{painting} – Page 198 – { feuilleton }

Men with snakes

Laocoön and His Sons attributed to Agesander, Athenodoros
and Polydorus of Rhodes (c. 160–20 BCE).

No jokes about snakes in a frame, please. Bram Dijkstra’s Idols of Perversity: Fantasies of Feminine Evil in Fin de Siècle Culture (1986) is a wide-ranging study of the “iconography of misogyny” in 19th century painting. Dijkstra examines the numerous ways that women were depicted in late Victorian and Symbolist art, with one chapter, “Connoisseurs and Bestiality and Serpentine Delights”, being devoted to representations of women with animals, especially snakes. The story of Eve and the Serpent prompts many of these latter images, of course, while scenes with other creatures seem intended to demonstrate the Victorian attitude that woman was closer to the brute beasts than man and could often be found conspiring with them to bring down her masculine masters. Continue reading “Men with snakes”

Weel done, Cutty-sark!

Brad David wrote last week asking about the picture I used on the recent Jack Rose poster design. I’d seen this engraving for years in various books but was unsure of its provenance so the enquiry made me curious as well. The picture in question is an illustration for the poem Tam O’Shanter by Robert Burns and since it’s a depiction of cavorting witches and warlocks it turns up frequently in occult encyclopedias.

After a bit of searching it transpires that the engraving is based on a series of six paintings illustrating the poem by Scottish artist John Faed (1819–1902). Here we’re seeing the moment just before drunken Tam (his face visible at the window) shouts “Weel done, Cutty-sark!” to the young witch in the centre, whereupon the lights go out and a shrieking horde of angry witches chase him home.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The etching and engraving archive

Obverse Paintings by Fred Chuang

Au-gel (2006).

Resuming my mixed-media, collage work, and experimenting with gold-on-gold effects, this small painting incorporates the figure, printed on tissue paper with “printed” bird wings. The textural effects in the wings suggests a more “butterfly” metaphor, but the texture of the feathers can be more clearly seen in the actual work.

More of Fred Chuang’s obverse angels (and other beings) here.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Czanara’s Hermaphrodite Angel

Masterpieces of Persian painting

Shamseh, Unknown artist, Indian Moraqqa?.
First half of 17th century, Golestan Palace.

Sixteen pages of paintings at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Prince Iskandar’s horoscope
• Calligraphy by Mouneer Al-Shaárani
• The Journal of Ottoman Calligraphy
• Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East

The art of Agostino Arrivabene

Lo psiconauta (2006).

Capriccio con ruderi di città ideale (2003).

Vanitas su zolla di viole (2006).

I’ve tagged this as “gay” since the first painting is featured in the controversial Arte E Omosessualita’. Da von Gloeden a Pierre et Gilles at the Palazzo della Ragione, Milan. That exhibition has caused as stir with Catholics who demanded that Paolo Schmidlin’s Miss Kitty, which shows the current Pope in drag, be removed.

Whatever Agostino Arrivabene‘s sexuality he’s no slouch with a paintbrush, and all the sections on his site are worth looking at. The “Paesaggi” section features some architectural caprices, there’s a section of vanitas works and a fair amount of artistic quotation; I spotted references to Piranesi, Boulée and George Minne, among others.

Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The fantastic art archive

Previously on { feuilleton }
• Vanitas paintings
• Giant Skeleton and the Chocolate Jesus