Edith

Oil on Canvas, Wood Frame, Aluminum Pennants 24" x 20" (with Frame)

1997

Joe's mother was born in a modest German city just before the start of the Second World War. Her earliest childhood memories are marked by repeated air raids, open houses at the local Army barracks and Russian POW's trading bread for carved toys at the railroad station. Much of it was great adventure, so without context as it was. As in this instance, related to Joe many times, when an aircraft was shot down over the town during a

bombing raid. She imagined the parachutes, not visible in the image, descending from the stricken machine as belonging to circus performers arriving to play. The frame reminds us of the context in which this history was playing itself out, a complexity that most adults, much less such a small child as she, were, and to a great degree, still are, unable to comprehend. The flags are painted aluminum cut from soda cans. It is likely that the scene actually played out at a basement window within the targeted city, though Joe, child himself when he first heard the story, has always imagined it this way.

Purchase Pending.

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