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Show 141 how every painting was going to turn out, and t h a t , as far as Lorin was concerned, was what was wrong with them. He was subject-oriented. This one was a remarkable likeness of himself, smiling blandly, pushing a baby pram in which there sat another likeness of himslef, s l i g h t l y smaller but with the same bland l i t t l e smile. The figures were carefully modelled, though there was an eerie flatness about the scene. The figures, for one thing, knew they were posing. There was hardly a v i s i b le brush stroke, and Noel's colors were carefully modulated, so that the green surface of the tennis court the pram was being pushed on-an arbitrary and s l i g h t l y dishonest f i l l i p , since i t implied a dramatic context that wasn't composition-a l ly necessary-gradually moved across the spectrum and became orange by the edge of the canvas. But nowhere did Noel's colors augment his forms. They were a l l muted and pastel, l i k e Necco wafers. The picture was, he couldn't deny i t , s t a r t l i n g , but just a b i t prissy, he suspected. She spent a l i t t l e longer checking that one out, and that was understandable. With Noel you were never sure you weren't looking at an i l l u s t r a t i o n rather than a painting, and i t took a l i t t l e time to decide that. He was running out of things to say to Helen and Brock, but fortunately she had gone on to the next one. This was another of Noel's, and not a bad one, in fact he had to admit he liked i t , though i t reminded him too much of a rose-period seated harlequin. It was of a young boy, his body delicately rendered to the point of transparency, lying on his elbows on a b r i l l i a n t but mottled red carpet and glowering up at the viewer- He suspected Noel had worked from a photograph for that one. It didn't exploit i t s own medium; i t just expected you to respond to the sulk on the boy's face. She didn't seem to care for i t , and went on to the next one, which was a heap of shimmering dead f i sh at the edge of a table. Lorin guessed that everyone had to go |