Anything But Grotesque
Years ago, I spent 3 weeks in Florence Italy, with day trips to Siena & Lucca. It was a heavenly immersion in Italian Renaissance art, with a generous helping of my favourite motif – wingéd human/animal creatures. In Renaissance Florence, these creatures were called “Grotesques” and embellished everything from ceilings to ceramics and are anything but grotesque. Beautifully painted with technical panache, they are a light-hearted treatment of otherworldly beings.
Though the styles are very similar in all the ceiling “grotesques” the artists let their imaginations run wild in ceramic “grotesques”. For instance, the figures below appear to be hermaphrodites.
The artists must have had such fun with these images that embellished surfaces everywhere. It makes our sterile interiors seem lifeless in comparison.
As described in earlier posts, images conflating animals & humans have fascinated me for over 30 years so it was very exciting to explore a cultural period that clearly found much pleasure in these images. The first painting I did that was inspired by the Florentine images was called Wingéd Seraphim II, shown below. In company with artists for many millennia, I am fascinated by the idea of flying humans. These are sometimes depicted as angels and sometimes as devils. In my version, they are otherworldly beings plying the heavens in their own interests and oblivious to anything going on below.
According to Wikepedia, the word seraph/seraphim appears three times in the Torah and four times in the Book of Isaiah. In Isaiah the term is used to describe a type of celestial being or angel. “Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.”
The Bible contains the words of Ezekiel as he described his vision of “…four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings.Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze.Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another.Their faces looked like this: Each of the four had the face of a human being, and on the right side each had the face of a lion, and on the left the face of an ox; each also had the face of an eagle. Such were their faces. They each had two wings spreading out upward, each wing touching that of the creature on either side. Four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. “
Before now, I felt uncomfortable about a visual exploration of mythical creatures in the context of the Abrahamic religions. I was concerned that melded human/animal figures would be anathema to that tradition, based as it is on the idea of humans as made in God’s image. So it was a surprise to discover that references to “winged seraphim” in the Bible also refers to serpents. When I worked on my painting Wingéd Seraphim, I assumed that the images would be a challenge to Christian orthodoxy, not realizing that flying serpents were a part of the tradition. It would likely have been assumed by Biblical writers & scholars that all these creatures would be male, as the tradition is deeply patriarchal. So the painting challenges the unacknowledged assumption in the Abrahamic tradition, that important players are male.
Having assured myself that animal/human beings are part of, rather than offensive to, the Abrahmic traditions, I have resurrected some paintings I started many years ago but never finished. These are part of the “Grotesque” series because they use the animal/human motif, but they are re-workings of famous classical art, some to do with Christian imagery, some to do with classical mythology. The first of these is also called “WIngéd Seraphim”. This painting questions the belief that humans are made in the image of God and are the only creatures with a soul.
WIngéd Seraphim is based on a classical painting that likely refers to the Biblical reference, John 1:51. Jesus tells Nathanael that he will “see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man“. Unfortunately, I am unable to locate the original painting, but will keep trying. The angels Jesus refers to are usually depicted as in the following image – as Anglo-Saxon humans in long white Grecian-type robes.
While I have been unable to find an attribution for the above image, it is widely used on Christian sites. But according to explorefaith.org, “Occasionally, an angel takes the form of an animal. According to standard Christian, Jewish, and Muslim belief, an angel can take any form it wishes…”. The idea is, that in order to communicate with humans, angels take on human form. So again, an idea that I was concerned may be offensive to Christians is, again, acceptable in the doctrine.
The second painting in this series, called Elegy, shown below, again questions the assumption that God only cares about human animals as they are the only beings with souls.In essence, the Christian story is that God sent Jesus to help humans perfect their souls, but instead, they murdered Him. This painting investigates the possibility that God cares about all creature here below, even and possibly especially, frogs. I chose frogs because they are an endangered species due to climate change & the thinning of the ozone layer. They are beautiful creatures created by God, but humans are murdering them. Through their demise, like Jesus, they are messengers that we are destroying what is most precious.
I found the original painting in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and here it is.
But there are 2 versions of this painting and here is the other one.
In the “Grotesque” series, I also explore human conceptions of beauty. Naturally, humans seek physical attractiveness in other humans, but our anthropocentric world view means that we tend not to see the grace & of beauty of other species. To question this view, I used the one of the most famous images from classical mythology and art – the three graces. Called, “The Three Graces”, this painting features 3 female figures with melded human/Great Blue Heron bodies. This work was based on the famous 16th C painting of the same name.
There was an earlier version of the The Three Graces, found in Pompeii, so I’m not the only one that has borrowed this idea for my own use.
I had also created a linocut print on the theme.
Mouse Madonna is an even earlier piece that was the starting point for the series based on the animal/human theme.
Mouse Madonna #2, 1986, Marion-Lea Jamieson, linocut print on paper, 20” x 13”
I have also described this area of inquiry in Blog Post #10: On Women which goes further into the inspiration for the human/animal themed series. The theme of Grotesques, and all the work based on images showing the fusion of humans and animals in art and myth, was investigated in paintings, prints and sculptures over a period of about 30 years, and it may be resurrected again any time. It is a fascinating theme as it is so imaginatively rich and potent with symbolism and meaning and this discussion has been continued in other blogs, and again in other other blogs.
