In the Labyrinth

Tearing Up The Canals: The Women's Regatta in Venice, 18th Century

 I am rather in love with this painting of the Women's Regatta in Venice by Gabriele Bella, 1730-1799 (click on for a larger view). I had no idea that women were accomplished rowers, though it does on reflection make a certain amount of sense. If one lives on the waters and the canals, or course every woman would have to know how to manage her own small boat if she wanted to get any where important. (This is the problem of being a tourist in Venice -- one always assumes someone else will row one around). 

Here's a bit more information from a nice post in Seductive Venice (indeed it is).

"Women had raced in regattas (boat races) since 1493. An island community like Venice, where every nonna knew how to row a boat, allowed its women to enter the races and processionals (or at least the women from the working class). The priests even blessed them. Regattas were usually held when a visiting dignitary came to town, and rowers showed off their skills or challenged others in order to keep fit for their jobs, such as did the gondoliers or workers at the Arsenale where they made boats."

The post also includes a lovely painted portrait of an especially skilled woman, five-time regatta winner Maria Boscola: "Maria had first raced in 1740, winning the red pennant for first place, with her partner and friend Emma, nicknamed La Garbina. But 24 years passed before women participated in the races again. These may have been the years that Maria bore and raised her children. She also grew enough vegetables that she could bring in to the Rialto market to sell, keeping her rowing arms strong for the 25 kilometer trip each market day." 

So, she took a little time off to keep up with her produce business and raise children -- but she kept herself in shape and ready for the day she could return to race. Pretty remarkable and determined! 

 

More Field Drawings: Darjeeling, India 1964. Tibetan Lhamo Performances.

I posted a few field drawings of my mother Jeanette Snyder yesterday, and wanted to add some more of them because I think they are charming -- and remind me of the days when field researchers lugged heavy tape recorders, cameras, and note books, just in case all that heavy technology failed, leaving only the sketches and notes. You can see many more of her photos and her article about this day at the Journal of Mythic Arts.

 

Bittersweet: An Afternoon Under the Tent Watching the A Ice Lhamo Perform

I have been working through my mother Jeanette Snyder's papers -- including a cash of drawings, and strips of contact sheet photographs (many that were never developed and for which the negatives disappeared many years ago) on her research of the Tibetan Lhamo in 1964.  She rote a wonderful article "The World Beneath the Tents" which included an account of this long summer's day in Darjeeling, India, beneath the Mahabharat Range, watching the Lhamo actors perform their folk operas. It is a wonderful article and so many of the well known actors she saw on that day (and who are in the accompanying photographs) have long since died.

But in all those photographs, I couldn't find one of her -- until now. I took another look at the thin strips of photographs with their tiny black frames with a frenzy of activity occurring within them. I had to squint and then finally scan them in order to see them more clearly in photoshop. And then -- there she was at number 18 -- not her full face, for of course her eyes were fixed forward on the drama unfolding before her, but I know her braid, her bangs, the curve of her cheek resting against her fist. Here is the strip of photos -- so you can see her watching the play. As I did, you will need to click the image to see a larger version. I think this was one of the happiest days of her life. 

And I found these too -- field drawings of what she saw -- perhaps just in case the photos didn't turn out.