ANGELINA BALLERINA My two daughters each had their few years at dance classes, though neither had the drive—nor the parental dedication—to make the transition onto…
Medium and Techniques: Engraving
Nose 15
ANNA PAVLOVA My older sister was a ballet devotee. She accumulated, over the years, at birthdays and as rewards for good schoolwork, a library of…
Nose 14
NOSE Based on a drawing by Picasso, the double breast seen under the armpit. When drawn onto the plate, the condensed milk and Indian ink…
Nose 13
OFFICIAL POLICE PORTRAIT Shostakovich wrote his opera, The Nose, based on Gogol’s story, in 1928. Shostakovich was twenty-two years old, just out of the Leningrad…
Nose 12
HIS MAJESTY, COMRADE NOSE There is a famous photograph of Lenin, taken early in the October Revolution, standing on the balcony of the Bolshevik headquarters…
Nose 11
BAD DISGUISES I There is a general principle in theatre for working with masks. A mask works by making us focus on everything that is…
Nose 10
PREPARING THE BED The hard ground The clean sheet. The dry point The spit bite The foul bite The hand wipe. The stained blanket The…
Nose 8
CONNOISSEURSHIP The vexed question of the attribution of Renaissance paintings was partly solved by an Italian art historian who developed the idea that instead of…
Nose 6
SKETCHBOOK This is a page of a drawing-book I was using to make notes about the series of etchings. The Nose with a microphone (image…
Nose 4
NOSE IN LOVE The Nose follows the familiar route from Titian to Manet, though I cannot remember whose Olympia I was looking at. Postcards of…
Nose 2
SUGAR LIFT AQUATINT Condensed milk is mixed with Indian ink. With this sugar mixture a drawing is made on a copper plate using a brush…