In 1971 I was a freshman in junior college in Chicago. I was skinny, 145 or so, 5 feet 6 inches. I was a non-drug using hippy, with long black hair that was clean but unkempt. I took an art appreciation class for its very easy A. The assignment was to write an essay about a twentieth century painting. Since the Art Institute has a great collection I picked the famous pointillist masterpiece, Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte. I figured that I'd sit and study it until I saw something worth writing about, other then the number of dabs of paint it took to create it. I was sitting across from the painting taking notes on this and that. How about the children or the animals? Why were there no little boys, just little girls? What was with the monkey and the dogs? Perhaps there was something about the water and the way it was so calm even though the wind was blowing and filling the sails of the boats.
"I see you are studying La Grande Jatte. It is an engaging painting. Did you notice that none of the faces are fully formed? Did you notice how flat all the figures are rendered?"
"Why no, but now that you mention it I see what you mean."
I turned to look at the person who was so very helpful. He was round, about 240 and taller then me, about 5'9". Judging by his thinning hair I figured him to be 55 or 60.
"Can I join you an the bench?"
"Sure, have a seat."
He sat down and we continued to talk about the painting and my assignment. As he talked he moved closer to me so that our conversation would not bother the other people looking at the painting.
He said, "You could compare this painting to classical Roman relief sculpture. Both try to render figures in two dimensions so it is fair to compare Seurat's solution to a Roman master sculptor. There are fine examples in another gallery. Would you like to see it?"
"That seems like a short walk to an A. Lead on."
We walked to the Greek and Roman gallery. As we did so he touched my shoulder to direct me. This gallery was empty of other visitors, why would you go here when there were so many great paintings to see in the other parts of the museum. We stopped at the Fragment of a Sarcophagus (Coffin).
"See how these figures are fully formed. Not only can you see the center figure's penis, you can even see his pubic hair. Look at the figures on the left. It seems that the standing man is holding the seated man's hand. Do you see what I mean? Seurat doesn't have anything like this level of detail."
Not wanting to seem unsophisticated, I told him I saw the things he was showing me.
"You seem interested in classic art. I have a book or two on the subject. Of course the books go into more detail about both the art and the social relationships in Greece and Rome. Since both cultures had an open relationship to sex and nudity the books may be too strong for you but if you would like to see them we could go there now."
"But I just met you and don't know your name or where you live."
"That is easily corrected. I'm Dan and I live on Clark St. near the Dearborn "L" stop. Now be fair and tell me your name and where you live."
"I'm Sam and I live near the Loyola "L" stop on the same line as your stop."
Again not wanting to appear unappreciative of Dan's help and not feeling threatened by a 55 year old fat guy I accepted his offer.