Amédée Ozenfant

The attendant was leaning in the corner.
He knew pretty well that I wanted him in the picture. He doesn’t look too happy about it. He could moved or turned his head away. Why should he. He was communicating with me. Was he, or was he just looking out from a long day on his feet, maybe wondering whether he was supposed to be leaning against the wall? Maybe it is in his contract that he should be on his feet and not leaning.

He’s not young, and a long day on your feet can tire you, maybe especially when other people are walking through. Maybe if I was in his position I would get a tiny camera rigged into my jacket and triggered from my pocket. And I would take candid photos of all the crazy people who come to look at art. And I would make a book, self-published, and make enough money that I didn’t have to stand all day.

Or be a writer, and write about the people who come and go.

I wasn’t super keen on the red of the vases in the picture but I liked the way the painter, Amédée Ozenfant, drew the stylised shadows.

I googled for more of Amédée Ozenfant. I like the colours and tones and shapes in a lot of his stuff. I am not sure I can attach much meaning to it – just nice shapes.

Maybe I need to stand in front of more of his originals.

Wikipedia tells me that along with Le Corbusier he founded the Purist movement.
I learned about Le Corbusier at school. I would like to see one of his buildings in the flesh. I may have already and forgotten it. In fact I think I have. But maybe I saw it in a magazine or a book and can no longer remember where I saw it.

But really it was the attendant in the corner that I wanted in the photo.