Alfred Henry Maurer, American
For Some Strange Reason, Alfred Could Never Get the Same Model To Pose For Him Twice, ca. 1929
Oil on fiberboard
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Info, or links that point to more info, about this artist can be found here, here, here (archived if necessary), here, here, here (can be read in full for free on Fridays), here, here, and here, perhaps in addition to what’s in his Wikipedia page.
/// It stares out with huge anime eyes,
showing madness, or shock, or surprise,
and it seems to be half
human girl, half giraffe,
on a hillside ‘neath cloud-filled blue skies.
/// “It’s The Head of a Woman,” he swore.
With a nightmare look most would abhor.
Alfred’s painting was done
when he’s age sixty-one;
Maurer hanged himself at sixty-four.
/// Alfred’s father and he grew estranged
when his realist paintings had changed.
His new Modernist style,
many thought of as vile,
and some critics called this art deranged.
/// Did depression to suicide lead?
Who can say what had caused such a deed?
What could cast such a blight
o’er a future, once bright?
Some sick strong unavoidable need.
/// No one else understood how he felt.
She was sweet, (and he loved how she smelt).
He had made her, his bride,
but he took her outside,
and his chocolate girl started to melt.
/// Before heat from the sun made her fail,
he had eaten her ears and her tail.
But he found hard to swallow
that his sweetie is hollow
and his bonbon was now going stale.
/// She’s so melted, she gives him the creeps.
He now dreams of that face when he sleeps.
He wakes up every night
in a panicky fright,
(but she still beats out marshmallow Peeps).
/// They had love that no quarrels could smother.
It was like they were part of each other.
He showed great dedication
despite Mom’s desiccation.
Norman Bates was obsessed with his mother.
> or <
/// Greek and Roman mythology features
many odd and bizarre-looking creatures.
Here a young dryad stood,
(not much nymph, mostly wood).
She’s the spirit of old weathered bleachers.
> or <
/// Did some flaw in the artist’s odd psyche
inspire eyelashes short, sparse, and spiky?
Did her Cupid’s-bow lips
come from peyote trips?
Well, whatever the cause… me no like-ee.