Ever since myths have been written, there have been artists to illustrate them. Though bringing the mythology of antiquity into modern times can present some obstacles - as gender roles and other customs change - certain themes remain the same. The imagery of persecution, love, betrayal, war and despair, among other human experiences, has a transcendent quality.
The mission of artists is to find some visual language to translate these universal themes. While abstraction may require some theoretical understanding of the artist's intention, the most interesting abstract art seeks this kind of allegorical understanding through unfamiliar forms with familiar implications. To stand before a Rothko painting is to be immersed in the spirituality of ancient Greek sculpture just as majesty and might emanates from Michelangelo's "David."
"Making Myth Modern: Primordial Themes in German 20th Century Sculpture," on display at the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard, is a small exhibit of just seven sculptures from the museum's collection that reflect the struggle to reconcile modern German identity with age-old myths. The artists presented include Franz von Stuck, Ren?©e Sintenis, Max Beckmann, Gerhard Marcks, Bernard Schultze and Joseph Beuys.
The majority of the works are cast in bronze, like the first piece, Sintenis' "Daphne" from 1930, a striking female figure reaching into the space of the gallery. The image, plucked from Greek mythology, depicts the nymph Daphne just as she begins to transform into a laurel tree after having fled from Apollo.
Wall text explains that the body type is reminiscent of the artist's, and that her powerful, sinuous form reflects the philosophy of the "Girl" and "Neue Frau" (New Woman), two feminist fashions in the Weimar Republic. Most notable is Sintenis' choice of imagery, as he shows neither Apollo nor the chase; rather, the peaceful tumbling of Daphne's transformation, with her head bent, arms reaching and tiny leaves forming between her curves, is not frightening, as in Bernini's "Apollo and Daphne" from almost 300 years earlier, but portrays a kind of empowered dance.
As myths are typically narratives, mythological art traditionally depicts a scene. In the "Making Myth Modern" exhibit, the modernity comes from the use of single symbols. Franz von Stuck's "Amazon" (1897) is a condensed kind of mythology, as he has not rendered a narrative, literal scene, but rather the powerful Amazon female nude on horseback, bearing a spear, chasing after the entire room at once, as opposed to some specific enemy. She is a symbol, not a part of a story, and her ferocity gains a great deal of vitality from her isolation.
Max Beckmann's piece, "Adam and Eve" (1936, cast c. 1959) draws from a different mythological vein: Judeo-Christian ideology. As a Jew persecuted by the Nazis, Beckmann's work concentrates on a belief that humankind was initially genderless. With the introduction of gender, man and woman have since been trying to connect in order to reach their natural, combined state. This view may be particularly appropriate given the pain and confusion of German Jews like Beckmann who had their own identities torn apart during the war.
Adam's mouth is agape, and his body, though cast in bronze, has an unfinished mud-like texture to it. From behind, the stool on which he sits looks like a second set of legs, almost as if with the creation of the tiny Eve in his chest, Adam is being divided in two.
Joseph Beuys, a leader in the German Flux movement, has two neo-Dadaist pieces in the show, the more powerful being "ELEMENT" (1982), which consists of two slabs - one iron and one copper - laying on top of each other to represent Mars, the male element, and Venus, the female. The piece is moveable, what Beuys calls a "multiple," reproducible work, making it a social sculpture. "ELEMENT" relates alchemy to mythology to abstract forms, and relates the functionality of his sculptures back to the functionality of mythology: a lesson to be taken in and used by those hearing or viewing it.
The wall text explains the social context for each piece, the most powerful being Gerhard Marcks' "Prometheus Bound II" (1948), a mythological figure traditionally adopted by artists as Prometheus represents the creator of culture, fire and mankind. Marcks has cast this figure as a miserable creature slumped over with his face hidden and his body tired from the wear of oppression, the state of artistic freedom under the Third Reich.
The culminating piece of the exhibit represents the potential of the wholly original, contemporary myth. Bernard Schultze has made "Migof Bloody and Blooming" (1965) an organism "which signifies both animal and plant," decaying as a mass of disgusting, brightly colored confusion and wilting orifices. This gaudy being is a testament to post-war German sentiment, and to a world which needs new mythology and symbolism when the old can no longer fully relate.
Schultze's piece challenges the rest in the room, as if to say that sculpture's capability to symbolize must go beyond the stale allegory and toward fresh narratives and themes.
