SHARING WITH ME

Presently, and for the next couple of weeks, I am in a very isolated area in France. «Traveling» with Michel and his drawings will be a regular excursion and perhaps keep me sane. First let’s go to Assyria. I have no intention of writing down the history. That can be looked up on Internet. Just to say or what comes to mind  is that it was an Arabic speaking kingdom going back to the 25th century BC (or earlier?) on the Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia which of course is the northern part of Iraq today. So perhaps it will be a good idea if I stay where I am. If you visit the Assyrian antiquities in the Louvre, discovering their art depicting gory battle scenes is enough for me to really stay in a quiet place. Michel was in the Louvre close to that section and this is what he drew - not looking at his paper but gazing into the distance.... Not in the least bit gory...   His eyes are not closed but looking elsewhere, and his pencil traces what he sees in his head....

I am to be away for three weeks but apparently the place where I am going is so small that I should be able «to walk around it in ten minutes». No museums? No galleries?  But thank goodness my computer will be with me. As so many friends say «my lover» but then there are three, Computer, Ipad and Iphone....what did I do before these «loves» came into my life? Which made me reflect on a close friend’s work. Michel is very present on Internet. http://www.micheldheurle.com/ . He came into our lives in a strange way. I was in Korea with his daughter, an old student of mine. She asked me a lot about my mother. It was the Paul Strand period. I talked about a photographer that Kate had met in Amsterdam during one of her presentations on Strand. Sophie started telling me about her father who is also an artist and photographer. Michel knew the Dutch photographer in question. He met Kate and a new and lasting friendship began. In the early years he gave a drawing to Kate which I admired ...