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Adalbert is a forum for me, to post ephemera, photography, poetry, occasional travel notes, and various spontaneous motions. Cover photo: Parsonage where my great-grandfather spent his early years. Taken near Liegnitz, Silesia, ca. 1870. The "xothique" portion of the web address is a nod to Clark Ashton Smith's fictional continent of Zothique.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Saint Sebastian by Alfred Courmes



Card sent from my father to me when he was in Paris, with a painting by the surrealist painter Alfred Courmes; I can't quite decipher the Parisian postmark but the second one it received stateside is dated 5 January 1987, Richmond, California.

Text: Dear J, Spent most o'day in the Georges Pompidou Museum which is in a rather startling bldg w large curved ventilators, enclosed plastic walkways, escalators & various other machinery all on the outside of the bldg. Many of the large steel girders are visible. There are no exterior walls but nonetheless it is a good modern art museum wi Dali and other greats. To fully appreciate the picture one must have seen the dozens of other St Sebastian pictures all over Europe, most wi a vapid expression. I laughed heartily on seeing this one. Its getting cold here and looks like snow-ice on water standing (?) Tried to get in the Henri IV hostel which is on an isle but was full so am in the famous hostel which serves a piece of bread and bowl of coffee for brkfst. Its not too bad though -- heard about it from some German kids elsewhere. Have a good room-mate John who is to start his career as a doctor in England in a couple weeks -- also some other nice types and a rather dubious Moroccan Arab. Came on nite train nonstop from Barcelona to Paris and was rather groggy on arriving. Its nice here tho. Good food & charming. Dad

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