The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

The Girl in the Tub, by Annette Van

2/10/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
The Tub, by Edgar Degas (France) 1888. Photo: Wmpearl, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Girl in the Tub
 
In the Musee D’Orsay, there’s a Degas sculpture, one of three tucked away from their more celebrated sisters. A young woman sprawled in a large bath tub. She’s shame free, which is not the same as shameless. There’s no flirtation in her nakedness. A progenitor of Liebovitz’s milky Whoopi; she’s whimsy.
 
She exists in the round, there are no cheap seats. Every angle, every perspective, offers a piece of the whole. Thighs, muscles, face, hair pouring over the side. Her left leg, effortlessly crossed over the other, is cradled by her right hand. She doesn’t care that I look; she exists only unto herself. I want to lay in a round bath like this. To care less.
 
I wonder how my camera can capture her, but give up. Later, I will see no trace of her in the museum shop. Instead, her more celebrated and ethereal sister, the dancer, commands the spotlight. 
 
It is true that the girl dancer, more demure, is still to be looked at. I watch her as well, wonder what she’s thinking. The rivers of her skirt, tulle layers, surprisingly dirty-looking, disappear into her leanness. She is already a portrait, cerebral.

The girl in the tub is flesh, alive, and I think again of trying to film her. But then I imagine myself through her eyes. Most don’t linger, but there’s always that one that stays too long, drinking her in, interrupting the pleasure of her toilette. I think briefly of begging her forgiveness, but am reassured that she has no time for the likes of me.

Annette Van
​
Annette Van teaches literature, composition, and gender studies and is currently a lecturer at San Francisco State University.
1 Comment
Susan James
2/10/2021 10:04:24 am

Your viewing is so beautiful. She is free and you feel so as well. Thank you for this vision. Your words make me both want to linger in a tub shame free and linger with this scultpure.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead