LUNCH SOMETIME

One of the most famous paintings produced by Edouard Manet is Le déjeuner sur l'herbe ("The Luncheon on the Grass"), which shows a naked woman in the foreground with two fully dressed men, and another woman behind the happy picnic party, scantily dressed, taking a dip in a bosky pool.
The two men are talking to each other, the naked woman is bored with their conversation and gazes directly at the viewer.

This canvas created quite a scandal at the time it was first exhibited.
It is now so iconic that I need not even reproduce it here.

To my mind, one of the things most remarkable about the painting is the clever use of blobs, those being the sketchily done areas in dark hues that form the pattern of the painting.
The people in the picture, however, hardly engage.
The nude woman, while charming, is not really that interesting, and the poncy gentleman with the odd hat who is facing her companion seems disinterestingly dissolute.

A better female nude can be found in Manet's painting 'Olympia', in which a courtesan with rather handsome breasts stares provocatively at the audience while a servant proffers flowers from an admirer.
Note, please, that the admirer is neither present nor known.
The painting suggest that it could be any one of us.

But the key element of Le déjeuner sur l'herbe is the image of a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, picnicking in a dell or glade, and enjoying the breeze as it strokes the skin.
Good company, something to nibble on, a warm day.
Clothing optional.

I have never experienced such a thing near the office, more's the pity.
There are a number of pleasant shady places in the Financial District that pretty much demand leisurely naked snack parties.
Including a copse of bamboo off an alley between Market and Mission.

In previous years I would wander over there in mid-afternoon to have some quiet time.
No, I never went commando while amid the tall pillars of bamboo.
But I'm very surprised no one else did.
This IS San Francisco.

I think I'll head over there sometime, now that the weather has improved.
With a sandwich from one of the nearby delis.
And a pipe.

Plus, of course, a positive attitude.


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