Arts and Events 2025

The Child is the father of the Man

Photos by Kathryn Jacobi

Statement: The Child is the father of the Man
by Kathryn Jacobi

In William Wordsworth's poem, My Heart Leaps Up, the line "The Child is the father of the Man" opens a universe of metaphoric visualpossibilities.

In his surreal novel Invitation to A Beheading, Vladimir Nabokov writes of a “photo-horoscope”, a device using a process by which a portrait photograph is manipulated into a series of images representing the subject from the cradle to “the final horizontal”.

The theme of memory, transformation, and continuance over the life cycle has been a constant thread of fascination for me over more than 60 years as a working artist. As both a painter and photographer I’ve depicted people in every stage of their lives, singly and in families, and continue to believe that the inner life is reflected in external signs: how we age, how the child becomes the old man or woman, what remains vital throughout a life.

I am especially intrigued seeing parents’ faces and bodies combine to morph into their children’s, the process continuing through generations, leaving intact remnant imprints of the progenitor on grandchildren and beyond. To me, this continuance is invariably life affirming and very, very touching.

This series, The Child is the father of the Man, depicts the older adult in combination with an image from his/her childhood, sometimes singly and sometimes with resembling family members. It takes me aback how little we change: the babies and children so accurately predicting their future visage and posture is almost uncanny. In the same way as I age and see my mother in the mirror looking back at me, I look at her portrait as a child and see her, but see also both my grandmother and my grandchildren. This series of portraits resonate with connection for me, and I compose and layer each final image until that connection--- between mortality and memory--- at least in my eyes and heart---becomes palpable.

Between The Wars

Oil paintings by Kathryn Jacobi

Linda and Betty, oil on paper, 60”x40”, 2005

Exhibition Statement:

My abiding interest as an artist has been with images of people, the continuation of family traits from infancy to old age. The paintings of unusual youngsters for this exhibit derive from old family albums and the albums of close friends from between the World Wars of the 20th century, as well as a few from my own contemporary photographs.

As a portrait artist, I believe that we are not born as innocent blank slates, but carry our futures within us. Our cultures and temperaments vary and go through transitions, but the basic materials of our humanity are there from the beginnings. We can sense innate ambivalence, suspiciousness or guilelessness, aggressive tendencies and those that are introspective or withdrawn.

Perhaps my reactions to the human beings I paint are my own projections, but they attempt to be honest interpretations of the way I understand the world. My point of view is certainly influenced by the anxieties of the 20th century, which are carried over into out new millenium.

The State of Statelessness

Mark Caparosa will be exhibiting illustrations of Peter de Krassel's Custom Maid books and blogs with Peter de Krassel to discuss the State of Statelessness

Mark is an imaginative artist with diverse talents. He’s an Illustrator, Fine Artist, Photographer, Photo Retoucher and Portrait Artist. He attended Rhode Island School of Design majoring in Illustration, he then transferred to Carnegie Mellon University and received his BFA in Painting. Mark moved to New York City in the early 80’s to pursue a career as a freelance illustrator, and began contributing watercolor Illustrations to Marvel, People Magazine, Sonymusic and McGraw Hill. By the early 90’s, Mark made the timely transition to the digital world, finding work with New York’s top Ad Agencies. Ads that he’s retouched have won Clio, Addy and POPAI awards.

Mark’s Fine Art career started in the early 80’s when two of his paintings were exhibited at the Scaife Museum in the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh show. His works were also exhibited at the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society. Once in new York City, his commercial art demands became a priority, but he began exhibiting his fine art again in 2018 at international shows at the Limner Gallery Neoteric Abstract and the Gallery 25 N show Dreams. Mark is now focusing on Illustration and Fine Art. You can see his abstract print projects, as well as his illustrations, at www.markcaparosa.us