A series of poems gleaned from the wall texts at the Los Angeles County Art Museum. Each poem is based on a single wall text. The title of the poem repeats the title of the wall text (except in the first poem in which the wall text did not have a title). I formed the body of the poem by choosing one word from each line of the wall text. If the text had a paragraph separation, the poem is similarly divided into stanzas. The poem also retains the wall text’s occasional use of italics.
- (Untitled)
Earth
Time
Expression
Ancient
Space
Universal
Gathering
Suggest
Archipelagos
From
Through
As
How
And
Human
Elegance
It
Mapped
Water
2. Henri Matisse: La Gerbe
One
Commission
Approached
Developed
Limitations
Responded
Rejected
Which
Final
Shipped
And
Remained
The
It
The
Like
It
Serenity
3. In This Light
Of
The
Shifting
Condition
Experienced
Together
Light
Year
Space
Transience
Also
Reflection
Return
Changes
Will
Consider
Different
4. The Stuff of Alchemy: Plastic in Art
Essence
Critic
Infinite
Pliability
Broad
Made
And
And
Expression
And
Form
In
Experimentation
Other
Parts
Promise
Inventiveness
Overconsumption
Harm
5. Car Culture
Long
Opportunity
Are
Speeding
Of
Its
Material
Spirit
Blurred
Transformed
And
Works
Represent
Risks
Threats
6. Picturing the American West
Long
Landscape
Staked
Another
Control
And
Frontier
Wilderness
Mastered
Rather
The
Given
Declared
Persisted
Today
Significance
American
7. Ultramodern: Kyoto Ceramics
Imperial
Aristocratic
World
Transformative
A
First
Forms
While
Drawing
Radical
Developments
Functional
Collectives
Established
Pursued
These
Generations
Recognition
Here
8. Blue-and-White Porcelain of East Asia
Of
Social
Aesthetic
Execution
Displayed
Asymmetric
Elaborate
Links
Evident
Elegant
Symbolizing
Implements
Among
Patterns
Cultures
Artisans
Other
Studios
Followed
9. Japan: Living Landscapes, Flowing Waters
Has
Literature
Movement
Waves
Shifts
Literally
Seen
Spaces
Power
Significant
In
Purifying
Pathways
Especially
Transitions
Beauty
10. L.A. Printmaking
Champions
Publishers
And
Surface
impressions
Point
Became
Establishment
Advocate
Subsequently
Proliferated
Demonstrated
Complemented
And
Thrives
Often
Dynamic
11. Spanish America at the Center of the World
Extraordinary
Region
Major
Capital
New
And
Filled
Packed
And
Distributed
And
Satisfied
Inspired
Reflect
Used
Confluence
Remarkable
World
12. Textiles of the Andes
High
Empire
Elites
Rooted
Used
Constraints
Bold
Important
Political
Death
Was
Woven
13. Navigating Pacific Asia
Navigators
Through
Known
Reverence
With
Seashell
Works
Shaped
While
Honors
Stick
Guideposts
From
Figures
North
14. Polynesia: “Our Sea of Islands”
The
Scattered
Network
Called
Connected
Who
Their
These
Pounding
Spread
Continues
Expeditions
Such
Introduced
Audiences
Explosion
Exoticizing
By
Ancient
15. Images of the Divine in South Asia
Cradle
Which
Shaped
Complex
Mediums
Matter
Spread
Eventually
Flourished
Producing
Deities
Lord
Shiva
Sculpture
Sage
Three
White
Dated
16. The Evolution of Abstract Painting in Modern Korea
Trace
Centuries
Despite
Sensational
Line
Inspiration
Representation
Screen
Further
Abstracted
Minimal
Grid
Monochromatic
Repeated
Firmly
Important
17. Luxury Arts of the Great Mughals
Adorned
Wealthy
Warriors
Conquered
Establishing
Through
Grand
Wonders
Opulent
Sumptuous
Precious
Elegant
Ornate
Deadly
Stylized
Vegetal
Lustrous
18. Persianate Arts: Manuscript Painting
And
And
And
This
Often
Were
Circulated
Primarily
Providing
Most
Points
Well
Under
Juxtaposed
From
Where
The
Typical
Subtly
19. Persianate Arts: The Ardabil Carpet
Perhaps
Celebrated
Fragile
Onward
Matched
Counterpart
To
Reported
Shrine
Exceptional
Features
Central
Because
The
Prepared
Oversaw
Esteemed
This
20. Henri Cartier-Bresson: China in Tradition
Just
Falling
During
Concentrate
Revealed
Angle
Shooting
Capture
Figures
Civilians
Well
He
Forced
Four
The
Forward
Work
Pioneer
21. Ceramic Vessels of Neolithic China
From
And
The
All
Vibrant
Their
Of
In
Anticipates
Silk
22. Pan-Asian Buddhist Art
Founded
Known
One
Endless
Accumulated
Evolved
Path
Introduced
Savior
Rituals
Lifetime
Across
Revealing
Aesthetic
Deities
Intricately
Alongside
Furniture
Philosophies
Repertoires
23. Indonesian Batiks and Cultural Exchange
Long
Made
Women
Melted
Submerging
Removed
Exhibited
Displayed
Highlights
Body
Circulated
Adapted
Consumers
Added
Intangible
24. Shaping Dutch Identity: The Mr. and Mrs. Edward Carter Collection
Newly
Broken
Major
Commercial
Extreme
Labor
Fueled
Art
From
Homeland
And
Interiors
Reveal
World
First
He
Bequeathed
This
Friendship
25. Classical Revivals in Europe and America
Artists
Intellectuals
Models
Exterior
Left
These
Landscapes
Busts
Garments
Fantasies
Shaping
Strict
And
Invented
Varying
Movements
Popular
Other
26. Grandeur in Sacred Spaces
Cathedral
Worship
Awe
Multisensory
Fragrance
Hymns
Spanning
This
Nature
Specifically
Master
Christ
Holy
Human
And
Atmosphere
27. Print Culture: After Raphael
Central
Significance
Through
From
And
After
Across
His
Their
Innovations
By
Art
Evoke
Stories
Schemes
Residences
Audiences
28. Mediterranean Crossings
Linking
The
Exchange
Fourteenth
Eighteenth
Layered
Room
Home
Spaces
Architectural
Crossroads
Centers
Evoking
Community
Adjacent
Peninsulas
And
29. The Iberian World: From Spain to Spanish America
Was
The
Through
And
Turning
Into
Composite
Complex
And
Still
Continents
Dazzling
Reformulate
In
Virgin
Thousands
Portrayals
Turn
Glimpse
Iconic
Space
30. The Ancient Mediterranean: Gods and Goddesses
Riotous
Huntress
Anchored
Shifted
Constant
Everywhere
Temples
Homes
Settings
Recovered
Incised
And
Integrated
Daily
31. In Conversation: James McNeill Whistler and Japan
Foreign
Leading
Sparked
Aesthetics
Others
How
Which
Flattened
Bands
Life
Created
Embracing
Testament
Ambience
|Formed
32. Responses to Industrialization: The Arts and Crafts Movement
Movement
Industrialization
Manifestations
Championing
Adherents
Reluctantly
Realized
Machine
Production
Resolved
As
Furnishings
Factory
Commitment
School
And
Clock
Reverence
Brought
Form
33. Labor and Leisure in the American Metropolis
Establish
Purchased
One
Completed
Overcrowded
Generation
Who
Amid
Gilded
New
Rapid
Rising
Documented
Idealized
Pleasures
Escapes
And
Social
Contrasts
Working
34. Modernism in the Marketplace
Modernists
Stripped
Meant
Traditions
Mass
Distribution
Influential
Rationalism
And
Both
Advocated
Advantage
And
Smooth
Factories
Sparkling
Commodities
Stylish
Modernity
Items
35. Pictorialism to Modernism in Photography
International
Remained
Desire
Rather
Personal
Growing
Concerned
Soft
Moody
Sketches
Emerged
Celebrating
Avoided
Shift
Discovering
Selection
Between
Subjects
36. The Power of Objects in West and Central Africa
Masks
Mediate
Power
People
Bold
Stares
Presence
Priests
Cast
Patterns
Flowers
Figures
Fertility
Life
Authority
Discarded
Honoring
Consumption
37. Stonework from Mesoamerica and the Caribbean Coast
Millions
Collisions
Vast
Gems
Depths
Unyielding
Ephemeral
Into
The
Eccentric
Valued
Thought
Essences
To
Laboriously
Everlasting
Transformation
38. Gandhara and Rome: Crossroads of the Classical World
What
Exchange
Hybrid
Early
Eastward
Merged
Classical
Particularly
Some
Such
Representations
Riding
Related
Technically
Pair
Style
Continuing
Until