Night: an element of air, of water, of earth, the antithesis of fire? Macauley’s chapter invites the reader to consider the daily cycling through darkness as more than a simple turn of the planet away from the sun.
Identify the images below as they are referenced in the text.
The Hurricane Sandy disaster that hit Long Island on October 29th, 2012 plunged most of us in darkness, a darkness even more overwhelming given the time of year as each day was shorter, each night longer. Without the comfort and warmth of power, we huddled around candles, flashlights, fireplaces (those lucky one). Alas the cloud covered skies deprived us of that chance to see the night sky revealed as so beautifully described by Diane Ackerman.
The first three photos are Brassai images which means that in every city, there is one particular zone in which that zone shows its true characteristics at night. As depicted in the book, these zones metaphorically wear a mask during the day can come out in a “parody of death” at night. The next image is Fuseli’s “Nightmare” painting in which a haunted horse peaks its head through a curtain in the darkness and unites fear, sexuality, and night. The next image, in my perspective, is that of Rembrandt, his “Nightwatch” painting. It shows the dynamic interplay between night and light which is ironically a day scene (the picture under that too). The next photo I am not quite sure about. In my opinion i think it is that of Van Gogh, “Cafe Terrace”. In this photo he reveals the night sky abnd the effects of nocturnal night on the water, stone, as well as air. Macauley quotes it on page 285 in the last paragraph. The image after that is the northern lights that provide intoxicating colors of green and red and is caused by particles of the magnetosphere colliding with particles of the atmosphere. The next image is that of Van Gogh, “Starry Night”. He provides swirling clouds, blazing stars and a cresset moon to show that the night is more “alive” than the day. The last image, in my opinion, is that of Sandy Gellis in which she depicts “nightscapes” from an airplane in seat 8A.
Yes, I do have a series of landscapes at night from plane seat windows but sorry to say that none are represented in the images above. but thank you for noting images that do exist in another place. Much appreciated.
Electrical lights at night are always where my mind goes when I think about the role of perspective in beauty, or the idiom, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Looking over a city or a town from a distance you can see nothing but yellow and orange lights. If you were right alongside them, they would likely be annoying or objectionable (especially those ones with burnt plastic, half filled with rainwater and dead flies!), at best utile. But from a distant perspective they become beautiful points of only light, the functional object completely obscured.
It’s something akin to the beauty of notes played on a piano versus the actual sight of the cloth hammers hitting metal strings. There seems something important in thinking in the role of the perceiver in describing what elements mean to us.