511

Drawing (511) from THE BASIS OF MAKE-UP

"A picture puzzle: Josef von Sternberg and Frieda Grafe at the airport Munich Riem in February 1969 at the end of his last trip to Europe. The positives and negatives of the portraits are inserted in the outlines of drinking vessels and shaving equipment in the photograph Glass and Happinesswhich Elfi Mikesch gave to me as a gift in 1994. The circular stamp with the personal emblem of Sternberg and his signature 'Jo' appear distorted into an egg shape on the silhouette of a glass decanter. On the neck, a bleeding shaving cut, to the left, the mouth of a smoker with a cigarette. In the background, mirrored along all three possible axes: QUETYALCOATL, the snake of the green feather, the King of the Aztecs, the God of the sky and of the day, chased away by his brother, the God of night. He was expected to return from the West. The Spaniards approaching from Peru in their shiny armour were mistaken for him. They were heaped upon with gold, and then began their raids, the booty of which formed the basis of the European monetary systems." (From: Black Blocks, Cinema Scope #46, 2011).

(1997)

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