herbert bayer, lonely metropolitan, 1932
Dear visitor: looking at my blogs stats,
this is the post most of you are stumbling into without knowing me or my work.
I guess this visit must be a disappointment for you,
for there is neither an attempt on my side to put this photograph into a historic context,
nor is there any attempt of me to explain the image.
Are you all college students with Herbert Bayer on your curriculum?
Please leave a note why you were hitting this page.
(And what college you are going to…., I am the curious kind of person.)
Thanks for your kindness, Zoltán
By the way: the other popular post in my blog is called “playboy and youtube“. by Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935)translated by david raphael israelin collaboration with(& thanks to) Indeterminacy
Eyes in the Big City
When toward your work you’re wending
in early morn
and in the station standing
with woes forlorn
the City smooth as asphalt
reveals before your gazes
in the funneling of humanity
en masse its million faces
two alien eyes one quick glance
the pupils lids & brow
what was it? maybe
your life’s lone chance
gone forever now!
Throughout your days you’ll amble
a thousand streetshow
many along your ramble
your face forget
an eye it is a’winking
the soul it is a’ringing
you’re reckoning its beckon
merely for a second
two alien eyes
one swift look
the pupils lids & brow
what was it? none
turns back the clock
gone forever now!
You’re obliged along your sojourn
to cities-wander
you see in a pulse-beat’s moment
the unknown other
perhaps it is a foe
maybe it’s a friend
it might amid your woe
be offering a hand
two alien eyes one swift look
the pupils lids & brow
’twas what? a page from
the great human book
gone forever now!
Poem added after Joannas comment.
The translation I found here.
Augen in der Großstadt
Wenn du zur Arbeit gehst
am frühen Morgen,
wenn du am Bahnhof stehst
mit deinen Sorgen:
dann zeigt die Stadt
dir asphaltglatt
im Menschentrichter
Millionen Gesichter:
Zwei fremde Augen,
ein kurzer Blick,
die Braue, Pupillen, die Lider -
Was war das?
Vielleicht dein Lebensglück…
vorbei, verweht, nie wieder.
Du gehst dein Leben lang
auf tausend Straßen;
du siehst auf deinem Gang,
die dich vergaßen.
Ein Auge winkt,
die Seele klingt;
du hast’s gefunden,
nur für Sekunden…
Zwei fremde Augen, ein kurzer Blick,
die Braue, Pupillen, die Lider -
Was war das? Kein Mensch dreht die Zeit zurück…
vorbei, verweht, nie wieder.
Du mußt auf deinem Gang
durch Städte wandern;
siehst einen Pulsschlag lang
den fremden Andern.
Es kann ein Feind sein,
es kann ein Freund sein,
es kann im Kampfe dein
Genosse sein.
Es sieht hinüber
und zieht vorüber…
Zwei fremde Augen, ein kurzer Blick,
die Braue, Pupillen, die Lider -
Was war das? Von der großen Menschheit ein Stück!
Vorbei, verweht, nie wieder.
4 Comments
The picture of the two hands with the eyes placed on top, for college work we have to explain what it might be interpreting. And was trying to find out what this picture actually meant before trying to explain how it is. If you could come back with an answer would be much appreciated.
danielle
Dear Danielle,
what do you feel looking at this photograph?
Observe your feelings,
and relate them to yourself and and the image.
Look at the images, I have posted before and after.
Imagine the hands are your hands.?Imagine lifting your hands as if they would be the hands in the photograph.?What do you experience?
Those eyes could be your eyes. You are looking at yourself.
Who is livng behind all those windows.
Who is living behind your eyes.
Have you ever felt lonely in a crowd?
Have you ever felt lonely in a place far from home?
I read Juahni pallasmaa’s The Eyes of the Skin as well as The Thinking Hand and am describing this image for a paper I’m writing for my urbanism class. Herbert Bayer is not a part of my curriculum and Juhanni Pallasmaa is not specifically a part of my curriculum, I just have an interest in connecting the sense of touch and the body back to architecture, urbanism and society.
Hey Pamela,
thanks for your reading suggestions….
I don´t know those books, but they do sound interesting.