This imaged called Nessus Abducting Deianira made by Bertel Thorvaldsen in 1814. This
sculpture was known for its bold sensuality and its large size. This sculpture was
inspired by a story of love when Hercules’ wife, Deianira, was carried off by a centaur,
who is twisting her body, wanting a kiss. The expression on her face is longing, not
wanting to be with the centaur. It’s interesting how love is displayed because the
woman does not want to be with the centaur, who is only half man, the other half
horse. She would rather be with Hercules, who doesn’t have hooves and a tail.
Thorvaldsen tried to capture the scene where the centaur is taking her over the river,
away from the one she wants to be with. It’s not an average story, man loving woman;
rather it’s of love being separated by a mythical creature.
Thorvaldsen, Bertel. Nessus abducting Deianira. 1814. Metropolitan Art Museum, New
York. Web. 3 Dec. 2009.
This painting called Paradise under the Sea is Aoki
Shigeru’s most famous painting. He painted it in 1907,
right around the time when Western Culture was
influencing Japanese art. I think this painting supports
my thesis, and that artworks of love do have a story
behind them. The legend is said that Price Fire-fade
visited the Palace of the God of the Sea and then fell in
love with his daughter. I think the painting shows the
gender roles of the male and female. Two women are
standing below him like servants, while they offer Price
Fire-fade objects from a jar while he sits atop a tree
above them. Shigeru also incorporated a sense of
holiness, where the price has a crown of leaves and
light is shining down on his head. I also think this
painting supports my thesis that when loved is
portrayed, it isn’t always done in the normal way. This
story is of a man of fire who falls in love with a woman
under the sea. Fire and water are two elements that
work against each other, not for each other. One
cancel’s the other out, but both are equally powerful.
One of the reasons this painting is his most famous is
being he went beyond the normal step to create this
piece of art. Shigeru dove down into the sea to explore
the effect of light and color under water.
Shigeru, Aoki. Paradise Under the Sea. 1907. Art Beyond the West. By Michael O’Riley.
Asheville : Calmann & King Ltd, 2002. 201. Print.
This is an ancient Egyptian status called Statue of Memi and Sabu. This statue made of
limestone was created in the Old Kingdom (Dynasty 4). This is called a pair statue, which
is usually of husband and wife. Memi and Sabu were known as the Royal Acquaintances,
but it is not known if they were husband and wife. Pair statues made for the dead, and
that it was thought that the deceased souls would go to their statue as a home and
would gain food and gifts that rested in their tombs. The pose of Memi is very strange
because he doesn’t have a masculine look besides the height, and so Memi and Sabu
almost look the same. It’s almost like the gender roles are equal in the sense, because
there is no sense of true power over one another. Another interesting point is when we
think of love we think of people embracing and looking like they are in love. Memi and
Sabu in the statue are very aligned with each other, but they don’t look in love with
each other. There’s a possibility that back in Egyptian times, marriages weren’t for love,
but for power or money instead.
Statue of Memi and Sabu. Old Kingdom Dynasty 4. Art Museum, New York. Web. 7 Dec.
2009.
Women artists in the 1950s through the 1960s had been excluded from art history and
knew no other professional artists from the times before them. Books were published,
but none contained a single name of a female artist. Mary Beth Edelson made the
poster titled Some Living American Women Artists/Last Supper in honor of living women
artists who deserved to be recognized. All the women in the poster had a love for art
and Mary Beth Edelson had a love for women’s rights, and making sure women were
recognized during that time.