In a city of harsh chrome, glass and ordinary brick, the stately wooden structure, painted a soft yellow with porches on three sides, speaks of another time and has a muted elegance about it.
The art, after all, was furtive and alchemical enough in its honest form; Manseau writes that the wet-plate collodion process favored at the time "had the air of conjuration about it," involving harsh chemicals, glass plates, and plenty of time in the dark.
Through the window, the full moon gave off a strange, harsh light, like glass, as if, inert for millions of years, it were now coming back to life.
This money came with conditions but also twisted the fund into the position of looking through rose-tinted glasses at harsh realities, in order to rationalize its lending decisions.
The nuances of a complex red wine, for example, might unfold and beguile in the appropriate glass, but turn harsh and closed in another.
When the pope finally arrived, the farmer was 200 yards away, able to see only the top part of the "popemobile," a sparkle of glass under the harsh glint of a powerful sun.
As I whizzed past a defunct hamburger stand, I mentally logged in the whimsical curve of its roofline, the harsh light glinting off shattered glass panels, and an angry dash of red graffiti on the weathered plywood over the once busy service window.
I took the elevator down to the street level and the throngs of people below, shielding Glass from the harsh outside world -- looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was threatening us.
"Shoes are comfortable, and they protect the foot" from glass, asphalt, and other harsh realities of urban running, he notes.
