high necks by Amedeo Modigliani

 . Amedeo Modigliani, Jeanne Hébuterne, 1918

. Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Lunia Czechowska, 1919

. Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Lunia Czechowska, 1919

Amedeo Modigliani (July 12, 1884 – January 24, 1920) was an Italian artist who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form. He died in Paris of tubercular meningitis, exacerbated by poverty, overwork, and addiction to alcohol and narcotics.

His paintings are characterized by long and stretched figures, with particular high necks.

Polyphemus the cyclope-波吕斐摩斯独眼巨人

"We sailed hence, always in much distress, till we came to the land of the lawless and inhuman Cyclopes. Now the Cyclopes neither plant nor plough, but trust in providence, and live on such wheat, barley, and grapes as grow wild without any kind of tillage, and their wild grapes yield them wine as the sun and the rain may grow them. They have no laws nor assemblies of the people, but live in caves on the tops of high mountains; each is lord and master in his family, and they take no account of their neighbours."

"'Strangers, who are you? Where do sail from? Are you traders, or do you sail the as rovers, with your hands against every man, and every man's hand against you?"

"I then gave him some more; three times did I fill the bowl for him, and three times did he drain it without thought or heed; then, when I saw that the wine had got into his head, I said to him as plausibly as I could: 'Cyclops, you ask my name and I will tell it you; give me, therefore, the present you promised me; my name is Noman; this is what my father and mother and my friends have always called me."

"But the cruel wretch said, 'Then I will eat all Noman's comrades before Noman himself, and will keep Noman for the last. This is the present that I will make him."

Polyphemus (Greek: Πολύφημος, Polyphēmos) is the gigantic one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes. Polyphemus plays a pivotal role in Homer's Odyssey.

a voyage to Lilliput: high Gulliver in the land of the low Lilliputians -在小人国的旅行

Gulliver's Travels 

(1726, amended 1735),  is a novel by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature.

In particular, on his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck and awakes to find himself a prisoner of a race of people one-twelfth the size of normal human beings, less than 6 inches (15cm) high, who are inhabitants of the neighbouring and rival countries of Lilliput and Blefuscu.

about giants: high people -和巨人有关的...

The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel (in French, La vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel) is a connected series of five novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais.

It is the story of two giants, a father (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel) and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, satirical vein.

dancing in the upper way-在空中的舞蹈（踩高跷）

 Chinese traditional folk art-stiltwalking.

Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a person or structure to stand at a distance above the ground. Walking stilts are poles equipped with steps for the feet to stand on, or straps to attach them to the legs, for the purpose of walking while elevated above a normal height.

the highest man in the world-世界上最高的人



 

Zhan Shi Chai ( 詹世钗),
was a Chinese giant who toured the world as "Chang the Chinese Giant" in the 19th century. He  was born in Fuzhou in what is now Fujian Province in the 1840s, though reports of the year vary from 1841 to 1847. His height was claimed to be over 8 feet (2.4 m), but there are no authoritative records. He left China in 1865 to travel to London where he appeared on stage, later travelling around Europe, and to the US and Australia as "Chang the Chinese Giant". Zhan received a good education in various countries, and developed a good understanding of ten languages. In America, he earned a salary of $500 a month.

Kin Foo, the Chinese wife who accompanied Zhan from China, died in 1871, and Zhan later married Catherine Santley, a Liverpudlian whom he met in Sydney, Australia. They had two children: Edwin, born in 1877 in Shanghai, and Ernest, born in 1879 in Paris.

In 1878, Zhan retired from the stage and settled in Bournemouth, where he opened a Chinese teahouse and a store selling Chinese imports.

Zhan died in Bournemouth in 1893, four months after his wife, aged around 50. His coffin was 8 feet 6 inches (2.6 m) long.