Make Your Walls Pop with Wall Sculptures
I had been to a friend fairly recently and, although I don’t generally notice, I became interested by his room decoration. The style was something he described as steam punk, a kind of futuristic Victorian, which seemed like it arrived right from Jules Verne, a a bit like Captain Nemo meets Robur the Conqueror, all shimmering brass, leather, futuristic technologies, and clockwork. My friend’s variation was much more ‘Indiana Jones’, with his steamer trunk table, collection of fascinating artifacts, sculpture and interesting ancient wall reliefs. It went with his home, originally built in the 1920′s and made a comfortable, intriguing inside nicely suitable for his massive collection of books.
My house is somewhat modern-day, so when I pondered ways of furnishing my living area (something I had been informed was ‘up to me’) I turned down the steam punk idea. Although I’m no interior designer I can tell that a certain harmony between interior and exterior is useful. Although contemporary homes tend to be spacious they can be really bland, then i noticed this gave me a lot more range to stamp my personality on the space, and that thought gave me the idea to use wall art and wall sculptures to give my room some character, but what would work best?
Ancient Greek buildings weren’t what we understand today. Many people understand that they are wonderful structures that stood, oftentimes for centuries, before suffering damage we see now, but do you know that they were multi-colored? You wouldn’t think so to examine the remains in a museum. I used to take 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 first years of the 19th century by Earl of Elgin, the Greek government continues trying to get them back again. The sculptures are stark, white and incredibly stunning, precisely what we think of whenever we consider ‘classical art’ yet what would 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 stunning marble statues in their sparkling white were once vibrant and multi-colored. So totally different from what we see today and connect with the ancient world, that it’s really difficult to imagine.
We view the ancient gods as abstract, as a result ancient wall sculptures such as Poseidon in his chariot are ‘classical’ and absolutely at home in a modern room. It was only at the Renaissance that, finding ancient statues removed of their color by time, the sculptors believed they’d originally been white marble, and attempted to emulate them. In antiquity the Greeks believed in living breathing Gods;their statues had been colored brightly in order to reflect that. While we appreciate the awesome workmanship of the Parthenon sculptures the ancients adored their lifelike quality so much so that it was said that at certain times during the day it was as if the gods in their friezes actually moved. The sculpture and painting techniques had been made to bond and boost the three dimensional quality of the natural stone, bringing the subject to life. Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann is working hard to analyse ancient sculpture and create authentic reproductions. These, detailed with intricate paint techniques and colors are as close as possible to those used in ancient times and the final results are intriguing; the ancient world won’t ever seem the same again.
What exactly should I do? I could decide on time-honored Greek wall art that will create a modern room, making my personal choice on the basis of meaning. Hercules wrestling the lion could emphasize that even if my todo checklist can be a bit lengthy, it is not the Labours of Hercules, while Dionysus on a donkey would certainly remind me that the point of work is to provide for the pleasure to come. Being an inhabitant of the ” new world ” I could decide on Mayan wall reliefs, but I think my choice could be more ancient still. From Ramses who drove out the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh, to the thought of Maat, goddess of justice and order, the wall sculptures of the Ancient Egyptians hold a continuous fascination. We are much more familiar with color in relation to Egypt, and therefore observe these more as they really were, striking and brilliant in the desert sunlight. Egyptian decor could definitely do the trick.
For my Den the primary options are evident; Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, to help keep me right always!