...and the Danes strike again

Thanks to my new book; The Best Art You've Never Seen by Julian Spalding, I have learned about all sorts of interesting art pieces that have been stashed away for centuries for a plethora of reasons. One that caught my eye today was the Trundholm Sun Chariot. Like the Dancing Satyr of Mazara and Bronze Zeus (or maybe Poseidon), it was found hidden by nature. It was discovered in 1902 in a peat bog somewhere in Denmark. Them and their bogs...littered with all sort of artifacts, and lots of bodies apparently. The piece is made of bronze and gilded with gold.
This piece is theorized to teach initiates how the sun was pulled across the sky since they seem to believe it wasn't made purely for ornament or decoration (I think it easily could have been). According to Norse mythology Sol is the goddess of the sun. She would ride through the sky on her chariot pulled by her horses Arvak and Alsvid. Quite similar to the Greek Helios.
Interesting thing, only one side of the sun if gilded with the gold, the other side is plain. Which seems to indicate the darkness that would descend upon the world with the absence on the sun.
This entire concept is quite poetic and beautiful, as most of the mythological explanation for things. This probably was some sort of educational piece or even part of an altar piece, but you have to wonder how it ended u in that bog in the first place. According to this book it was intentionally broken into pieces and place carefully within the bog. Was this meant for preservation or destruction? Many anthropologists believe these bogs were often used as sacrificial sites. The nordic people seemed to believe these bogs had preserving properties (which is sort of correct) and this was probably an offering to Sol.

So many more interesting pieces in this book to discuss, be prepared for some education.

Hellenistic Art, part 3

I left off discussing the eroticism in this era, but vicory and nobility in defeat are equally important. There is one piece which personifies all that is triumphant.
The Nike of Samonthrace (190 BCE) by Phidias is the perfect example. I should probably say explain what a Nike is first. A Nike is was a goddess who personified triumph throughout the ages of the ancient Greek culture. She is known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent is Victoria.
Originally she was placed on a cifftop overlooking the sea. And she even sees to have been designed that way. Her wings flap in the wind and her drapery is swept behind her. I love the way it bunches and folds. The setting amplified the effect the artist was trying to convey.
The damage done to this piece leaves some to be desired. The head and arms have never been recoered but we do have an idea of what those pieces were doing. Her right arm was probably raised to her face, the hand cupped as she shouted a cry of victory. The left arm was most likely outstretched like one would in a battle. Its a beautiful piece and moving. I feel like I can actually hear the spalshing water when I look at it.
While victory was often portrayed, so was defeat and tragedy; like the story of Lacoon and his sons.

This piece; Lacoon and his sons (various dates have been suggested for the statue, ranging from about 160 to about 20 BCE) was sculptued by Agesander, Athenodoros and Polydorus.
The story behind this a classic Greek tragedy. Lacoon had attempted to expose the ruse of the Trojan horse and serpents were sent by Poseidon to punish Lacoon and his sons.
We can see the intensity of the struggle. You see one serpent biting into Lacoon's left hip and him crying out in pain. And you can also feel his agony as his sons suffer alongside him, punished for the acts of their father. This piece is actually a bit reminiscent of the great friez on the Altar of Zeus at Pergamon.
Many have attributed some homoerotic ideals to this piece, and while the Greeks are known to be "boy lovers" this idea was mostly very far from the minds of the scultors.
After seeing all these pieces I have to wonder why some would disregard this era. The art shows amazing work and talent; its dramatic, emotional, sensual and powerful.

Hellenistic Art, part 2

I left off before discussing the Seated Boxer, one of many pieces depicting men as strong, but defeated. These gave men dignity and displayed honor, they had a fairly obvious purpose here, but some are confusing with their meanings. One such piece is Old Market Woman (150 BCE - 100 BCE).

Preceeding this era all Greek art consisted of beautiful pieces of the young, strong, attractive and powerful. But this piece shows something quite the polar opposite of the norm and is very characteristic of this age. Here we see a woman wrinkled, tattered, bent with age and her spirit broken. She is weak and haggard. Despite her less than desireabe physical condition she still carries on, but not because she enjoys any pleasure form life anymore, but because she simply must.

I find pieces like this quite interesting. They aren't something most people find aesthetically pleasing, nor do they glorify any particular individual. I believe that this artist, though unknown, wanted to depict things the way they truly were and how he saw the common people around him. It is sort of a precursor for Realism when you think about it. Though a lot of Hellenistic overdramatizes some things this is truthful, but emotional all the same.

Hellenistic art was aiming to depict a social climate much wider than we have seen before. We see soldiers, fighters, and the old or dying. They handle it with sensitivity, but they still maintained some traditions in art, such as scenes including eroticism.

A very famous sculpture that openly explored eroticism is Venus de Milo (150 BCE - 125 BCE) by Alexander of Antioch-on-the-Meander. The area where the artist signed has been lost since. This piece is a roman copy and the use of marble made it a bit more vulnerable to damage, which is obvious in the lack of arms. From the information we've gathered we know that her left arm - which is seperately preserved - is holding an apple, the one Paris awarded her when he judged her to be the most beautiful goddess. And we can only surmise hat the right arm is doing. We tend to believe hat her right hand was loosely grasping at the fabric covering her in an attempt to keep it from slipping futher. This is to intentionally tease the viewer; it plays with sexuality without being outright sexual or crass.

I consider this piece to be more sexual than say the Aphrodite of Kindo where she is entirely nude. One of the many things that arouses people is not knowing and hiding her lower half form the viewer entices them. This makes her more desireable than she might have been had she been entirely nude....though I doubt all would agree with me on that. I guess some would prefer less mytery.

This next piece is more overtly sexual in it's nature, depicting the same goddess; Aphrodite, Eros, and Pan (100 BCE) - artist unknown.

Here you see Aphrodite is resisting Pan's unwanted advances and Eros rushing in to try and protect her from very unspeakable acts. The composition and set up here is quite tense, which was clearly intentional. Her archaic smile smile is interesting here, the detail work is incredible and the positioning of the bodies and twisting makes it very dynamic. I love her stance, you see how defensive she was and feel her panic and her son rushing to her aid is quite heart-warming, despite the situation.

Actually I'm a tad irked by Eros' appearence. Previous to this era he is representd as an adolescent and full of promise, this pudgy-winged-infant is laughable. He looks like the putto depicted in many other works. They were attendants to many maidens. Another issue is how babies are often rendered almost as miniature adults, but that mostly had to do with a lack of understanding of the fragile form. They even seemed to have personailites to match their unusal form. But I can fully air these annoyances another day.

But this piece, which was commissioned by Dionysios of Berytos, is exuding sex and dominance. And considering it was displayed in a buisnessmen's clubhouse you have to wonder about their tastes, though pieces like this were commonplace during this era so it could all just boil down to trends.

Another equally erotic piece is Barberini Faun, also known as Sleeping Satyr (230 BCE - 200 BCE) by Gianlorenzo Bernini. We see a satyr who has consumed too much wine and threw down his panther skin onto a nearby rock and fell into an intoxicated sleep, though it seems a but estless when you note his furrowed brow. It seems to me that this man might be playing the part most female nudes in art tend to; helpless and exposed.

While it has never been unusual to portray a male nude in greek sculpture, I can't really recall it ever being intentionally sexual too often. Sculptures like these are the product of Hellenistic scultors exploring sexuality of the human body.