Portraiture and body form

Research

Portrait/Face structure, Greek Mythology and Concept art.

06/11/14

My new assignment, as the title suggests, consists of Human form and Portraiture, in which I shall be interlinking my previous research of contour artists into my work with a set theme in mind.

At first, I was going to adapt Giacometti's style of working with the thin, elongated human figures. To do this I was going to use a combination of wire and clay: The clay would be the actual model while the wire would serve as a skeleton.

The wire was going to be twisted in a fashion that made it strong and would also look good on any parts of the figure I was going to expose. I was taking inspiration from Kevin Iris, an artist who used only one strand of wire, repeatedly twisted and wrapped to create Tree's. 

However, after putting some thought in it, I decided that I didn't have a strong enough idea, and so began to re-evaluate and re-design my idea.

The next idea I had was to only focus on the head and face, and the theme were to be Greek Mythology, specifically Furies, or Erinyes. This would provide a good opportunity for me to work on facial expressions and facial structure.

Greek Mythology: History of Furies/ Erinyes

Erinyes, or Furies, were Female Cthonic Deities (Underworld deities) of Vengeance. They were sometimes refered to as Infernal Goddesses. A formulaic oath in the Iliad. (Sometimes referred to the Song of Ilion or song of Ilium which is an ancient Greek Epic poem in dactylic hexameter (considered to be the grand style of classical poetry) which was traditionally attributes to Homer, the credited creator of the Iliad and the Odyssey (one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems) invokes them as "Those who beneath the Earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath" They can be known as Furies in Hell, Harpies on Earth and Dirae in Heaven.

The Erinyes live in Erebus.( Was often conceived as a primordial deity ( The first entities or beings that came into existence) representing the personification of darkness) Their task was to hear complaints vrought by mortals against the insolence of the young, of children to parents, of hosts to guests and householders or city councils to suppliants, and to punish the crimes by hounding the culprit relentlessly. The Erinyes are crones (shares characteristics with a hag) and depending upon the authors, describes as having snakes for hair, dogs heads, coal black bodies, bat's wings and blood-shot eyes. In their hands they carry brass scourges, and their victims die in torment.

The furies were considered Hideous in appearence and, Despite their negative interactions, were called "Eumenides" or "Kindly ones"

The Furies have an origin that is not completely known; They were said to be born from drops of blood that fell from Uranus after he was castrated by his son, Cronus. It is also thought that they were the daughters of Mother Earth and Darkness, or of Cronus and Eurynome, or Cronus and Night.

Though originally there were an indefinite number of Furies, eventually the Greeks decided that there were three: Tisiphone (The avenger), Megara (The jealous) and Alecto (The unresting).

At first, the task of the furies was to gaurd the entrance to Tartarus, to make sure that those who entered had atoned for their sins. Those who hadn't were rejected and were to wander as Ghosts. The Furies wouldn't kill, only harrass and injure untill death, or the victim was eventually driven to suicide. They would then pursue them to the underwolrd, where they would extend their torments, cruelly lashing the offenders. The sight of them would drive someone to madness.

Concept art

Related research: Figureheads/ Sirens

Figureheads were a form of decoration found on any big vessels or ships. They were often very brightly coloured and were often of women. The figures were also very beautiful.

(Pirates of the Caribbean)

Related research: Sirens and Medusa

Sirens were half human half fish, and were all very beautiful. They lived in the oceans although could adapt to land. Typically, they lured men out to see with alluring voices. The men would be captivated by their beauty, and the Sirens would then drag them under the water and devour them. 

Medusa, known for her hair being snakes and her eyes who turned all to stone if looked into, was a monster, or Gorgon, and was described as the daughter (As well as sisters Stheno and Euryale) of ancient marine Deities Phorcys and his sister Ceto, although the author Hyginus interposes a generation and gives Medusa another Cthonic pair as parents. Medusa was the only mortal out of the tree sisters, and was origionally a golden haired and very beautiful maiden, who as a priestess of Athena, was devoted to a life of celibacy, However, as she was wooded by Poseidon, who she loved in return, she forgot her vown and married him. Athena, who considered this an offence, punished her with venomous snakes in place of her golden hair, blood-shot eyes and greenish tinged skin, soon after developing a characteristic worthy of her appearence. Shunned from society, she fled to Africa, where small infant snakes fell from her head, and thus, according to the belief of the ancients, that country became a hotbed of those venomous reptiles. With this curse placed upon her by Athena, she turned anyone who gazed upon her to stone, until Perseus took her life.

Other Research: Snakes

African bush viper

Black Mamba

Californian mountain kingsnake

King Cobra

Cottonmouth

Copperhead

Snake skeleton

All above are examples of venomous snakes.

Snake Movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEto1-ZTbd4

My project

My idea is to create a clay head sculpture that dipictates a beautiful woman, and to them make two masks out of modrock: One of a Fury and one of a Gorgon (Medusa) The masks will be moulded around the clay head sculpture and then decorated,. wire will be used to add any details, such as, in the case of Medusa, the snakes for hair. It will all be painted afterwards. My end result will hopefully show the terror of each of these creatures, and, in the case of Medusa, her transition from a beautiful woman to a hideous creature.