Eastman Johnson, American
Though He Still Wasn’t Sure of the Point, Otto Was Having a Blast with the New Internet Challenge, “No Chairs November,” 1863
Oil on cardboard
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/// Johnson painted the “Reading Boy” reading,
but the darkened room makes it misleading.
We can’t see the boy’s seat
or his legs or his feet.
Was he born malformed due to inbreeding?
/// Still, the reason he’s sprawling there might
be to hold his book where there’s some light.
Throughout much of that room
is a sepulchral gloom.
Hurts his spine to preserve his eyesight.
/// The attention he’s giving that book
makes me wish I could give it a look.
Schoolwork? No… I think not.
I suspect something “hot”
from his Dad’s secret drawer (which he took).