"...If you want knowledge, you must take part in the practice of changing reality. If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself."

William Helburn, "...If you want knowledge, you must take part in the practice of changing reality. If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself."

William Helburn, artist

1924–2020

"...If you want knowledge, you must take part in the practice of changing reality. If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself.", 1967

Portfolio/Series title: "A Beginner's Guide to Mao Tse-tung," published in Esquire magazine, December 1967

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: board; dye transfer print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 49.6 x 32.8 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 19 1/2 x 12 15/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 25 x 20 in

Credit line: Gift of Esquire, Inc.

Accession number: 1980.0485

Not on display

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Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, more commonly known in the West as the “Little Red Book,” is a compilation of quotes from statements and writings by the former Chairman of the Communist Party of China. Although the book was known worldwide, Esquire deemed the former Chairman’s insights to be “extremely dull and entirely unmemorable.” To reverse this effect, William Helburn illustrated tenets from Mao’s book with photographs of the actress Sharon Tate. In this example, Helburn draws on the Biblical story of Eve tasting forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge. Tate, who married director Roman Polanski soon after this spread was published, was brutally murdered in
August of 1969 by followers of cult leader Charles Manson.