This week @shaka offered the LMAC community a photo with a mythological theme: The flight of Icarus.
Armed Three Master with Daedalus and Icarus in the Sky
Author: Frans Huys after Pieter Bruegel the Elder. 1565. From the Rosenwald Collection at the National Gallery of Art. Public domain
Icarus is one of the most well-known figures from Greek mythology. He captures especially the imagination of children. I know he captured mine when I was a child. He represents the folly of over-reaching, and the folly of youth.
Icarus drowned in the sea because he did not follow instructions. His father, Daedalus, had crafted two pairs of wings, one pair for each of them. The wings were fashioned from feathers and wax and were designed to carry the men across the sea. However, Daedalus warned his son to be careful. If he flew too high, the wax on the wings would melt and Icarus would perish. If he flew too low, sea water would soak the feathers, and Icarus would perish.
The temptation was too much for Icarus. He soared too high, up near the sun, and the wax on his wings melted. He plummeted into the sea and was lost.
Daedalus and Icarus (Before the Flight)
The sculpture is by Antonio Canova (1757-1822). The picture is credited to Livioandronico2013 under a CC 4.0 license.
This sculpture captures the tragic quality of the Icarus myth-- the love of the father, the innocence of youth.
Tradition has it that the island of Icaria, in the Aegean Sea, is named after Icarus. And the Icarian Sea is likewise said to be name after the youth. Legend has it that this was the very sea into which Icarus fell.
Icarian Sea, off the Coast of Icaria
Photo credit: Cetonia, CC license 1.0,2.0,2.5,3.0
The poignancy of the Icarus myth has given the story a kind of immortality and we see signs of the youth around us. His name lives on.
Butterflies are named after him:
Polyommatus icarus (Common Blue Butterfly)
Image credit: Charles J. Sharp. CC 4.0 license
A lunar crater is named after him:
The Icarus Crater
Image credit: James Stuby, based on a NASA image. Public domain
Even an asteroid carries his name,the 1566 Icarus:
Orbit of the 1566 Icarus, as tracked on January 1, 2009
Image credit: NASA, public domain
My Collage
At first I didn't recognize the figures in @shaka's picture.
@shaka's Picture
Then I saw that he tagged his blog with Daedalus and Icarus.
My collage shows Apollo directing the orbit of the sun, a sea monster foreshadowing the watery death that awaits Icarus, and an eagle with a live snake in its mouth. This last omen was taken straight from the Illiad, where an eagle drops a snake at the feet of the Trojans as they are about to go to war. The Trojans "shuddered when they saw the writhing snake lying in the midst of them..." Additionally, it seems that an eagle (even without a snake) flying from the left rather than the right, is a bad omen. My eagle, therefore, flies from the left.
I think my collage may be more literal than artistic, but it was interesting and fun to make.
Sun:purepng.com
Chariot: Pixabay
Cliff: Pixabay
Horizon/Seascape: Pixabay
*The monster, eagle and snake came from Paint 3D
*GIF and accents accomplished with GIMP
*One of the many, many intermediate steps:
Thank you @shaka for once again giving me weekend entertainment. I have looked at some of the other collages in this week's array. Impressive. I recommend everyone who reads this blog head over there and look. It is a virtual collage gallery.
Dear AG,
I really like your collage, because, as you might imagine, the mythological background attracts me. And then I also read: Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Of course, I had to see the original. It's called "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" and is based on the Metamorphoses by Ovid.
Source
At first I was irritated, because there neither Icarus nor Daedalus can be seen in the sky. But if you enlarge the picture you can see right below between sailboat and angler the legs of Icarus disappearing in the water.
Thank you so much for the further interesting references to Greek Mythology as well as the Icarus-related information. For those who take a closer look at your work, your collages always have an added value.
With warm affection,
Anna
Dear Anna,
Thank you for coming by and for those kind words. How alike we are in some ways 🌺. I of course had checked out the Bruegel painting...(he, as I believe I've told you before, is one of my favorite artists from that period). However, as you describe, poor Icarus is under the water in the painting and that did not illustrate his folly of going too close to the sun. So I chose the Huys picture.
After your reference, I had to look up Ovid's Metamorphoses and the relationship to Bruegel's painting. Fascinating that the very reason I found the painting unsuitable (the fall is not featured centrally), seems to be the point Bruegel was making. This quote is from The Art Story:
"We might expect that this tragic denouement would form the focal point of Bruegel's painting, but instead it becomes one incident woven into an all-encompassing representation of common rural life, the demise of the hero rendered almost laughable in its head-first ignominy."
Before your reference, I'd heard of the Metamorphoses but didn't know much about it. Now I know more :)) Thank you!!
Peace and health to you, friend. The weather here is glorious. I hope you are enjoying the same.
Affectionately,
AG
Dear AG,
I assumed that you have seen the original painting of Bruegel. 😀 It's is remarkable that in some ways we are so alike, for example when it comes to researching facts. I know you like Bruegel a lot. So do I, which is why his name immediately caught my eye.
Thanks for the quote. It seems to be an upside down world where a boy falls into the sea out of the blue without anyone noticing.
Grateful for the link to 'The ArtStory'. I didn't know this website yet, I already stored it. Ovid's Metamorphoses are certainly worth reading. I definitely need more time for all these interesting things ...
Stay well and enjoy the sunshine. 🌷 We've had a longer period of bad weather here. A blessing for nature, but I'm looking forward to blue sky again.
Affectionately,
Anna
🌸 🌷 🌹 🌺 🎨
After reading everything (this part of the universal literature I do know) ... I laughed a lot with your eagle flying to the left (following the good omen).
I think that beyond the artistic work (which there is in your publication) it is fascinating to read you and see your ideas solidly argued.
I hope people actually read what you research because a lot of times you do modern alchemy.
It's been a great pleasure to stop by your blog. Greetings @agmoore
🌞 🌞
You are very kind. I'm smiling. My skills are crude, but I keep plugging. It's really nice that someone with your aesthetic sensibility sees value in what I attempt. Thank you, @marcybetancourt.
I'm hoping this week's poll favors your collage. It really is excellent.
Peace and health,
Regards, AG
Dear Agmoore, i like your "Story-Pichture"
So it is and fun in thiese times is so important 😂 Regards Kadna
Hello dear Kadna,
Thank you so much for that nice comment. It is so good to hear from you.
Yes, fun. I know you are a fan of fun and creativity. Sometimes I wonder, what is a woman my age doing playing around with collages? Then I say, who cares? :))
I hope you are peaceful and well and that the same is true for your family. Crazy, crazy times we live in, especially in the U.S. We seem to be going through a social and cultural spasm at the moment. Wonder where it will lead. The antidote: fun :))
Affectionately,
Your New York friend,
AG
Sad ending for Incaro, as always excellent your work, I like to stop and read, a big hug @agmoore.
Thank you for stopping by, friend @tormenta. Yes, sad. I think this is why the story has endured through the ages. Thank you for the nice compliment.
Good luck in the contest :)
What an excellent collage art and the description, I loved going through it. A post made with utmost care :>
Thank you for enjoying my blog and my collage. I have a lot of fun with these contests and am so glad more people have discovered LMAC, so they can have fun too :)
Thank you for stopping by. Health and peace to you,
AG
Dear @agmoore,
In my humble opinion, It's a nice informative documentation blog. But I think it's not an attractive image. It didn't make me look at it more. There can be more creativity.
What I mean with creativity and attractiveness?
I don't mean that let you use more clear images. (Also using more clear images is a plus for me). There is too much unrelated details. Yes you tell the whole story within one image but in the end you lose the wholeness of the image. I know it is not a really easy job. Also You use too much different material types. (Photographics, illustrations, brush effects, motion...) Of course, there is no limitation for medium, but the diversity of medium you use, makes it harder to combine them in to one and disrupts the wholeness of the image you create. Also you use these media just ordinary.
These are my critiques in response to you.
I wanted to remind you. I passed a competitive exam for fine arts high school. I passed a competitive exam for fine arts university. For both i passed general education exams. Both exams have their own specific standard juries. Because of this my teachers always prepared me for these juries. Studied pencil drawing for 4 years, studied sculpting with many kind of materials like metal welding, carving stone, carving wood, modelling clay, bronze casting etc. and serve as a sculptor for 7 years (sometimes they still call me for sculpting jobs) studied in 1 year graphic designing software course, work as a graphic designer since 2013. I worked in many kind of hardcopy and digital works. I am not an art historian nor art theorist, but I have always had to be intertwined with them.
You can be sure that all this accumulation makes my job difficult.
There is a lot factors that manipulates our reality and point of view.
In this kind of election. You just need majority of people. You don't need other factors about them
Thank you for that critique. You know, an art teacher failed me once, in the 8th grade. I was so distressed my mother asked her why, because I loved art class. The teacher told her that it wasn't possible I was trying (!). So it's pretty clear I lack talent :) However, the points you offer may be helpful in the future as I try to create a visually pleasing effect.
Thank you for taking the time to offer suggestions. I have fun, and bring to the challenge the few talents I do have: a fondness for research, an interest in history, and almost unbridled enthusiasm.
It's obvious you have training, and talent. I wish you success commensurate with your skills.
For your information. I am not an authority in anywhere. Still can't earn money regularly. =) Just a few people call me in a year.
:(
I see work that you display in some of your posts--especially your sculptures. I have not got a trained eye...just a gut response. Amazing to me that anyone can creates such things.
I think you just want to do this job by this way.
I am impressed with your knowledge on art history.
Thanks for your support on election.
I hope you don't mind...I tried to learn from your critique this week as I made my collage. Nice to have some objective pointers to guide my unskilled hand and eye. Not sure it helped, but I think so.
I knew that the two tags would not escape your attention. Thanks for the great excursion!
So nice of you to leave such a big clue (that I almost missed!) It was gift that sent me off on a narrative, as you see.
Thank you for your kind assessment :)
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Thanks you very much, my friends, 🙏
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