Make Your Walls Pop with Wall Sculptures
I saw a friend’s house fairly recently and, although I don’t typically take note of such things, I had been fascinated by his decor. The style is something called steam punk, a sort of futuristic Victorian, which sounded as if it arrived right from Jules Verne, a sort of Captain Nemo meets Robur the Conqueror, all shining brass, leather, futuristic technology, and clockwork. My friend’s version was a lot more ‘Indiana Jones’, with his steamer trunk table, assortment of intriguing artifacts, statues and interesting ancient wall reliefs. It went with his home, originally built in the 1920’s and created a comfortable, intriguing interior nicely suited to his huge collection of books.
My house is somewhat more modern, so when I thought about ways of decorating my den (something I was advised was ‘up to me’) I rejected the steam punk concept. While I’m no interior designer I can tell that a certain proportion between interior and exterior is beneficial. While modern day homes are spacious they may be really bland, i quickly noticed this gave me more scope to be able to put my own personality on the space, and that notion gave me the concept to use wall art and wall sculptures to provide my room some individuality, but what to choose?
Ancient Greek buildings weren’t what we see today. Many people realize that they are wonderful buildings that were standing, oftentimes for centuries, prior to suffering deterioration we know now, but did you realize that they had been bright colored? You wouldn’t think so to examine the remains inside a museum. I used to eat my lunchtime while appreciating the huge Assyrians gateways in the British Museum in London, just along from room 18, home of the ‘Elgin marbles’. These famous sculptures were removed from the Parthenon in the early years of the 19th century by the Earl of Elgin, the Greek government is still trying to get them back. The sculptures are stark, white and intensely stunning, exactly what we think of when we think ‘classical art’ but what might the ancients have thought of these? Euripides give us a clue in his play ‘Helen of Troy’ when Helen says ‘If only I could shed my beauty and assume an uglier aspect, the way you wipe paint off a statue’. Those beautiful marble statues in their sparkling white were once vibrant and multi-colored. So different from what we see now and associate with the ancient world, it’s really difficult to imagine.
We all view the ancient gods as abstract, as a result ancient wall sculptures such as Poseidon in his chariot are ‘classical’ and also perfectly at home in a modern room. It was only at the Renaissance that, finding ancient statues stripped of their color by time, the sculptors believed they had originally been white marble, and attempted to copy them. In antiquity the Greeks believed in living breathing Gods;their particular statues had been painted brightly in order to echo that. While we enjoy the amazing workmanship of the Parthenon sculptures the ancients admired their lifelike quality so much so that it was said that at certain times of the day it was as though the gods in their friezes actually moved. The sculpture and painting techniques were made to bond and enhance the three dimensional quality of the stone, bringing the subject alive. Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann is working hard to analyze ancient sculpture and build authentic reproductions. These, detailed with intricate paint techniques and colors are as near as possible to those used in ancient times and the results are fascinating; the ancient world will never appear the same again.
So what should I do? I could decide on time-honored Greek wall art and create a modern room, making my choice on the basis of symbolism. Hercules wrestling the lion could remind me that even if my todo list is a tad long, it is not the Labours of Hercules, whereas Dionysus on a donkey would remind me that the point of work is to finance the pleasure to come. Being an inhabitant of the ” new world ” I could turn to Mayan wall reliefs, but I think my choice will be more ancient still. From Ramses who drove out the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh, to the concept of Maat, goddess of justice and order, the wall sculptures of the Ancient Egyptians hold a limitless captivation. We are more accustomed to coloration when it comes to Egypt, and therefore see these more as they really were, bold and extraordinary in the desert sun.
For my Den my primary choice is clear; Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, to help keep me right always!
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Tags: egyptian wall art, greek wall art, interior design, modern art, wall art, wall reliefs, wall sculpture, wall sculptures
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