Son of the wind god Vayu, devotee and ally of Rama. The monkey Hanuman has superhuman powers such as the abilities to shapeshift and leap far distances. He plays several important roles in the rescue of Sita.
The younger half-brother of Rama, and his most trusted ally. Quick to anger but unquestionable in his loyalty, Lakshmana also accompanies Rama on his forest sojourn.
The daughter of Janaka, king of Videha, born from a furrow in the earth. Steadfast in her devotion to her husband, Rama, she refuses to abandon him in his exile, and joins him in the forest. She is sometimes understood to be an incarnation of Vishnu’s wife, Lakshmi.
The eldest son of King Dasharatha and Kausalya. Rama represents the paragon of kingship: rightful heir, master of the bow, temperate, and beloved by his citizens. Many paintings depict Rama with blue skin, indicating his divinity.
The Kidnapping of Sita, Admonishment of Lakshmana
After his sister is mutilated, Ravana plots revenge in the form an elaborate scheme to kidnap Sita. Ravana’s brother Maricha takes the form of a golden deer and bounds past Rama’s hermitage. Sita requests her prince to kill the deer, so Rama instructs Lakshmana to watch over Sita while he goes hunting. When Rama is gone, Lakshmana hears Maricha, dying from Rama’s arrow, call for help in Rama’s voice, and is fooled into abandoning his post to search for Rama. Ravana seizes the opportunity to abduct Sita. Reading the painting from left to right, Ravana carries Sita away from her opulent hermitage in the highly stylized forest while Rama chastises to Lakshmana over the corpses of Maricha and the golden deer. The juxtaposition of these two scenes in painting is unusual, and the focus on Lakshmana suggests that a failure of fraternal duty leads to Sita’s abduction as much as the villainy of Ravana. By ignoring his elder brother’s command, Lakshmana ignores his duty. All around, flowers blossom in vibrant colors, contrasting the perfection of nature with the failings of Lakshmana.
Besieged in Lanka and on the verge of defeat, Ravana enlists the help of two demon allies, his brother, Kumbhakarna, and the illusionist Kalanemi. The upper scene depicts Ravana with nine human heads and a tenth donkey head promising the demon Kalanemi half his kingdom if he can defeat Hanuman. The lower scene depicts Ravana supervising his demon soldiers as they sound horns and drums to awaken his indolent giant brother Kumbhakarna from his usual six-month slumber. Both demons are reluctant to fight and are ultimately killed by Rama’s allies. This painting illustrates Ravana’s desperate attempt to coerce mercenaries, who contrast with the willing heroes fighting with Rama. While Rama is the ideal king, certain of his victory, Ravana stubbornly enlists allies into a war he is doomed to lose. The ornate border, adorned with flowers and animals, suggests that the painting was created in a workshop in Jaipur. A black Sanskrit inscription below the border corrects the gold label in the top left that misidentifies Kalenemi. This correction may indicate the artist’s unfamiliarity with the Kalanemi narrative, which only occurs in some tellings of the Ramayana.
Opaque pigments on paper Image: 8 1/16 x 5 7/8 in. Sheet: 12 x 8 7/16 in.
In one version of the Ramayana, after his coronation, Rama banishes Sita to the forest in response to rumors that she was unfaithful during her captivity in Lanka. In this painting, Rama performs a fire sacrifice as part of his royal duties. Since tradition holds that the sacrificer’s wife must be present, a golden statue replaces the exiled Sita. The statue highlights the dilemma of a king who must follow the proscribed ritual of sacrifice, but must also banish a potentially unfaithful wife. The confinement of women to the private sphere on the edges of the composition also evokes conceptions of female subservience implied by the golden statue. The hierarchical organization of the male figures and architectural components infuse the central, public space with a sense of order, authority, and righteousness. The compositional lines draw the viewer’s attention consistently back to Rama, designating his position of importance at the center. Looking closely, one can also detect traces of preliminary drawings in the white planes of the composition.
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper Image: 10 3/4 x 14 1/8 in. Sheet: 13 1/4 x 16 3/4 in.
"Sudden" Sam McDowell during Yankees Spring Training, Bradenton, Florida, 3/6/1974 (McKecknie Field)
The press ate lunch in the long, white building in the background. Iooss came outside and got this shot while most of the journalists and photographers were still chatting inside.
Cal Ripken, Jr. Signing Autographs, Baltimore, 1995
Iooss took this pre-game photograph of Cal Ripken Jr. on the day that he broke the record for consecutive games played. Lou Gehrig previously held this record with 2,130 consecutive games. Ripken’s streak would finally end in 1998 at 2,632, a record that still holds.