Sunday, October 30, 2022

#498 La Gâcheuse







Strange to find such an image in 
a book on healing; but Magritte's
purloining of the anatomical 
illustration lacks the layering that
Dr. F.E. Bilz included, where the
face could be folded back to dis-
play a skull, & the internal organs
similarly displayed by a slight
manipulation of the body. None
of that shown here. Instead—dare
we say it?—a combination of
bare bones & bare breasts to offer 
up a simulacrum of age & youth
conjoined. Though left intact upon
the head some residual skin, a re- 
minder that memento mori might
sometimes come back to bite us.