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Joan :
Sunflowers. Vincent van Gogh. 1888.
Katherine : He painted what he felt, not what he saw.
People didn't understand. To them, it seemed childlike
and crude. It took years for them to recognize his
actual technique to see the way his brush strokes seemed
to make the night sky move. Yet, he never sold a
painting in his lifetime. This is his self portrait.
There's no
camouflage; no romance. Honesty. Now, 60
years later where is he?
Giselle : Famous?
Katherine : So famous; in fact, that everybody has a
reproduction. There are post cards.
Connie : We have the calendar.
Katherine : Here you go. With the ability to reproduce
art, it is available to the masses. No one needs to own
a van Gogh original.
Susan : We do. In the Newport house. But it's small.
Tiny.
Katherine : They can paint their own. Van Gogh in a
box, ladies. The newest form of mass distributed art.
Paint by numbers.
Connie : Now everyone can be van Gogh. It's so easy.
Just follow the simple instructions and in minutes;
you're on your way to being an artist.
Giselle : Van Gogh by numbers?
Katherine : Ironic, isn't it? Look at what we have
done to the man who refused to conform his ideals to
popular taste, who refused to
compromise
his integrity.
We have put him in a tiny box and asked you to copy him.
So the choice is yours, ladies. You can conform to what
other people expect or you can--
Betty : I know. Be ourselves.
Connie : You're a sight for sore eyes.
Betty : I would've been
here sooner but, silly me; I thought
class was in the classroom.
Katherine : Glad you could join us, Mrs. Jones. We
thought we'd lost you.
Connie : There's sort of unwritten rule for
marr-
Betty : Don't bother.
Katherine : Since your wedding, you've missed six
classes, a paper and your midterm.
Betty : Well, thank god I didn't miss the
paint-by-numbers lecture. I was on my honeymoon and then
I had to set up house. What does she expect?
Katherine : Attendance.
Connie : Most of the faculty turn their heads when the
married students miss a class or two.
Katherine : Then why not get married as freshmen? That
way you could graduate without actually ever stepping
foot on campus.
Betty : Don't disregard our traditions just because
you're subversive.
Katherine : Don't disrespect this class just because
you're married.
Betty : Don't disrespect me just because you're not.
Katherine : Come to class, do the work, or I'll fail
you.
Betty : lf you fail me, there will be consequences.
Katherine : Are you threatening me?
Betty : I'm educating you.
Katherine : That's my job. |
