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The painting mesmerized. Couldn’t tear myself away. In a spell, my thoughts were of Holly and her Sad Café.
Woman at Her Toilette : Louis Anquetin – French (1861-1932)
It was in the Salon titled Post Impressionism at the AGO. I was floating after having just seen Monet’s Water Lilies. Then I saw her, combing her long red hair.
At my mirror I braid silver thread through my hair.
“- though images of women dressing, are traditional within European art, the figure’s direct gaze and pronounced makeup suggest the she is a courtesan, a sex worker who catered to upper class patrons.“
My skin smells of yesterday’s perfume mingled with the haunting presence of strong cologne and the sweet scent of sweat and rope.
The details in this painting are luscious. I got in with the camera, as close as was allowed. The slideshow highlights shots of this Cloisonnism style work of art. The details are “Imitating medieval stained glass windows, cloisonné enamel and Japanese woodcut prints.”
“Cloisonnism features flat areas of solid colour enclosed by curving outlines, such as the green contour that encircles the woman’s porcelain skin.”
Cloisonnism was a bold new style invented by Anquetin, with his friend Émile Bernard.
The Sad Café
I’ve been here forever
hidden away in fantasies,
dimly lit rooms where
moonbeams caper blithely
over the river Seine.
All of my memories are strangers,
they come and go.
I want them to know
the smokey purple of lunar tides,
the bittersweet of Rose red.
They linger on lamp lit streets,
shadows on tiger paws.
©️ Holly Rene Hunter
… intoxicated by long red hair
Since the first Sad Café poem I drew a picture to, my heroine has had long red hair.
At the mirror I brush my hair and pull it back with a silver plated comb, slip into smoky seamed stockings
All Pullquotes are from ©️Sad Café poems by Holly Rene Hunter
Photos ©️ – of Woman at Her Toilette taken by Resa McConaghy
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada
Thank you Holly!
Visit Holly on her blog to read all her Sad Café poems and all her sublime poetry.
Source: Art Gallery of Ontario – Quotes in bold italics are from the plaquard beside the painting.
