The Creative Corner
by Linda Kastner, [email protected]
"God hath given you one face and you make yourself another."
-Hamlet, William Shakespeare
illiam Shakespeare was born in 1564. He was an English poet, playwright and actor and is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English Language. His work has made a lasting impression on theatre and literature and such works as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, the Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet are among his most famous and loved works.
But aside from his written work, oddly, there is no written description of Shakespeare’s physical appearance and no evidence suggests that he ever commissioned a portrait, so we are not quite sure what he looked like. There is only one engraving by Martin Droeshout published in 1623 which is purportedly a depiction of the writer and the other is a
monument statue of him which stands in his home town of Stratford-upon-Avon.
So to commemorate our 2013 Shakespeare Day at Manhattan Day
School, our student artists painted their own version based on the 1623 portrait engraving but giving it a 21st century post-modern twist. I wonder what Shakespeare would say if he saw these portraits. He would probably say –
"The Golden Age is before us, not
behind us.”
Congratulations to the student artists
on their wonderful interpretations.