A Slave to his Art

A painter in Oaxaca, Mexico, told police he was kidnapped. “There is a very rich lady who likes your painting a lot,” one of the kidnappers told him. “She wants you to paint her.” Niceforo Urbieta worked four days painting a nude portrait of the woman, who he described as having “a very well-formed body.” She would pose for about an hour at a time while Urbieta viewed her through a hole in the wall of the next room. “It was totally absurd,” he complained. “Like a voyeur I had to look at her through that hole and paint her.” Urbieta was released when the painting was completed. (AP) ...“The artist is extremely lucky who is presented with the worst possible ordeal which will not actually kill him. At that point, he’s in business.” —John Berryman (1914–1972), U.S. poet.