A detail from the early 17th century Sotherton memorial
Norwich City's coat of arms, the Lion and Castle.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Andromeda and Perseus
Recently, while looking at late 1500's / early 1600's art-work of illustrations relating to alchemy, I discovered Joachim Wtewael's painting of Perseus and Andromeda. Wtewael's Perseus and Andromeda is strong evidence that throughout the centuries, the myths of ancient Greece, with their many tales of transformation of mortal to immortal, love-intrigues between goddesses and heroes, and inter-action between gods and man, were a potent force upon the Western artistic imagination.
Joachim Wtewael of Utrecht (1566-1638) was a Northern Mannerist painter who stylistically adopted formal devices such as brilliant and decorative colour, contrived spatial design and contorted poses to great effect, as in his Perseus and Andromeda. Wtewael is also known for combining artifice with naturalism in his paintings and an ability to integrate two contrary aesthetics of Dutch 16th and 17th century painting, uyt den geest (from the imagination) and naer t leven (after life). He painted contrasting works such as Momento Mori, a naturalistic domestic Kitchen scene, as well as a highly-formalised treatment of the myth of Vulcan surprising the lovers Venus and Mars, a popular myth throughout the Renaissance.
The Greek myth of Andromeda and Perseus tells of how Andromeda was chained to a rock on the shore as a sacrifice to the sea-monster Cetus. The sea-god Poseidon had sent the monster Cetus as a punishment for Andromeda's mother Cassiopeia's claim that she was more beautiful than the Nereid's. However, as soon as the hero Perseus, on his journey from the Gorgon saw Andromeda, he fell in love with her and petitioned Cepheus her father that if he could destroy the monster he would give him the rescued girl as a wife. After oaths were sworn, Perseus confronted the monster, killed it and set Andromeda free. The myth is immortalized in the constellations of Draco, Perseus and Andromeda clustered together in the northern quarter of the night sky.
The Greek myth of Andromeda and Perseus, that of the damsel in distress saved by a knight in shining armour is an archetypal myth which has inspired numerous painters throughout history as a subject worthy of artistic expression. Artists have responded to the myth of Andromeda and Perseus from either a conscious or unconscious need to express the freeing of the feminine, or perhaps in recognition of the repression and suppression of the feminine in their respective society, or even simply as a pliable and exciting love and action story. It's a true roll-call of the Western artistic tradition how many famous artists have been inspired to devote their creativity to this myth.
Beginning with Italian Renaissance artists Piero di Cosimo (1462-1521) and Varsari (1511-74) to Dutch artists Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Rembrandt (1606-69) to the Neo-classical artists Tiepolo (1696-1770), Ingres (1780-1867) and in the 19th century to Romantic, Pre-Raphaelite and Decadent artists, Delacroix (1798- 1863), Burne-Jones (1833-1898) and Gustav Dore (1832-1883) there seems to have been no artistic era which has not been attracted to this most archetypal of myths; that of entrapped beauty and a hero who comes from the sky and kills the beast and wins her love.
Greek myths in general have been a constant source of inspiration to artists and thinkers throughout the centuries. It's interesting to note in passing that these include German alchemist Count Michael Maier (1568 -1622) who based much of his spiritual alchemy upon Greek myth. While the founder of psychology, Sigismund Freud named his first psychological theory after a hero of Greek mythology, Oedipus.
As Christianity developed it created its own mythology, often borrowed and adapted from ancient myth. The story of Saint George and the Dragon has many striking similarities in theme to Perseus and Andromeda, and in all probability the Greek myth is the archetypal model for the Christian legend of Saint George. Examples of differing cultures and belief-systems distant in time to each other yet sharing similar myths hint ultimately of the syncretic nature of myth, and are, as Jung realised in his long study of mythology, fairly frequent coincidences in comparative religion.
Remembering that myths originate from the earliest dawn of memory and consciousness and have been elaborated upon throughout the generations; the myth of Perseus and Andromeda, essentially that of the hero rescuing the 'fair prize' of a damsel in distress from the monster is in Jung's study of the archetypes, none other than a recognising of, integration and winning of the lesser known, 'undeveloped' or 'other' half' of the psyche, the anima by the Hero.
Jung argues that throughout western history, the male psyche has often belittled or even ignored, often to his detriment, qualities such as passivity, the skill of listening, empathy, sensitivity of feeling and capacity for intuition. Such mental qualities are often considered as somehow 'lesser' or 'feminine' qualities. However, in Jungian psychology, the feminine, the anima in a man and animus in women, are the very prizes which are 'hard to obtain'. Realization of the anima is the goal of the seeking Hero in his perilous quest of individuation, totality and psychic wholeness.
Jung argues that throughout western history, the male psyche has often belittled or even ignored, often to his detriment, qualities such as passivity, the skill of listening, empathy, sensitivity of feeling and capacity for intuition. Such mental qualities are often considered as somehow 'lesser' or 'feminine' qualities. However, in Jungian psychology, the feminine, the anima in a man and animus in women, are the very prizes which are 'hard to obtain'. Realization of the anima is the goal of the seeking Hero in his perilous quest of individuation, totality and psychic wholeness.
What's most notable in Joachim Wtewael's canvas, besides its overt eroticism, is its near hallucinatory luminescence in colouration and unusual perspective; these qualities remind one of other artists who were conjurers of magical, fantastic elements in their paintings.
Wtewael's Perseus and Andromeda reminds one of both the Flemish painter Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) and of the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali (1904-1989). Though centuries apart both these painters possessed a highly polished technique, as well as an inclination towards mysticism. Indeed, both Bosch and Dali painted The Temptations of Saint Anthony (1946) both contributing to Christian mythology, developing the early Christian legend that Saint Anthony, the early desert Father experienced mystical visions during his long solitary desert sojourns.
In their respective paintings of The Temptations of Saint Anthony Dali and Bosch share a fantastic imagination and a brush-stroke technique able to make manifest the creatures from their imagination . Their message is that the real monsters which beleaguer humanity are far more likely to be engendered from an inner spiritual conflict of the individual than from any external reality.
Hieronymus Bosch - A detail from the left panel of the triptych
- The Temptations of Saint Anthony c.1500
The highly spiritual landscape of the desert, a place of solitude, meeting of God, temptation and devilry has become in both Bosch's and Dali's Temptations of Saint Anthony crowded and populated with bizarre creatures of fantasy, many of a flying or air-borne nature. The monsters in Bosch and Dali are far more numerous and scary than anything in Greek myth, perhaps because the temptations of the Christian Saint Anthony involves temptations of sexuality. Both works are heightened by an intensity of religious fervour. In Bosch's work one's eye is drawn to the close proximity of optical tricks and the grotesques which surround the suffering Saint. Above him the sky is teeming with flying demon creatures. In a detail from the triptych the Desert Father is praying while seemingly helpless in flight astride a flying creature.
In Dali's painting the eye is drawn away from the tormented Saint into a deep, seemingly infinite background in which a procession of improbably spindle-legged, almost floating elephants emerge to totter through the desert. Carried upon the back of one elephant is a closet-like Ark enclosing the bare breasted torso of a female nude. An extremely tortured image, quite esoteric in its symbolism and almost revelling in its sexual neurosis. The fantastic landscape and drama of Wtewael's Andromeda, with its untroubled and unashamedly sexual female nude is no less surreal in perspective and imagery.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Workforce
Workforce (Ryan Moore up) winning the English Derby June 6th 2010
The Prix de' l' Arc de Triomphe is the richest prize horse race in Europe. Well established as a mile and a half race, its open for horses of all ages and is staged in the last days of the Flat racing season on the first Sunday in October; the first Arc was on Sunday October 3rd, 1920 at Longchamp outside Paris as a celebration of the newly-established era of peace following the First World War. The Arc is as much a monument to French victory as a show-case for French horse-racing in its reputation. Top horse trainers from Ireland, France and Great Britain dream of winning this prestigious Group One race of international status.
Workforce, a 3 year-old horse which won the Derby by 7 lengths has today won the Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe. Owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah, trained by Sir Michael Stoute (his first Arc win) and ridden by Ryan Moore, Workforce is only the 6th horse to win both the English Derby and the French Prix De l'Arc Triomphe in the same season. No horse however will ever beat the achievement of last years Arc winner in 2009, the truly unique equestrian star, Sea the Stars.
Since the opportunity of air-travel for horses has developed horse-racing is rapidly becoming a world sport. The next big international race is the Australian Melbourne Cup in November.
A Hero's Daughter
Andreï Makine's novel 'A Hero's Daughter' was first published in 1990. Written in French it was translated into English in 2004 by Geoffrey Strachan. Andreï Makine was born in Siberia in 1957. Granted asylum in France in 1987, he wrote his first novel, A Hero's Daughter in French but was unable to find a publisher, no-one believing that a Russian could write a publishable novel in French. He has since won two of France's most prestigious literary prizes, the Prix Goncourt and Prix Medicis.
'A Hero's Daughter' is the story of the young Ivan Demisdov who fights bravely as a soldier during World War II, defending Moscow from the Nazi invasion. He falls in love with a nurse who saves his life on the battle-field, marries her, endures the years of famine and raises their daughter Olya. When years later his wife dies, Ivan begins to drink vodka heavily and wanders around Moscow, exploiting his status as an honoured military hero. The main story centres upon the 1980's decade of Perestroika and Glasnost initiated by President Gorbachev. Its during this era of reconstruction and openness that Ivan discovers his daughter Olya to be working for the KGB as a high-class call-girl. In return for Western-style luxuries and privileges Olya passes onto the KGB trade secrets of visiting business-men extracted during 'pillow-talk' with her clients. The historical events of Glasnost force both father and daughter, Ivan and Olya, to self-examination and to question their role in society and their contribution to its moral values.
Although it's is translated from French to English, 'A Hero's Daughter', in essence is a Russian novel in story, theme and insights. As in Olga Grushkin's novel, The Dream Life of Ivan Sukhanov also set in the era of Glasnost and Perestroika, Makine selects the 1980's decade, when radical social and political change in Russia occurred, as the setting of his novel. It's a fertile era for Russian asylum novelists, offering the opportunity to examine the re-structuring of Russian society from a relatively objective historical distance and to discourse upon the corruption and moral bankruptcy revealed by the new era of Glasnost.
Written with poignant moments of self-reflection and realization of individual worth, 'A Hero's Daughter' has been described as nothing less than the moral history of Russia. Its a thought-provoking novel which displays Russian themes in its preoccupations and descriptive power; conveying changes in Russian social history through the thoughts and deeds of fictitious creations. Another hallmark of Makine's novel and of many Russian writers in general is the seemingly effortless ability to involve the reader in the psychology of its characters, in alliance with an intense understanding of the human condition.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
The Green Man
Recently I visited Norwich Cathedral, intrigued by the fact that it possesses more medieval bosses than any other church in Christendom. In total over one thousand sculpted and colourfully painted scenes from the Bible are depicted upon its ceilings, including many examples of the 'Green Man' in its cloisters.
The Green Man is an elusive figure in Christian iconography. Often portrayed as a man with foliage spouting abundantly from his mouth or peeping from behind vegetable growth, lurking or hidden from immediate view, there is no real explanation as to why this clearly pagan symbol frequents Christian churches.
Its been proposed that the Green Man represents the natural cycle of mortal life, birth and death, or perhaps is the spirit or god of the yearly renewal of life; no-one really knows why this pagan symbol can be found in many Christian churches; its mythological meaning has been lost in the mists of time and scientific literalism. Equally intriguing is the fact that during the iconoclasm of the Reformation, when images of God, the Saints and the Virgin were gouged, defaced and broken in many Churches, images of the Green Man remained unscathed.
Its been proposed that the Green Man represents the natural cycle of mortal life, birth and death, or perhaps is the spirit or god of the yearly renewal of life; no-one really knows why this pagan symbol can be found in many Christian churches; its mythological meaning has been lost in the mists of time and scientific literalism. Equally intriguing is the fact that during the iconoclasm of the Reformation, when images of God, the Saints and the Virgin were gouged, defaced and broken in many Churches, images of the Green Man remained unscathed.
Norwich Cathedral did not escape from the iconoclasm of the Reformation. Bishop Joseph Hall (1574-1656) described the events which took place in 1643 at Norwich Cathedral thus-
'Lord, what work was here! What clattering of glasses! What beating down of walls! What tearing up of monuments! What pulling down of seats! What wresting out of irons and brass from the windows and graves... and what a hideous triumph on the market-day before all the country, when, in a kind of sacrilegious and profane procession, all the organ-pipes, vestments, both copes and surplices, together with the leaden cross which had been newly sawn down from over the Greenyard pulpit, and the service-books and singing-books... were carried to the fire in the public marketplace; a lewd wretch walking before the train in his cope trailing in the dirt, with a service book in his hand, imitating in an impious scorn the tune, and usurping the words of the litany used formerly in the church... the cathedral open on all sides ... filled with musketeers.. drinking and tobacconing as freely as if it had turned alehouse.'
Colour along with number is primordial of all symbols and a vast subject to discourse upon. The colour green is associated with naivete in colloquial speech and more importantly, with ecological awareness and the growing political movement for the responsible care of the planet.
O blessed green, which givest birth to all things, whence know that no vegetable and no fruit appears in the bud but that it hath a green colour. Likewise know that the generation of this thing is green, for which reason the Philosophers have called it a bud.'
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