MENU: 2.5.4. The gods' modernity
GODDESSES, SYMBOLS STILL
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Thursday, July 12, 2018
THE FIRST GREAT WORK OF DEFIANCE
THE RAFT OF THE MEDUSA ADAPTS NOBLES' USE OF MYTHOLOGY TO GIVE HUMBLE SAILORS THE BODIES OF GODS
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| By Théodore Géricault in 1818-1819. He was 27. |
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Sailors on a raft in the high seas glimpse the ship that will save them:
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- The very dark man highlights the hero's mixed blood to make him a symbol of all humanity (as the artist said explicitly):
- Mankind on high seas is a symbol of human fragility, the outstretched hand recalls Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam and the light on the horizon means hope.
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The true story
- The king appoints as ship captain a man who has never been to sea, because he is a noble (in 1815).
- When he wrecks the ship off Mauritanian reefs he has sailors build a raft and climb onto it, promising that officers in a lifeboat will pull them to shore. Then he has someone cut the rope:
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Abandon of the Raft of the Médusa, 1837 / zoom |
- After 13 days at sea, only 15 of the original 150 are still alive. They have survived by eating the dead:
Sketch / zoom
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Besides hijacking the nobles' code, the painting...
- Attacks the king for giving a position of such responsibility to an inept and cruel crony.
- Presents a Black who is not a subordinate for the first time since the 16th century, at the height of the slave trade.
- Inaugurates Romantic art, which was often rebellious.
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Until then, huge paintings had portrayed elites only. Raft was the first to honor ordinary men with a canvas that was as immense.
Placing it next to a giant work of propaganda emphasizes its dissent:
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Napoleon at Eylau by Jean Gros, 1807-1808 / zoom |
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Raft remains the second most famous work made in France:
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Fifty years later another rebel will say,
When humanity has turned all its forces
against the obstacles that hold it back,
it will ride through the storm."
against the obstacles that hold it back,
it will ride through the storm."
-- Louise Michel: to be continued
For a work that is even more iconic,
please read on.
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Next,
A goddess becomes a plebeian revolutionary
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
A GODDESS BECOMES A PLEBEIAN REVOLUTIONARY
LIBERTY GUIDES THE PEOPLE, THE MOST ICONIC WORK MADE IN FRANCE
- Her clothes torn off and her breasts bare, the goddess wears the red cap of freed slaves of Antiquity and leads the fight for freedom:
- Her scandalous underarm makes her real and since almost all the fighting was done by the humble, she has to be underclass:
- Illustrates French history and Parisian insurrections...
French history summarized at Blois château
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- Recalls a tragedy...
The terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo journal (on January 15, 2025)
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| Rue des Vimoutiers, 13th / zoom |
- Mobilizes...
"Stop the degradation of our environment and protect our planet"
- Inspires merch...
- Is part of daily life...
- The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games referred to it and the painting is symbolic elsewhere:
In Bethlehem
- For the cover of an American magazine, please click.
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The Mayor of Paris's 13th district
used an adaptation for his New Year's greetings...
"Jérôme Coumet, Mayor of the 13th and the municipal team, present their best wishes for 2025."
Taking it from the painting that adorns
City Hall's great stairs:
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
THE GODDESS'S DESCENDANTS
Politically and economically victorious but socially insecure, they model their culture on that of their defeated but prestigious adversaries. That adaptation adds...
- Gravitas to monuments.
Paris's place de la République, 1883
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| New York Bay, Statue of Liberty web site |
The Statue of Liberty, 1889
- Dignity and elegance to daily life.
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Parvenus still adopt the reference...
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| Scarface by Brian de Palma with Al Pacino (1987) / movie website |
Golded up.
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| Trump Tower salon, zoom (please scroll down) |
End of Part II.
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