I saw a friend’s house fairly recently and, although I don’t typically take note of such things, I had been interested by his decor. The style is known as steam punk, a kind of futuristic Victorian, which seemed as if it came straight from Jules Verne, a a bit like Captain Nemo meets Robur the Conqueror, all shining brass, leather, futuristic technology, and clockwork. My friend’s variation was a lot more ‘Indiana Jones’, with his steamer trunk table, assortment of intriguing artifacts, sculpture and interesting ancient wall reliefs. It went along with his house, originally built in the 1920′s and made a warm, intriguing interior well suited to his huge collection of books.
My home is somewhat more contemporary, so when I pondered ways of furnishing my den (something I was informed was ‘up to me’) I turned down the steam punk concept. While I am no interior designer I can tell that a certain proportion between interior and outside is useful. Although modern day houses are spacious they are often really dull, i quickly recognized this gave me a lot more scope to put my own personality on the space, and that notion gave me the concept to make use of wall art and wall sculptures to provide my room some personality, but what would work best?
Old Greek structures weren’t what we understand today. Most people realize that they are wonderful buildings that stood, in many cases for centuries, before suffering damage we see now, but did you know that they were bright colored? You wouldn’t think so to examine the remains inside a museum. I used to take my lunchtime while admiring the huge Assyrians gateways within the British Museum in London, just near room 18, the home of the ‘Elgin marbles’. These famous sculptures were removed from the Parthenon in the initial years of the 19th century by the Earl of Elgin, and the Greek government is still trying to get them back again. The sculptures tend to be stark, white and intensely beautiful, exactly what we think of when we think ‘classical art’ yet exactly what might the ancients have thought of them? Euripides impart us with 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 spectacular marble statues in their gleaming white were once bright and multi-colored. So totally different from what we observe now and associate with the ancient world, that it’s really difficult to imagine.
We view the ancient gods as abstract, consequently ancient wall sculptures such as Poseidon in his chariot are ‘classical’ and also completely at home in a modern room. It was only at the Renaissance that, discovering classical sculpture removed of their color by time, the sculptors thought 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 incredible workmanship of the Parthenon sculptures the ancients admired their realistic quality so much so that it was said that at certain times during the day it was as though the gods in their friezes actually moved. The sculpture and painting methods had been designed to come together and enhance the three dimensional quality of the natural stone, bringing the subject alive. Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann is working hard to analyze ancient statues and build authentic reproductions. These, complete with complex paint techniques and colors are as near as it can be to those found 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 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 list is a bit lengthy, it isn’t the Labours of Hercules, whereas Dionysus on a donkey would certainly help remind me the point of work is always to provide for the pleasure in the future. As an inhabitant of the New World I could decide on Mayan wall reliefs, but I think my selection could be more ancient still. From Ramses who drove out the Hittites at the Battle of Kadesh, to the idea of Maat, goddess of justice and order, the wall sculptures from the Ancient Egyptians hold a limitless enchantment. We are much more accustomed to color when it comes to Egypt, and therefore see these more as they really were, striking and extraordinary in the desert sun.
For my Bedroom my main choice is clear; Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, to help keep me right all the time!