Just one piece - a bronze sculpture by Wissler c.1900, which is a fountain in Sweden
Showing posts with label European Monsters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European Monsters. Show all posts
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Midgard Serpent - Modern Art
These are all cool, but the Alice Alex painting wins for me.
Mark Rosenthal - 1989
Ragnarok by "harrybuddhapalm"
Michael Heilemann - Horn of the Midgard Serpent
Alice Alex - Midgard Serpent
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Midgard Serpent - Fine Art [Ancient Art]
Date Unknown [possibly a resoration?]
"Altuna Runestone" - Sweden - c.1000AD
Midgard Serpent - Fine Art [Illuminated Manuscripts]
Thor and Hymir go fishing - from an Icelandic manuscript c. 1700
Midgard Serpent - unknown manuscript - unknown date
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Midgard Serpent - Fine Art [Drawing]
William Pogany - Children of Loki [Midgard Serpent with Fenrir and Hel] - 1920
Thor and the Giant Hymir fish for the Midgard Serpent [artist/ date unknown]
Heine - Scene from Ragnarok [Midgard Serpent and Fenrir] - 1882
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Midgard Serpent - Introduction [Norse Cosmology]
The Midgard Serpent, like the Cetus, is another leviathan, but on a titanic scale. In Norse Mythology, the Midgard Serpent - "Jörmungandr" - was a massive sea snake who swam in the outer sea. His body was so large that he encircled the earth, grasping his tail in his mouth.
The Norse have a multi-tiered structure of the universe, with the Earth (or Midgard) at the center. The world tree Yggdrasil (a common motif in ancient cosmologies, especially Indo-European myths) connects the different worlds like a giant pillar, from the home of the gods (Asgard) above to Nilfeim and other lands below (home of the Trolls, the dead, etc.)
When Jörmungandr releases his tail from his mouth, it will initiate Rägnarok (the end of the world).
More info on Wikipedia:
Monday, January 31, 2011
Cetus - Modern Art [Painting]
Painting by "Himmapan"
Christina Neofotustou (Perseus/ Andromeda role reversal)
Enrique Rivera
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Cetus in Fine Art [Painting]
The Burne-Jones and Carl VanLoo versions of the Perseus/ Andromeda myth get my vote-
Carl Van Loo - 1735
Edward Burne-Jones - 1888
Lemoyne - 1723
Maffei - 1658
Piero DiCosimo - 1515
Titian [or Vecellio?] - 1555
Friday, January 28, 2011
Cetus/ Ketos/ Κῆτος
Clash of the Titans also is famous for it's "Kraken." In the Perseus myth, this monster is actually referred to as Cetus [from the Greek "Ketos"] and was slain by Perseus in order to save his future wife, Andromeda.* Naturally, the myth is outlined on Wikipedia.
Below are the depictions of the Cetus/ Kraken from COT. Tomorrow I'll post some ancient art and fine art interpretations of the beast.
*[I'll post depictions of actual Krakens later - FTR, Krakens are usually depicted in art as giant Octopi and are more of a Norwegian/ Icelandic origin.]
"Kraken" [Cetus] - COT Remake - 2010
The "Kraken" [Cetus] - Clash of the Titans - 1981
Medusa in Pop Culture [Film/ Video Games]
Clash of the Titans (1981), which interpretated many aspects of the Perseus myth loosely, redefined the image of Medusa as much more monstrous (to having a serpent-like body along with the traditional snake hair). You can see Clash's influence on many modern pop-culture depictions of Medusa - including the video games (Castlevania, Monster Party, God of War) - below.
Perseus holding Medusa's Head - Clash of the Titans (1981)
Head of Medusa - Clash of the Titans - 1981
Medusa in her lair - Clash of the Titans - 1981
Medusa from the COT Remake - 2010
Super Castlevania [SNES] - Boss Battle
Monster Party [NES] - Boss Battle
God of War Concept Art [PS2]
God of War Concept Art [PS2]
God of War Concept Art [PS2] - *Possibly Stheno, one of the other 2 Gorgons
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Medusa in Fine Art [Painting]
The string of Medusa postings continues with more Fine Art; this time, paintings. Böcklin and Caravaggio are two of my favorite artists and I'm especially partial to the grittiness of Caravaggio's piece.
Caravaggio - 1596
Uffizi Medusa - artist unknown - Flemish - c.1600
Peter Paul Reubens - 1618
Italian Fresco - Date unknown
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Medusa in Pop Culture [Toys]
I've got enough pop culture content on Medusa to last several posts and am still accumulating stuff. So here's a few examples of toy "Medusas."
The Monster in my Pocket Medusas are some of my favorite childhood toys. A product line of Matchbox in the early 1990s, Monster in my Pocket (MIMP) released series of small, colored rubber characters of monsters from all over the world. They got a bid of a bad rap because some of their "monsters" were actually religious idols (like Ganesha, ooops) but the little figures still hold a dear place in my heart* (and I've learned to sort out the true "monsters" from the others.)
I've also included a vinyl plush toy and a character from the Spawn series, both of which take a very liberal interpretation of "Medusa" to create some pretty cool stuff.
Monster in My Pocket - Medusas - 1990s [approx 1" tall]
Spawn - "Medusa"
Vinyl Toy by Esctoy
*I think I'll do a post exclusively on MIMP at some point in the future.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Medusa in Fine Art [sculpture]
I'm kicking off the blog with Medusa - because there are tons of iterations of both her and the Perseus myth (in case you aren't familiar with it, here it is on wikipedia) across the centuries, I'm starting with some examples of figure sculpture depicting Perseus with Medusa's severed head.
Pomeroy - Bronze - 19th Century
Bernini - Marble - 1630
Gerhard - Bronze - 1590
Gerhard - Bronze - 1590
Cellini - Bronze - 1554
Cellini - Bronze - 1554 [alternate view]
Canova - Marble - 1801 - Rome
Salvador Dalí - [date?] - Bronze - Marbella, Spain
All of these are great examples of contrapposto [weight shift in the figure] (especially the Cellini and Gerhard pieces) and make excellent use of space. Dalí (whose piece is undoubtedly an ode to and play on these earlier works) manages to strongly preserve the archetypal narrative even with the reduction and manipulation of forms-
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