More On Vonnegut

Somebody once said Kurt Vonnegut was the closest thing America came to having a Voltaire. Odd how, just as the poor guy was dying yesterday, I was snapping shots of two statues of Voltaire, one with a wig, one without; both, clearly, with nose.





Man, that boy had a hook! I thought he was a bit overrated too, although those were different times.

More to the point, I sometimes reflect on the idea of painting monochromatic portraits of famous people from photographs of their statues. The National Gallery, to my surprise and as you can see above, allows flash photography.



Except at the Jasper Johns show.

I may, nonetheless, go back and shoot some statues. The white marble is an interesting photographic challenge, likewise the angles you can get without a ladder (I'm sure they don't allow them)--usually angling up at a tall sculpture. I get the feeling that a longer lens would help, but my camera is limited in its ability to reach out and grab distant objects.