Théophile Steinlen (1859-1923), "It Burns!" Des Chats (1898), Steinlen Cats (1980)

20th CENTURY ART IN MOTION "It burns! It burns!" cat waves its paw after touching a cigar. Steinlen, first to draw blurring of limbs in art to show motion before Balla's Dog & Duchamp's Nude descending to join those at d'Avignon in free dance, firebird bursts in flame whirling flying into the new life, quanta of space-time, wireless dreams in stream of consciousness. Did the Sun take its children across the Milky Way to a darkness shining in brightness which none could comprehend? The Archer's flow of arrows wakes him up at midnight to knock on a poet's door— "What is it that you want?" the elder asks. "Highest state of consciousness" he says— and they sail past riverrun to bend of bay...                     Peter Y. Chou                     Mountain View, 2-23-2011

Giacomo Balla (1871-1958) Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) Nude Descending a Staircase #2 (1912) Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia