The Furka Pass, over 7,500 feet above sea level near the Rhône glacier, is a spare, raw, mountainous region accessible by the pass road for only three to four months each summer. This is the kind of wild landscape that stimulates perception through the deep sense of awe it arouses. The Furka is a deserted place—a hotel at its top has long been closed, and today the only traffic on the road is of people there for pleasure. In a figurative sense, the isolated splendor of the pass can be seen as symbolically appropriate to the situation of art and the artist.

On June 24, 1983, at noon, James Lee