{"id":152821,"date":"2021-06-01T13:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=152821"},"modified":"2021-06-01T13:50:53","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T17:50:53","slug":"redux-the-modest-watercolor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2021\/06\/01\/redux-the-modest-watercolor\/","title":{"rendered":"Redux: The Modest Watercolor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, the editors of\u00a0<\/em>The Paris Review\u00a0lift the paywall on a selection of interviews, stories, poems, and more from the magazine\u2019s archive. You can have these unlocked pieces delivered straight to your inbox every Sunday by\u00a0signing up for the Redux newsletter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Derek Walcott, ca. 2012. Photo: Jorge Mej\u00eda Peralta.<\/p><\/div>\n

This week at The Paris Review<\/em>, we\u2019re dabbling in watercolors. Read Derek Walcott\u2019s Art of Poetry interview<\/a>, Joy Williams\u2019s short story \u201cJefferson\u2019s Beauty<\/a>,\u201d and Michael J. Rosen\u2019s poem \u201cWatercolors<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you enjoy these free interviews, stories, and poems, why not\u00a0subscribe<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0The Paris Review<\/em>? You\u2019ll also get four new issues of the quarterly delivered straight to your door. Or,\u00a0subscribe to our new bundle<\/a>\u00a0and receive\u00a0Poets at Work<\/em>\u00a0for 25% off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Derek Walcott, The Art of Poetry No. 37<\/a>
\nIssue no. 101 (Winter 1986)<\/em><\/p>\n

What I tried to say in Another Life<\/em> is that the act of painting is not an intellectual act dictated by reason. It is an act that is swept very physically by the sensuality of the brushstroke. I\u2019ve always felt that some kind of intellect, some kind of preordering, some kind of criticism of the thing before it is done, has always interfered with my ability to do a painting. I am in fairly continual practice. I think I\u2019m getting adept at watercolor. I\u2019m less mucky. I think I could do a reasonable oil painting. I could probably, if I really set out, be a fairly good painter. I can approach the sensuality. I know how it feels, but for me there is just no completion. I\u2019m content to be a moderately good watercolorist. But I\u2019m not content to be a moderately good poet. That\u2019s a very different thing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jefferson\u2019s Beauty<\/a>
\nBy Joy Williams
\nIssue no. 45 (Winter 1968)<\/em><\/p>\n

He did not like to be kissed by his mother. He did not like to be touched at all. His body would feel stained and uncomfortable\u2014blurred like a watercolor, no longer entirely his own.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Watercolors<\/a>
\nBy Michael J. Rosen
\nIssue no. 126 (Spring 1993)<\/em><\/p>\n

Knowing that Penn had dabbled, periodically,
\nin paints, noting the modest watercolor
\nof his young, late wife, above the files,
\nsomeone has leaned a catalogue by his phone:
\nGli Aquarelles di Hitler,<\/em>
\nPalazzo Vecchio, Firenze,<\/em> with a note,
\nGordon\u2014you know he flunked out of art school?<\/em><\/p>\n

Penn glances through the booklet. M\u00fcnchen,<\/em>
\nStandesamt, Alt-Wien Ralzenstaat, Auersberg Palais.<\/em>
\nThe captions sound portentious as their subjects:
\nbasilicas, blocks, towers, a plaza of walls\u2014
\nless loving details than things accounted for \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you enjoyed the above, don\u2019t forget to\u00a0subscribe<\/a>! In addition to four print issues per year, you\u2019ll also receive complete digital access to our sixty-eight years\u2019 worth of archives. Or,\u00a0subscribe to our new bundle<\/a>\u00a0and receive\u00a0<\/em>Poets at Work\u00a0for 25% off.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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