by Rowan Johnson
SOU Class of 2025, Creative Writing

Pablo Picasso, Tête de Marianne, 1958, crayon on paper, courtesy of private collection

Pablo Picasso’s piece Tête de Marianne depicts a crayon drawing of Marianne, a symbol of the French Revolution and liberty. The French chose a woman to represent their post-monarchy society because of the associations of patriarchy with the old world. Trying to create a more modern vision, the French people chose a woman to subvert the stereotypes of kings and divine right to rule. New iterations of her have appeared with every republic, with her symbolism remaining fairly consistent. She also represents the goddess of liberty. The Statue of Liberty in New York is seen as her sister, with both welcoming travelers and promising freedom and safety. She represents every daughter of the republic, and serves as a reminder of the intention to do better by those who will come after us. Learn more about Marianne of France with the link below, and find Tête de Marianne in the Entry Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art. 

 

https://thegoodlifefrance.com/marianne-of-france-symbol-of-the-french-republic/

Frederick Eversley, Untitled (Cylindrical Lens), 2023, cast polyurethane, courtesy of private collection

After a near fatal car crash, Frederick Eversley quit his job at Wyle Industries (a company contracted by U.S. government agencies like NASA) and became an artist. As a child, he was always interested in formulas and their visual manifestations, specifically parabolas. His intelligence was often questioned. As the only Black engineering major at his college, Eversley fought for recognition and representation in his field. When he shifted his focus to art, he was criticized for not creating work on the “Black” experience. Eversley’s work, which is abstract and contemporary in nature, was beyond what the art world considered acceptable for Black artists at the time. He was a pioneer for the light and space movement, an art movement out of Los Angeles that focused on the interplay between color, light, space, and form. He’s most well known for his cylindrical lenses, which are sculptures of cast polyurethane that bend and refract light in dizzying and disorienting ways. Looking through these lenses, viewers are forced to see the world through a tinted and warped medium. Learn more about Fred Eversley with the link below, and find one of his cylindrical lenses in the Entry Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art. 

 

https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/fred-eversley-art-science-nasa-pst-1234711350/