By Sawyer Phillips
II. The Subject
based on John Singer Sargent’s oil painting “Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller”(1917-20)
Picture an amber man
seated center
strong arms
supporting
strapping frame
head tilted right
eyes fixated in
a silent stare
Dark skin contrasting with
even darker
muddled
background
causing him to
shine
from this canvas
The nude study of Thomas Mckeller
In 1917 Sargent
a white artist
paints a black man in
exaltation
Here the muse commands
the master,
A study
Not ethnographic
but ethereal
light bleeds
from this canvas
Notice the celestial figure
Imprinted behind
See how the subject’s back
and figure’s wings align,
decadence and divinity
entwined
Is this the glorification of the human form?
The consecration of imperfection?
Beauty so unreal
forever staining the mind
Sawyer is a freshman journalism major. She loves slam poetry, playing the bongos, and finding
awesome deals at the Garment District.
II. The Subject
based on John Singer Sargent’s oil painting “Nude Study of Thomas E. McKeller”(1917-20)
Picture an amber man
seated center
strong arms
supporting
strapping frame
head tilted right
eyes fixated in
a silent stare
Dark skin contrasting with
even darker
muddled
background
causing him to
shine
from this canvas
The nude study of Thomas Mckeller
In 1917 Sargent
a white artist
paints a black man in
exaltation
Here the muse commands
the master,
A study
Not ethnographic
but ethereal
light bleeds
from this canvas
Notice the celestial figure
Imprinted behind
See how the subject’s back
and figure’s wings align,
decadence and divinity
entwined
Is this the glorification of the human form?
The consecration of imperfection?
Beauty so unreal
forever staining the mind
Sawyer is a freshman journalism major. She loves slam poetry, playing the bongos, and finding
awesome deals at the Garment District.