he merely tired? Impatient? The girl's father? The rouged woman's mate? Is he displeased, or merely waiting for tea as his fork rests lazily on the main course? Is the older woman his mother? Seems likely as they wear the same nose, the same leathered skin: rough and tan as a mature spud's jacket. Yes, he resembles the humble root he hoes: flat hat tinged with an absinthe glaze that poisons his hand as well – the family Solanacae has deadly relations: what of the old woman, back bent to her task? The old woman, back bent to her task, pours a steady stream of tea into cups. Attentive to her chore as the child to her meal, neither hat nor cheek have time for crimson blushes. She is past that. Her gown is heavy and she moves slowly, [End Page 56] resembling an old brindle cat, past prime. Arthritic, domestic – her brow furrowed with tabby markings, she looks content with familiar smells, familiar scars: the familial group. A smile curls slightly in the corners of her mouth as she slyly takes notice of something said by the old man who presents her with sugar. The old man who presents her with sugar has just spoken. Here, he has just said, or has he called her name, or a soubriquet? Perhaps he is speaking still – his face is merry, is he making a jest? Is this why she smiles? Patiently, he proffers the copper bowl and waits, jacketed in a brown blanket like a mature potato: that commodity always on the edge of thought, that center around which their lives turn, that root and future of all their days. The artist watches, sketches, savors the young girl as she leans toward the plate filled...