One Work: Midge Wattles’s “Venus”

A miniature version of the Venus de Milo and a life-size plaster cast of a human skull are the protagonists of one of Midge Wattles’s photographs of Milton Resnick’s studio. Against a backdrop of sketches stapled to a distressed wall, Venus stands on a stool on the right while the skull rests on a table at left that is splattered with the raw umber and other earthy paint hues Resnick favored for most of his career. These objects, stalwart symbols of beauty and mortality, lend this ph