Ennyman's Territory: Fun With Collage: Claude-Angèle BONI's Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, Versions 1 & 2

Click to enlarge.

When I first saw French artist Claude-Angèle BONI's Dylan-themed paintings and collages, I was thrilled and looked forward to sharing. I have since learned that there's much more to share than there's room to share it, though with Duluth Dylan Fest approaching, I certainly have a ready excuse to share more Dylan-themed stories than usual, and as Batman once reminded Robin, "There can NEVER be too much Dylan."

Today's collages feature Dylan and peers inserted into classical settings. The first is titled Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. It's based on a famous painting by Renoir titled Luncheon of the Boating Party. Can you find the five characters of Joan, Bob, Sara, Sally and Albert Grossman? Is that Bob Neuwirth in there as well? Sally Grossman and Sara Dylan were friends, so they play the roles of Lily and Rosemarie in this collage. Albert Grossman was a big guy and Claude-Angele seemed to recall a place in Chronicles where he referred to himself as Big Jim. (This may or may not be a fiction, but it works.)

"When I make those collages I'm using a lot of pieces of pictures then I stick them together and I obtain an original creature, like Dr Frankenstein used to do," Claude-Angele explained. This, of course, made me think of the song My Own Version of You from Dylan's latest release, Rough & Rowdy Ways.

Wearing costumes from French Cancan. Click to enlarge.

The second version of Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts uses a different setting for the characters portrayed. In this version Claude-Angele has the characters wearing costumes from Jean Renoir's 1955 comedy French Cancan. What's interesting to me is the inspired adoption of creations by two different Renoirs. The painting at the top of the page is by French impressionist Pierre-August Renoir.

What especially surprised me was how when I mentioned the director Jean Renoir on my Monday blog post, she immediately responded like a short order cook with these two Renoir-inspired collages depicting Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. In this latter version we see (L to R) Sally Grossman as Lily, Albert Grossman as Big Jim, Bob Dylan as the Jack of Hearts, Sara Dylan as Rosemary and Bob Neuwirth on the right, as The Judge.

Here are the photos our artist used to assemble these images for us.