Altered and adorned

Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), Battle of the Sea Gods, 1470/1500.

ALTERED AND ADORNED,

using renaissance prints in daily life.

"Though Renaissance-era prints are typically kept out of sight in museum vaults today, these decorative objects were once a central part of everyday life—used, abused, adored, and adorned by their owners. Through over 100 objects, this exhibition showcases how early print owners handled these versatile artworks, from annotating them or cutting and pasting them onto books, boxes, and walls to transforming them into three-dimensional objects.

The experimental world of printmaking in the mid-15th and 16th centuries inspired an array of related objects, including illustrated books, wearable ornaments, printed sundials, anatomical charts with liftable flaps, and devotional images. The rich and long-overlooked history of this era’s prints comes to life in this exhibition, which focuses on their various uses and functions in the past as reflected in their condition today."

The Art Institute of Chicago April 30, 2011–July 10, 2011

Alligators all around

"What would you like to eat?"

"I don't care!"

"Some lovely cream of wheat?"

"I don't care!"

"Don't sit backwards on your chair"

"I don't care"

"Or pour syrup on your hair"

"I don't care"

Nutshell library, Maurice Sendak (1962)

Oι̉δίπoυς τύραννoς

Gustave Moreau (1864)

Οἰδίπους

ἰοὺ ἰού: τὰ πάντ᾽ ἂν ἐξήκοι σαφῆ.

ὦ φῶς, τελευταῖόν σε προσβλέψαιμι νῦν,

ὅστις πέφασμαι φύς τ᾽ ἀφ᾽ ὧν οὐ χρῆν, ξὺν οἷς τ᾽

οὐ χρῆν ὁμιλῶν, οὕς τέ μ᾽ οὐκ ἔδει κτανών

Oedipus:

Ah me! ah me! all brought to pass, all true!

O light, may I behold thee nevermore!

I stand a wretch, in birth, in wedlock cursed,

A parricide, incestuously, triply cursed!

Oι̉δίπoυς τύραννoς, Oidipous Tyrannos, Oedipus Rex. Sófocles (430 a.C)

Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo 1982, Werner Herzog / Klaus Kinski

Ύπνος

Bronce head of Hypnos.

Possibly Roman, 1st-2nd century AD;

copy of a Hellenistic original,

Found at Civitella d'Arno, near Perugia, Italy

"Hypnos first appears in mythology in the works of one of the earliest Greek poets, Hesiod (lived around 700 BC), where Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death) were the terrible sons of Nyx (Night). Hypnos was, however, generally viewed as benevolent to mankind. The god was frequently mentioned in literary sources, and associated with poppies and sleep-inducing herbs. Hypnos' wings allowed him to move swiftly over land and sea, and to fan the foreheads of the weary until they fell asleep. His son was Morpheus, the personification of dreams.

Although he was frequently shown in vase painting, sculptural representations of Hypnos were rare. This bronze head belongs with a series of similar heads and figures found mostly in the western Mediterranean, particularly in France, Italy and Spain. The statue type represented Hypnos either as an adolescent or, in some variants, as an even younger child. He was shown running forwards, holding poppies in his right hand and a drinking-horn in his left, from which presumably he poured a sleeping potion. This head shows how wings sprouted from his temples, and his hair was elaborately arranged into a series of luxurious locks, some falling freely, others tied in a knot at the back of the head."

Junya Ishigami's table

Junya Ishigami, table for a restaurant