#baldung

[artschoolglasses]

Two Witches, Hans Baldung, 1523

[imagediver]

Click on the image to see the detail in its context, displayed in zoomable form.

Detail from  Portrait of a Lady, Hans Baldung, 1530

[somanyhumanbeings]

Hand Baldung Grien, Portrait of a young man (c. 1509)

[artschoolglasses]

The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, Hans Baldung Grien, 1505-07

[artschoolglasses]

The Witches, Hans Baldung, 1510

[tanogabo]

Hans Baldung detto Grien (1485 circa – 1545)

Hans Baldung detto Grien (1485 circa – 1545) è stato un pittore, disegnatore, incisore e xilografo tedesco, contemporaneo e allievo di Albrecht Dürer. Baldung, intorno al 1499/1500 fece un per…

[poem-today]

A poem by Susan McLean

Deep Cover

Nakedness is the best disguise. When you discard the final veil, it always takes them by surprise.

Because men think that compromise is weak—that if you yield, you fail— nakedness is the best disguise.

Though you expose your breasts and thighs, your mind is as opaque as shale. It always takes them by surprise

to find out that the body lies. Surrender can conceal betrayal. Nakedness is best. Disguise,

equivocation, alibis can be seen through. To lay a trail that always takes them by surprise,

hide nothing and you’ll blind their eyes. Go ask Judith. Go ask Jael. Nakedness is the best disguise. It always takes them by surprise.

Susan McLean

Susan McLean writes: When I think of which subjects have lasting appeal in poems, I think of the subjects that have never changed and never will, such as human nature, but also of the questions that have no definitive answers, such as the nature of truth.  This poem expresses several paradoxes: that overt shows of openness are the most successful ways to deceive someone; that everyone lies, so telling the truth is always surprising–and is often not believed; that no matter how much truth you tell, there is always much that you don’t say; that when there is a power difference between two people, surrendering can be a tool of resistance.

Image: Judith with the Head of Holophernes (c. 1525) by Hans Baldung Grien