Maira Kalman

"As if the fullness of the soul did not sometimes overflow in the emptiest metaphors, since no one can ever give the exact measure of his needs, nor of his conceptions, nor of his sorrows; and since human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make the bears dance when we long to move the stars." – Flaubert, Madame Bovary

That is one of the quotes Maira Kalman has painted on the wall of her auto-curated exhibit at The Jewish Museum. You should go see it. Or at least read this. It's like walking around in her attentive, associative brain and it's lovely. I wonder if she knows Mary Ruefle?

Here is one my favorite Kalman paintings. Sorry it is so small.
It's called Man Leaping While Man Talks On Phone.


There is also an exhibit on Houdini.