Humility
is the arch principle
of faith.
These are the
words she speaks
as she appears
like an enigma.
She
cannot
see who you are but
knows how you are.
This is
her wisdom.
Defying
all laws of physics,
her cosmic
scale tilts against the love of
wealth that
has determined
man's
fate, becoming
the catalyst, which unfolds
its truths and
lives its message through the
vision
of a
blind and
Ancient
Woman.
Like
in so
much of
this artist's work, this painting
is another
example
of the use of symbolic imagery to convey
an enigmatic
message elevated to
the level of prophecy.
In this painting,
the artist seems to indicate
the imminent
approach of
great disparity
and injustice
that will fall across the land, destroying trust
in governing
structures
and civil leadership,
threatening
the cohesion and stability of the nation and rendering
the faithful
into non believers, so
to speak,
as it reaches for the Age of Truth. This work was
painted in 1973,
decades before our current
era, long before this present moment in
our history, which has come to be characterized by some as the "post-truth"
period in the country's evolution.
The
painting, entitled
Ancient Woman, was part of the collection of Mulleian paintings in a permanent
feature exposition at the Frank Gallery on Gallery Row in the Union Square district
of downtown San Francisco through the 1970s. By the end of that decade the painting
was purchased by Dr. Lloyd E. Latch, founder of. Lloyd E. Latch Chiropractic.
Here the painting was showcased in a large reception/waiting area of the business
and has been seen by an estimated ten thousand patients through the years.
Lloyd
was considered a pioneer in the field of chiropractic education and lectured
nationally at chiropractic colleges and seminars across the country. He was
named the Chiropractor of the year by the Parker Chiropractor Research Foundation
and the Professional Chiropractor Society of America. The California Chiropractic
Association awarded him its prestigious Life Achievement Award in 2014.
Among
his many patients were S.F. Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, who mentioned him
many times in his columns and dubbed him “chiropractor to the stars”.
Among the other well-known patients were Bing Crosby, Allen Arkin, James Caen,
Juan Marichial, as well as Willie McCovey, Chris Spier, Ken Venturi, Melvin
Belli and others.
