Redtree Times

Give and Take— Coming to the West End Gallery

Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting.

–Elizabeth Bibesco, The Fir and the Palm (1924)

Elizabeth Bibesco (1897-1948) was one of those deeply interesting people in the background who populated the early 20th century. I had never heard of Elizabeth Bibesco and I believe most people would not know the name. But in the rich political and literary world of the early 20th century, she was always somehow right there in the background, a kind of Zelig-like figure who always seems to appear in old photos jus over the should of the famous person in the shot, prominent but not widely known.

She grew up living at 10 Downing Street as her father, H.H. Asquith, was the British Prime Minister from 1908 until 1916. Her wedding in 1919 to Romanian royal and diplomat Prince Antoine Bibesco was one of the social events of the year in Britain, attended by the royal family and celebs of the day such as George Bernard Shaw. She was a confidante of Marcel Proust when they were in Paris and in England, she was connected with Virginia Woolf and other members of the Bloomsbury Group. She was also well-known in Washington DC society as her husband served for a time as the Romanian ambassador to the US. She published a number of novels and books of poetry during the 20’s and 30’s. She endured World War II in Romania and died there during the final days of the war in Europe from a bout of pneumonia in 1945. She was only 48.

Like I said, one of those interesting lives, the type that burns brightly for too short a time then fades into the mists of history.

For his post, I am focusing on her aphorism at the top. It very much lines up with what I consider my own belief, that we must be generous with others without keeping score or expecting something in return and that when we do have to take, we do so with great gratitude.

The world works best when there is such a form of give and take, at least in my opinion.

The new painting at the top is titled Give and Take. The blowing tree that I sometimes employ in my work has a number of different meanings for me. Sometimes, it represents resistance and defiance. Sometimes it represents how we are affected by this world and how we attempt to contribute to it. A symbol of giving our all.

Here, I see it as symbol of the balance achieved between our gratitude for all we receive from the natural world and our willingness and need to give of ourselves to others. It’s been on my fireplace for several months now and I am always glimpsing at it and listening to what it has to say to me. It speaks loudly and clearly. I am going to miss it when it heads to the West End Gallery at the end of next week as part of my upcoming solo exhibit there which opens on October 16, two weeks from this  coming Friday.

Here’s a song that deals a different sort of give and take.  It’s deals with what happens when the balance between the necessary give and take of our society goes haywire, when there is too much taking and not enough giving. It shows up in the ever-expanding imbalance of wealth and power between the haves and the have-nots. The balance between those who attempt to hoard everything for themselves and the rest of us, many who struggle mightily just to get by in what is often referred to as the richest country in the world.

There is no shame in the shameless.

This song is from Poor Man’s Poison and is titled Give and Take.

Of course it is.