The Uses of Symbolism in Greek Art - A Dissertation Presented, Janet M. McDonald

I ordered this dissertation off Amazon as I thought it would be helpful in identifying ways that symbolism has been used within Greek Art in the past. I highlighted key points loosely relating to my own work but still found it interesting to read. Although mainly talking about symbolism coins, metopes and vases I feel that the ideas presented can be transferred to the likes of other art; take photography for example.

"Everyone accepts as unquestioned the assumption that personification occurs in Greek Art, and Gods were known by their attributes (e.g., Zeus by his thunderbolt)" (McDonald, 1923) whilst this is certainly true for well known Gods such as Zeus, Hades, Poseidon etc the 'lesser' Gods who aren't as well known surely can't be identified through symbolism alone. For example, although Demeter is Zeus' wife and sister, she may not be known in the 21st century; her symbols include corn and a pig but even with this direct signals to the Goddess if someone doesn't even know of Demeter, they won't know how to identify her through personification.

This is where roadblocks come up for my work, for my tableau to be read with ease and understanding there is a certain assumption that the audience will know the myth. Thus to make the reading of the image more accessible for everyone that would visit the gallery space I would include quotes from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter; by throwing in well-known names like Hades, Hermes and Zeus the image may be easier to understand, and there will be a context for everyone to look into. Certainly, renaissance paintings may allude to certain events that we know nothing about but thier grandeur make it easier to appreciate them; it also helps that there is now the likes of google to help research the history of the painting.

From the chapter Various Classes of Symbols in McDonald's dissertation she establishes that there are different classes to symbols, the first being symbols that stand for the literal, the second "comprises symbols which deal with abstract ideas of emotions - fertility, power, purification, fear, pain and the like" (McDonald, 1923). The second group applies to me, within my tableu I want to present the myth as a whole, but through the seasons as symbols and Gods.

"There are two ways that symbols are so used [shorthand]; first, to indicate landscape, and second, to suggest a myth or narrative" (McDonald, 1923). When I read this quote I felt like I was doing my work right, that there is another connection to Greek art rather than just the myth. This has filled me with confidence for my final shoot that will (hopefully) be understood as the Persephone myth.

Still Life - Studio Work

Both Lawrence and myself think I should go about setting up a tableau 'describing' the whole Persephone myth; the tableau would be created in a studio environment, and it occurred to me that basically none of the artists work I included had worked in the studio. Within the studio I would still use a single light source, so controlling the light wouldn't be much different but I thought it would still be beneficial to look at still life in the studio.

Harold Ross

Although I wouldn't want my work to be this bright, I find this image really interesting. I like the texture the background creates, I hope to create texture using the pillow from the bed shoots I've done with the pomegranate. The texture of this pillow case creates a painterly look to the images. The dying roses stand out against the background, but also somehow blend in, as the petals aren't smooth and perfect but wilted and dented.

This picture stood out to me in particular as it has a Dutch Still Life quality to it, the soft light compliments the bold and bright colours of the fruit. Again, the background has a lot of texture.

Richard Kuiper

Much like the work of Thomas Demand who creates elaborate sets out of cardboard (previously mentioned in this blog) Richard Kuiper  creates his sets (inspired by Dutch Still Life paintings) entirely out of plastic. But like Demand, he creates something that isn't entirely what it seems; what may look like an idyllic and beautiful set up is full of tricks, upon closer inspection you can see that in the second image that the gold item in the back looks like an athletes drinking cup. 

"Richard Kuiper sees the dichotomy in his work: on the one hand, he admires the material, the invention of the everlasting. On the other, however, his compositions serve as a warning, and he hopes to use his photos to show how we have gone overboard with our use of plastic." (Kuiper, 2011)

Irene Mosina

I saw Irene Mosina's work and thought it was beautiful and elegant and much like how I want my work to look. The background is textured and the light is soft, it definitely looks more like an oil painting than a photograph, which again is the effect I'm going for. The photographs are simple yet enchanting.

Other Possible Symbols Presented in the Persephone Myth

After a quick crit on Monday afternoon Lawrence advised me that perhaps I could look at the myth as a whole, not just the pomegranate to make readings of the tableau easier. Looking back on the work of Elsie Russel, I wholeheartedly agree with Lawrence. I want my work to have a painterly feel to it, so I think I would achieve this within the studio which I booked straight away.

The Myth of Persephone was a tool used to explain seasons, so I can also present the seasons in the tableau. Below is a list of the major Gods and Goddesses within the myth, and other symbolism presented within it. I perhaps won't use all of them but it's a good idea to look at the range.

Demeter - The mother of Persephone and the Goddess of the earth (essentially Mother Earth), also the Goddess of planned Society. In art she is often portrayed wearing "a wreath of braided ears of corn" (Lindemans, 2003), her sacred animals were the snake (earth) and the pig (fertility)

Hades - Is the God of Death and ruler of the underworld, disliked by all he is the antagonsit within the myth. "Hades possesses the riches of the earth, and is referred to as the Rich One", people sacrificed Black Sheep with averted eyes, and when they prayed they would bang their heads to the ground

Persephone - Daughter of Demeter and Zeus, she is snatched away by Hades because she is so beautiful. When Zeus demands her return Hades agrees but not before giving her a Pomegranate which curses her to stay within the underworld for a 3rd of the year. Other symbols of Persephone include flowers, and things to do with spring

Zeus - King of the Gods, and is the overseer of law and justice; which is ironic because he himself isn't virtuous and it takes him 3-4 months to actually get his daughter (Persephone) back from the underworld. He is the most well known God, and is portrayed with lightning bolts in art a lot,

Within the myth there is an undertone of sex and death, Persephone (an innocent maiden) is abducted by Hades (death incarnate). The next quote explains what I mean better and is taken from Pollefeys, P. (2014). Death and the maiden. [online] Lamortdanslart.com. Available at: http://www.lamortdanslart.com/fille/maiden.htm [Accessed 30 Oct. 2015].

Many dances of Death already figured a representation of Death with a fine lady or with a beautiful virgin. The image of a young woman was also found in the three ages and Death. However in both cases, there was no trace of eroticism. But with Death and the maiden theme, something new happened. People discovered a dark bound between sexuality and death. In this type of iconography, the young lady was not involved in a dance anymore, but in a sensual intercourse, which will become always more erotic as time went by.

Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, 1517

Homeric Hymn to Demeter

As my work would be shown in a gallery I would like to have some quotes with the work from the myth of Persephone, I found the Hymn to Demeter (Persephine's mother) which describes the myth in great detail.

Here's the quotes I would use, taken from Nagy, G. (n.d.). HOMERIC HYMN TO DEMETER. [online] Uh.edu. Available at: http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/demeter.html [Accessed 26 Oct. 2015].:

I begin to sing of Demeter, the holy goddess with the beautiful hair.  And her daughter Persephone too. The one with the delicate ankles, whom Hades seized.

And he found the Lord inside his palace, seated on a funeral couch, along with his duly acquired bedmate, the one who was much under duress, yearning for her mother, and suffering from the unbearable things inflicted on her by the will of the blessed ones.

But he [Hades] gave her, stealthily, the honey-sweet berry of the pomegranate to eat, peering around him.

But he, stealthily put into my hand the berry of the pomegranate, that honey-sweet food, and he compelled me by biâ to eat of it. As for how it was that he [Hades] snatched me away, through the metis of the son of Kronos, my father, and how he took me down beneath the depths of the earth

Babe, Edited by Petra Collins

Whilst looking through the library to find research to back up my work I came across "Babe", a collection of work from female artists brought together by Petra Collins who created "The Arduous" a "platform for female artists showcasing individual and collaborative projects between a collective of female creative professionals – all full of ardour but each with a unique artistic style and voice." (Collins, 2015).

The book demonstrates "girls exploring their sexuality without being sexualised" (Collins and Gevinson, n,d) which I feel is important to promote. However, within the book there is an abundance of symbolism that relate to my own project, and a couple of pieces about sexual harassment which I feel is important to include within my research.

Petra Collins believes that "this book contains the work of many bright, talented, and endlessly inspiring women who have the power to change the world", I'd love for my work to inspire help and relief for those effected by forced marriage, and if enough people stood up against that, and many of the world's horrors they would make a big difference. 

Artist: Hanna Antonsson

Artist: Arvida Bystrom

Artist: Petra Collins

Artist: Maisie Cousins

Lighting Kit

Due to the weather becoming more and more overcast, and finding the time to take photographs during the day becoming increasingly difficult, I have opted to bring a studio light into my room and create my own window lighting rather than become dependent on natural light.

Below is a contact sheet from the images I have taken of a fresh pomegranate in my room, over the next couple of weeks I will document a pomegranate in my room and possibly use the studio to take some images there too.

Still Life in Photography

"Like landscape or portraiture, still life is one of the great traditional art forms" (Martineau, 2010), I thought this book would be useful for me to read as I am taking still life images. Although I want my photographs to have an oil painting kind of feel to them 'Still Life in Photography' got me thinking of other ways I can take pictures of the pomegranate.

This image entitled "The Sands of Time" (Thomas Richard Williams) really spoke to me due to its symbolism. Although the metaphor of death is obvious, it's incredibly effective in this eerie frame; although made in 1850 where the artist had no choice to use black and white, I feel like colour would distract the audience from the message. Life and Death is black and white, and you can't escape death.

I chose this image titled "Still Life with Three Vases and Flowers" (Frederick Dellenbaugh) due to the vanitass feel of the photograph that could definitely be an influence for my work. The lighting is beautiful and classic and reminds me of window light coming in which is definitely a look I'm going for with my work.

Still Life, Paris (André Kertész) gave a similar feeling of the second image in this post, it is classically framed and seems to use window lighting too. I feel that the softness of window light in my work will juxtapose the message I am putting across with the pomegranate. 

Still life with mixed fruit, Paul Wolf and Alfred Tritschler

Rotten

I wanted to take more photographs of the pomegranate, but I wanted to show it rotting. I'm not too sure yet on how I'd display the Pomegranate but one of my thoughts was to show the deterioration of the pomegranate through a series of images, or perhaps just one or two.

When I took the first test shots last week, the light coming from the window was great. However today was very overcast which lead to little to no contrast or interesting shadows. I had to improvise with a small battery operated light which although made the pomegranate stand out against the background it doesn't look at all like window light. I think when I next do a shoot I'll borrow the portable lighting kit and recreate the lighting I really want with this series.

Vanitas - Elsie Russel

French artist Elsie Russel was born in 1956 and has had many exhibitions over the world. I find her work stunning, and in many paintings she mixes classical technique with contemporary references - sunglasses, electric guitar. This particular painting caught my eye, simply called Skull and Pomegranate the oil on linen painting clearly holds an allusion to the Persephone myth. The skull represents death and the underworld, and the Pomegranate is the literal fruit used within the myth. The background is plain which makes the pomegranates stand out more, they are the only object of any real colour within the frame. 

Art and Myth in Ancient Greece - A reading

The focus of the book is "Greek narrative art - depictions of scenes that tell stories" (Carpenter, 1991); I chose to read it as I wanted to create a wider context for my project. The term 'Archaic' comes up frequently in this "handbook" :

Archaic, adj

Very old or old-fashioned

(Of a word or a style of language) no longer in everyday use but sometimes used to impart an old-fashioned flavour:

Of an early period of art or culture, especially the 7th-6th centuries bc in Greece:

I feel that archaic perfectly describes the practice of forced marriage, we're in 2015 with fantastic technological developments, it's an old fashioned way of imposing power on young women. But with the advancement of feminism and the equal rights movement, forced marriage seems practically barbaric.

While reading through the book I was hoping to get some depictions of the pomegranate, I didn't but there were depictions of Persephone and Hades. 

The Myth (in a nutshell)

Persephone is the Goddess of the underworld, but she wasn't intended to be. The daughter of Zeus and Demeter (the goddess of the harvest), Persephone was incredibly beautiful and everyone loved her, including Hades. She was collecting flowers one day when Hades rose up from the earth, took her and raped her.

Mourning over the loss of her daughter, Demeter withdrew herself from the world and so the land became infertile. Zeus feared what could happen to the world so went to Hades to make him release her, he agreed. But before she was sent back, Persephone was given the seeds of a pomegranate to eat which bound her to the underworld for a third of the year. The other months she stayed with Demeter, who refused to let anything grow whilst Persephone was in the underworld.

I think that knowing this myth concretes my narrative, especially the connection with forced marriages. The depictions of the myth within the book show the aftermath of the rape of Persephone.

Scans from the book, artwork depicting the kidnap and rape of Persephone

Constructed Narratives

Framing is important for all areas of photographic work, including film. You decide what you want your audience to see, you are also choosing what you don't want them to see which is also important to a narrative.

Constructing a space  is a conscious decision of what you want to place on the scene

• What's in the frame?
• What takes place within the frame?
• Where?
• Why?
• What is the purpose?

It's about controlling the intended messages

Set design is up to the director to decide what goes in it, even though someone else makes it

Mise en Scene means "placing on stage", it's the arrangement of everything in a scene, also think about the camera work - what focal length, what lens etc

The Graduate Opening Title Sequence 

How is the director introducing the main character?

• Sound is important - Simon and Garfunkel 'Sound of Silence', very solemn tune. "People talking without speaking" the main character does not speak but his face and body language speak volumes. 
• From the start of the sequence he has been told exactly what to do, he does it without question - looks used to it
• Life in a fishbowl (end of sequence) - limited space/options

Paul Seawright

SECTARIAN MURDER

Sectarian Murder revisited the sites of Sectarian attacks during the 1970's close to where Seawright grew up in Belfast. The texts are from newspaper reports at the time and document the murders of innocent civilians, killed for their perceived religion. Reference to Protestant or Catholic background was removed from the text. (Seawright, n,d)

The initial thought of the photographs is that of everyday life, the places look mundane and almost boring. It isn't until you read what's below the images that you realise that these places are not ordinary, and that they were scenes of gruesome and horrific murders. It makes me wonder about the human mind, we turn a normal scene (that we first thought of as mundane) into a place of great interest because acts of violence happened there.

Thomas Demand

Makes sculptures out of cardboard as part of the set design, once he photographs these scenes he destroys the sculpture so that all you are left with is a copy of the original. 

The video above is Thomas Demand talking about one of his projects about the White House, within the video he says that the likeness “stops at any kind of detail” so he “always try to stop when it gets too much about how it really is”; we know what the set depicts without it having any detail which is what he aimed for with this project. “The set was meticulously constructed from cardboard, paper and confetti. It is devoid of humanity; and certain details, like the stars of the American flag, are oddly missing, creating an unnerving atmosphere.” (Tate.org.uk, 2008)

Sam Taylor-Wood

Sam Taylor-Wood's "Still Life" is a significantly poignant piece depicting a bowl of fruit rotting over time, signifying life to death. Although a beautifully controlled composition I do feel that it is a bit obvious, when the fruit decays the light dims, to suggest the light fading within someone. However, this does not mean I do not like the piece; even though it seems fairly literal the audience can easily relate; everyone goes through this cycle.

The Pomegranate

 

The above images show a Kore statue, circa 570-560BC, a kore is a freestanding statue of a maiden. The pomegranate typically represents fertility within Ancient Greek culture, not just that of a woman's fertility, but of fertile crops and land. This statue in particular could represent the woman depicted's own fertility as she is holding the pomegranate close to her womb.

"The pomegranate fruit has been used throughout history and in virtually every religion as a symbol of humanity’s central beliefs and ideals, namely, life and death, rebirth and eternal life, fertility and marriage, and abundance."  (Hamburger, 2014)

The images I've taken show the pomegranate whole and cut in half, I cut up a plastic wallet so I wouldn't stain the white duvet cover. I used natural light coming from the window to give a lighting effect similar to Vermeer's 'Woman in Blue Reading a Letter', there has been some discussion as to whether the woman is pregnant so I feel that due to the symbolism of the pomegranate the lighting choice is a suitable allusion to this Golden Age painting. 

I wanted to present more symbolism in my work, the white bed sheets suggest purity, especially with the fact that the bed is made; there is also a great contrast with the deep orange-red colour of the pomegranate and pillows with the duvet. I also wanted to address arranged (and forced) marriages in my work, although rare in Britain arranged marriages still happen have consent from both parties, forced marriages are a major problem, and do not require any consent.

Forced Marriage Statistics

The following statistics have been taken from plan-uk.org, a charity dedicated to end early and forced marriages. 

• 1 in 3 girls in the developing world are married by their 18th birthday. This can end their chance of completing an education and puts them at greater risk of isolation and violence.

• For girls under 15 the incidence of early and forced marriage is 1 in 9. Some are married as young as five years old.

• Victims of early and forced marriage typically have children very young. Approximately 70,000 girls die in labour every year because their bodies aren’t ready for childbirth. 

(Plan-UK.org, 2014)

I feel like knowing these statistics changes the reading of the images completely, the juice "stains" on the sheet suddenly take a darker meaning, it's the loss of innocence, of virginity. Although I want my narratives to be art works, they can still raise awareness.