verafxh
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- Mar 29, 2016
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I am reading a book about Tim Walker called Pictures and got quite confused when I read this part, Here is the context:
So here then are the truths of that Vogue picture from 1947: It was staged by a German émigré painter, whose accent rendered him only partially intelligible in his adopted country; the hawk was not, strictly speaking, native to the United Kingdom and certainly not to London; the portrait was taken by an American on secondment to England, who did not care about painters or painting (Clifford Coffin cared even less about the British landscape, once observed haranguing the standing stones of Stonehenge for not being bigger). Despite appearances, there’s little ‘English’ about it at all, just the suggestion of it. How potent for one photographer suggestion can be.
I've got 2 questions:
1, Was Clifford Coffin being observed haranguing or Clifford Coffin observed someone else haranguing..?
2, What does “for not being bigger” mean here? to prove himself is not big, being compared to the Stonehenge? or it's saying the Stonehenge is not big..? does it have a pun here..."a bigger person" or sth?
Thanks a lot.
So here then are the truths of that Vogue picture from 1947: It was staged by a German émigré painter, whose accent rendered him only partially intelligible in his adopted country; the hawk was not, strictly speaking, native to the United Kingdom and certainly not to London; the portrait was taken by an American on secondment to England, who did not care about painters or painting (Clifford Coffin cared even less about the British landscape, once observed haranguing the standing stones of Stonehenge for not being bigger). Despite appearances, there’s little ‘English’ about it at all, just the suggestion of it. How potent for one photographer suggestion can be.
I've got 2 questions:
1, Was Clifford Coffin being observed haranguing or Clifford Coffin observed someone else haranguing..?
2, What does “for not being bigger” mean here? to prove himself is not big, being compared to the Stonehenge? or it's saying the Stonehenge is not big..? does it have a pun here..."a bigger person" or sth?
Thanks a lot.