Word: collector
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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West's books were virtually ignored, but for some readers they have long been collector's items. In the bland climate of U.S. letters, true satire rarely flourishes, but the chilling ferocity of West's satirical attack would be rare anywhere. It involves not only a total rejection of common American ideals, but a Swiftian loathing for the texture of life itself. In his earliest work West recognized this of himself, in the character of a Cultured Fiend who says: "I was completely the mad poet. I was one of those 'great despisers' whom Nietzsche...
...University painter sits in a room with three others, chewing a candy bar, and wonders if the AFL-CIO boys can help. A garbage collector rides in the back of his collection truck, sorting out valuables and wondering where the students get their money from...
...Europe's capitalists, in 1934 wrote it into law to protect the funds of victims of Nazi and Fascist persecution. Anyone can open a secret account in a Swiss bank, get a code number for all his transactions. The secrecy code is so stringent that the Swiss tax collector himself dares not inquire about a depositor's account...
...Spanish painter Juan Gris once defined classicism as a perfect balance between the emotional and intellectual. In that sense, Louise and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.'s collection reflects a truly classic taste. Most private collections mirror the collector in some way, revealing a conservative temperament or avant-garde spirit, sometimes a literary bent or romantic strain. Some, influenced by reputation or advice, reflect no intellectual activity other than faith. The Pulitzers' choice, however, represents not only a distinct personality but a clarified point of view...
...Pulitzer, who began collecting as a Harvard undergraduate when he acquired Modigliani's Elvira Resting at a Table, is entitled, after twenty years, to some mistakes. Villon's portrait of the collector and Tamayo's study of Mrs. Pulitzer, tressingly poor examples of the work of gifted commissioned rather than chosen, are both discollector and Tamayo's study of Mrs. Pulitzer, tressingly poor examples of the work of gifted commissioned rather than chosen, are both dispainters. Andre Beaudin's The Steeplechase, almost commercial in its obvious mannerisms, seems enigmatically out of place...