Then – to the Royal Clouds

This is the third in a series of posts about the Baltimore Museum of Art’s exhibit “Amy Sherald: American Sublime.”  My introductory post is HERE.  Yesterday’s post – my take on Sherald’s painting  “Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons)” – is HERE.
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Interestingly, I left a comment on Sherald’s insta account yesterday; I told her about my post – especially in light of her comment on a video about the work, “I want the viewer to leave this painting with a sense of wonder and with the opportunity to create their own narrative on what they think is happening” – but here’s the odd part:  The Instagram pic on which I left my comment is of this work; however, the three figures are not in the same order.  The central figure in the BMA display is shown on the right in the Instagram post.  Hmm…I told Sherald, “I notice in this pic that the trio of images does not match the positioning in the work at the BMA show – so interestingly that would very likely have altered what I took from the painting.”  If/when you read the post (linked above), you’ll understand why!

If I hear anything back from Sherald, I’ll let you know!

Below left:  My comment on Sherald's Instagram post.  Right:  The paintings as positioned at the Baltimore Museum of Art. (Click the images to enlarge.)

Today, I am sharing one of my favorite works from the show, “Kingdom.”  The depiction, the artistic details (like the reflective metal on the slide), and the title – all are absolutely perfect.

My wife, knowing that I am publishing a series of posts about the exhibit  “from the point of a view of a Dickinson enthusiast,” shared with me her connection of this painting to Dickinson, that a simple, concrete image is able to convey a much more complex and compelling message.  This called to mind a quotation by Baylor University classics professor Julia Hejduk that I share often – that Dickinson is “a poet of incarnation—of the small, concrete, and quotidian becoming a vessel for the infinite.”  That is what Sherald has accomplished with this painting.
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Sherald is represented by Hauser & Wirth (“a world-renowned, family-owned contemporary and modern art gallery founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser. It is considered a ‘megadealer’ gallery, representing over 90 artists and estates, with 18 spaces worldwide featuring museum-quality exhibitions”), and they included this painting at one of their shows in Monaco in 2023.  Of “Kingdom,” the gallery said, “a young child at the top of a slide, both asks us to look positively at future generations whilst reminding us of the transient nature of childhood and the vulnerabilities inherent to it.”
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Okay, okay – so I won’t poke fun at their use of “whilst”; however, the painting conveys so much more than that – especially if you’ve ever been a kid – and I suspect, dear reader, that many of you used to be kids, no?  At some point in your past?  And if so – did you ever climb to the top of a slide to survey your kingdom?

Whatever happened to that child?  To that kingdom?  To those dreams?

Emily Dickinson, in one flash of fourteen syllables, depicted Sherald’s study frozen in time in a flashback scene voiced by the speaker of one of her most famous poems:

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –

Interesting that Dickinson chose “strove” over “played.”  She recognized that a child’s play is their work, the very essence of being a child. Play is the primary mechanism through which children learn, explore, and process the world, the essential "work" that develops cognitive, physical, and emotional strength. Sherald’s title, “Kingdom,” italicized this philosophical construct – and Dickinson’s mental image – as ’twere.
 
[An aside as I attempt a bit of allusionary wordplay:  In her doleful poem “The last Night that She lived,” Dickinson observed, “We noticed smallest things / Things overlooked before / By this great light upon our Minds / Italicized—as 'twere.”]
 
Of course, the full stanza from “Because I could not stop for Death” reads as follows:
 
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –

Interestingly, the first editors of Dickinson’s work, Mabel Loomis Todd and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, altered that stanza to provide rhymes more palatable for public taste:
 
We passed the school where children played
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.
 
Great googly-moogly, did you see what else Todd and Higginson changed?  They replaced “strove” with “played”!!! 
 
[Another aside:  Todd and Higginson also eliminated entirely the poem’s fourth stanza. I have no idea why.]
 
Was the concept of “play as work” too radical at the time?  It was not until 1907 that Montessori proposed that children’s work is their play.  But take a look at this 1881 poem by Dickinson of children ending a school day (oh how I love that image in line 6, the children as “A Mob of solid Bliss"): 

[Yet another aside:  For the final two lines, Dickinson considered, “Alas - that Dusk should lie in wait / For such a Sweet as this.”  I gotta say – I rather like that.]

Finally, back to that young man at the top of the slide, to that kingdom, to those dreams. I can’t help but think of yet another poem by Dickinson, one which she had enclosed (with three others) in a letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson. 

In an 1891 article in “The Atlantic,” Higginson recalled this about his consideration of the poem for publication: 

"Then came one which I have always classed among the most exquisite of her productions, with a singular felicity of phrase and an aerial lift that bears the ear upward with the bee it traces. The impression of a wholly new and original poetic genius was as distinct on my mind at the first reading of these four poems as it is now, after thirty years of further knowledge; and with it came the problem never yet solved, what place ought to be assigned in literature to what is so remarkable, yet so elusive of criticism. The bee himself did not evade the schoolboy more than she evaded me; and even at this day I still stand somewhat bewildered, like the boy."

[A final aside:  Prior to publishing his article in 1891, Higginson sent a proof of it to Todd to review with Austin Dickinson; the two then sent back a few corrections and recommendations. They suggested printing the poem as a single thirteen-line poem, not as two stanzas, one of ten lines and one of three.  Higginson responded with this:

“Thanks for yr. criticisms — all to be adopted except that about the mocking sky & steadfast honey [in “The nearest dream recedes, unrealized”]. In my copy it’s very distinct as a second verse or detached moral. It wd. belittle it to attach it to the boy only.”]

BONUS POEM:

​When reflecting on Sherald's "Kingdom," I checked the online Dickinson archive for the poet's use of the word "kingdom" and "reign," and I found this -- the poem at the left.  

A la line 2, the slick and slippery descent down a slide in a child's kingdom reigns but an instant.