 |
"Daphne and Apollo", c. 1975. Mische Technique on
Board. 19"x27". Reproduced by permission of the artist. |
I didn't plan on getting a catalog started so soon of Brigid Marlin's art, but sometimes serendipity takes over.
Today I received an edition of the poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay that combines the ones in
A Few Figs from Thistles (Harper & Brothers, 1922) with those in
Second April (Harper & Brothers, 1921). This edition was published in 2000, the year that Millay's copyrights expired - 50 years after her death in 1950. You might call a publisher like this a copyright-expiration chaser.
As I read through the poems, one in iambic tetrameter caught my eye, because it matches one of our paintings by Brigid Marlin, "Daphne and Apollo". That's Daphne at left, having chosen to become a rooted laurel rather than allow herself to be ravished by Apollo. Here is Millay's poem, which seems to have been addressed to an over-eager lover. This published the year before Millay and her husband-to-be, Eugen Boissevain, met, so the reference is not to him.
Daphne
Edna St. Vincent Millay (from
A Few Figs from Thistles, 1922
)
Why do you follow me? -
Any moment I can be
Nothing but a laurel-tree.
Any moment of the chase
I can leave you in my place
A pink bough for your embrace.
Yet if over hill and hollow
Still it is your will to follow
I am off; - to heel, Apollo!
Here is a version, slightly abbreviated, of the story as told by Bullfinch:
Daphne was Apollo's first love. It was not brought about by accident, but by the malice of Cupid. Apollo saw the boy playing with his bow and arrows; and being himself elated with his recent victory over Python, he said to him, "What have you to do with warlike weapons, saucy boy? Leave them for hands worthy of them.... Venus's boy heard these words, and rejoined, "Your arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you." So saying, he took his stand on a rock of Parnassus, and drew from his quiver two arrows of different workmanship, one to excite love, the other to repel it. The former was of gold and sharp pointed, the latter blunt and tipped with lead. With the leaden shaft he struck the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, and with the golden one Apollo, through the heart. ...
Apollo loved her, and longed to obtain her ... He saw her eyes bright as stars; he saw her lips, and was not satisfied with only seeing them. ... It was like a hound pursuing a hare, with open jaws ready to seize, while the feebler animal darts forward, slipping from the very grasp. So flew the god and the virgin - he on the wings of love, and she on those of fear. Her strength begins to fail, and, ready to sink, she calls upon her father, the river god: "Help me, Peneus! open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger!" Scarcely had she spoken, when a stiffness seized all her limbs; her bosom began to be enclosed in a tender bark; her hair became leaves; her arms became branches; her foot stuck fast in the ground, as a root; her face became a tree-top, retaining nothing of its former self but its beauty, Apollo stood amazed. ...
"Since you cannot be my wife," said he, "you shall assuredly be my tree. I will wear you for my crown; I will decorate with you my harp and my quiver; and when the great Roman conquerors lead up the triumphal pomp to the Capitol, you shall be woven into wreaths for their brows. And, as eternal youth is mine, you also shall be always green, and your leaf know no decay." The nymph, now changed into a Laurel tree, bowed its head in grateful acknowledgment.
Millay was Hilda van Stockum's aunt and wrote the introduction to her first book,
A Day on Skates (1934). They met once in Holland - described on pp. 268-270 of Nancy Milford,
Savage Beauty.
Meanwhile, I did make a little progress on posting a catalog of Brigid's art. Here is the first page. It takes a long time to scroll through. It was pasted in using Numbers, the Mac version of Excel.
| Title |
Year Painted |
Year Sold |
Purchaser |
| Ben by Window |
1953
|
1953
|
Dorothy Oakley |
| Dalkey with Ben |
1952
|
1952
|
Mary Shaw |
| Shane O’Neill |
1954
|
1954
|
The O’Neills |
| Alan Jones |
1954
|
1954
|
Mr/Mrs Alan Jones, The Mall, Tralee, Eire |
| Oakley Mother |
1954
|
1954
|
Dorothy Montgomery, Berrawinnia, Rice Hill, Cavan, Eire |
| Under the Pont des Arts |
1955
|
1961
|
Jack & Jill Hesketh, South Hill Close, Hitchin, UK |
| Self Portrait |
1955
|
1955
|
American (Iowa?). (Gallery Living Art; Exhibition, Dublin; reviewed.) |
| Red Cabbage |
1955
|
1967
|
England (Gallery - Hampstead Open Air Exhibition) |
| Marcella |
1955
|
1968
|
Mr/Mrs E R Marlin |
| Muirrean |
1956
|
1966
|
Eliz Russelle, 35 Merrion Ave., Blackrock, Dublin (One-man show, Dublin 1964) |
| Rue de l’Abbaye |
1955
|
1957
|
Margot Munzer, Berlin |
| Noreen |
1956
|
1960
|
Noreen Wall, 41 Burton, Montreal |
| Lorraine |
1956
|
1960
|
Mrs. Vincent, Montreal |
| Eleanor |
1956
|
1965
|
Mr/Mrs Tom Paulsen, USA |
| Yellow Trees |
1956
|
1960
|
Kevin Dwyer, Canada |
| Autumn Storm |
1956
|
1960
|
Jacek Makowski |
| Red Trees |
1956
|
1957
|
Mr/Mrs Randal Marlin |
| Spring Birches |
1956
|
1960
|
Mr/Mrs Des Gibbons, England |
| Blue Nude |
1956
|
1956
|
Mary Grohman, England |
| Kathleen |
1956
|
1956
|
Kathleen Franc, NY |
| Blue Vase |
1956
|
1964
|
Mr/Mrs E R Marlin, Washington, DC (gallery sale) |
| Montreal houses |
1956
|
1960
|
Lost |
| Susie |
1956
|
1978
|
Richard Jones |
| The Old Dancer |
1956
|
1960
|
Mrs. Makowski, Canada |
| Blue Shell |
1957
|
1958
|
Shane O’Neill |
| Yellow Self-Portrait |
1957
|
1969
|
Millie McKelvey (special mention, one-man show 1964) |
| Baby and Snake |
1958
|
1960
|
Mr/Mrs E R Marlin, Washington, DC |
| Aubergine |
1958
|
1964
|
Mrs. Moy, England |
| Mexican Boy |
1958
|
1961
|
Canada (Montreal Spring Exhibition, special mention) |
| Des Portrait |
1957
|
1957
|
Mr/Mrs Des Gibbons, Bulbourne Close, Hem Hemp |
I tried to paste in a table that includes thumbnail photos of the art but the photos did not come through the process. I will include below one of the photos I don't know how to process - the van Stockum still life with onion and egg shells (1961). It is located in the home of Mary Ann Raven Anderson in Heathrow, Florida, 12 miles north of Orlando.
 |
HvS "Spring", Still Life,
1961, at home of Mary
Ann Raven Anderson. |
| Brigid Marlin Art Owner |
Subject
|
Thumbnail Photo
|
Year/Notes
|
| Raven, Jayne |
Marlin, Brigid, “Sheila”, the year before Sheila went to Holland to study art, Montreal, Canada. |
|
1958. Painting given to her by the daughter of a friend of her mother, Patsie Kottmeyier. They lived in Montreal in the late 1950s and early 1960s. |
| Hilda van Stockum Art Owner |
Subject
|
Thumbnail Photo
|
Year/Notes
|
| Anderson, Mary Ann Raven |
van Stockum, Hilda, “Spring” (Still Life: Onion and Egg Shells) |
|
1961
|
| Raven, Jayne |
van Stockum, Hilda, “French Scene”. |
|
1955. Painting purchased by her mother. |
| Owner |
Email address |
Notes |
Location |
| Anderson, Mary Ann Raven |
maryaraven(at)aol.com |
Sister of Jayne Raven. Correspondence by email with Brigid and John, May 16 2014. |
Heathrow FL (Orlando) - sister of Jayne Raven |
| Raven, Jayne |
jraven(at)shaw.ca |
Sister of Mary Ann Anderson. Correspondence by email with Brigid and John, May 16 2014. |
Montreal and BC |
