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Narcissus

Currency:USD Category:Western Americana Start Price:NA Estimated At:150,000.00 - 250,000.00 USD
Narcissus
Narcissus
Artist: Kuhn, BobDate of Birth: 1920-2007
Medium: Acrylic
Dimensions: 22 x 30 inches
Signed: Signed upper left and dated 90

In Wild Harvest, Bob Kuhn says, speaking of Narcissus, ÒWho knows what a cougar would make of his reflection on the waters of a tranquil pond? He would hardly fall in and drown, as the Narcissus of mythology managed to do.ÓNarcissus, in the original Greek myth, was a hunter from Thespiae, so enamored of his own good looks that the goddess Nemesis doomed him to stare at his own reflection in a pool until he toppled in and drowned. In the Roman poet OvidÕs version, a nymph of Aphrodite, Echo (who has a beautiful voice), falls in love with Narcissus. When he rejects her, her grief moves Aphrodite to make her disappear so that all that remains is her voice, which is heard by all. In KuhnÕs painting, we see the cougar seeing himself through a glass darkly, as if another cat in a mirror world, stares back. As always, KuhnÕs brushwork gives cougarÕs coat texture, and the musculature of the animal is sleek and beautiful, in a visual echo of the vain, ancient hunter.