Medusa with the Head of Perseus

Last updated

Medusa with the Head of Perseus is a sculpture created by Luciano Garbati in 2008. The statue depicts Medusa holding a sword and the head of Perseus, a role reversal of Greek legend. A bronze cast version is temporarily displayed in Collect Pond Park, Lower Manhattan.

Contents

The work has been linked to the Me Too movement. [1]

Creation and description

The sculpture depicts a nude Medusa holding the head of Perseus in her right hand and a sword in her left. [1] The original Medusa was sculpted in clay, then cast in resin with fibreglass reinforcements. [2] The sculpture stands just over 2 metres tall. [3] [2]

Garbati grew up in a small town near Florence, where Benvenuto Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa is prominently displayed in the Loggia Lanzi of the Piazza della Signoria; he admired Cellini's work, and wanted to reverse the roles of the narrative. In an interview with Quartz, he drew the distinction between Cellini's Perseus and his Medusa; in the former Perseus is triumphant, while in the latter Medusa is determined, and had acted in self defense. [2] He would later state that he was unaware of Medusa's status as a feminist icon at the time. [4]

In New York City

A photograph of Medusa, captioned "Be thankful we only want equality and not payback", went viral on social media in 2018. [5] This image was seen by New York photographer Bek Andersen, who quickly got into contact with an anonymous patron of the arts. [2] [6] Medusa was the centerpiece of Medusa With The Head, a pop-up exhibition in the Bowery that ran from November 2018 to January 2019. [7]

Andersen and Garbati later collaborated on an application to New York City's Art in the Parks program. A bronze replica of Medusa was installed in Collect Pond Park, facing the New York County Criminal Court building. [8] [9] Some have drawn comparison between Medusa and the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault trial, which took place at the New York County Criminal Court. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Canova</span> Italian Neoclassical sculptor (1757–1822)

Antonio Canova was an Italian Neoclassical sculptor, famous for his marble sculptures. Often regarded as the greatest of the Neoclassical artists, his sculpture was inspired by the Baroque and the classical revival, and has been characterised as having avoided the melodramatics of the former, and the cold artificiality of the latter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benvenuto Cellini</span> Florentine sculptor and goldsmith

Benvenuto Cellini was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the Cellini Salt Cellar, the sculpture of Perseus with the Head of Medusa, and his autobiography, which has been described as "one of the most important documents of the 16th century".

<i>Benvenuto Cellini</i> (opera) 1836 opera by Hector Berlioz

Benvenuto Cellini is an opera semiseria in four tableaux by Hector Berlioz, his first full-length work for the stage. Premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique on 10 September 1838, it is a setting of a libretto by Léon de Wailly and Henri Auguste Barbier, who invented most of the plot inspired by the memoirs of the Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. The opera is technically challenging and was until the 21st century rarely performed. But its overture sometimes features in orchestral concerts, as does the concert overture Le carnaval romain which Berlioz composed from material in the opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medusa</span> Goddess from Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Medusa, also called Gorgo, was one of the three Gorgons. Medusa is generally described as a human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair; those who gazed into her eyes would turn to stone. Most sources describe her as the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto, although the author Hyginus makes her the daughter of Gorgon and Ceto.

<i>Clash of the Titans</i> (1981 film) 1981 film by Desmond Davis

Clash of the Titans is a 1981 fantasy adventure film directed by Desmond Davis and written by Beverley Cross, loosely based on the Greek myth of Perseus. Starring Harry Hamlin, Judi Bowker, Burgess Meredith, Maggie Smith and Laurence Olivier, the film features the final work of stop-motion visual effects artist Ray Harryhausen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piazza della Signoria</span> Public square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy

Piazza della Signoria is a w-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political focus of the city. It is the meeting place of Florentines as well as the numerous tourists, located near Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo and gateway to Uffizi Gallery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loggia dei Lanzi</span> Historic building in Florence, Italy

The Loggia dei Lanzi, also called the Loggia della Signoria, is a building on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy, adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals. The wide arches appealed so much to the Florentines that Michelangelo proposed that they should be continued all around the Piazza della Signoria.

Cellini is a 2001 play by American playwright John Patrick Shanley. It is based on the process that the sculptor Benvenuto Cellini went through in order to create his mid-16th century work Perseus with the Head of Medusa.

The harpē (ἅρπη) was a type of sword or sickle; a sword with a sickle protrusion along one edge near the tip of the blade. The harpe is mentioned in Greek and Roman sources, and almost always in mythological contexts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservatory Water</span> Pond in New York Citys Central Park

Conservatory Water is a pond located in a natural hollow within Central Park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located west of Fifth Avenue, centered opposite East 74th Street. The pond is surrounded by several landscaped hills, including Pilgrim Hill dotted by groves of Yoshino cherry trees and Pug Hill, resulting in a somewhat manicured park landscape, planned in deferential reference to the estate plantings of the owners of the mansions that once lined the adjacent stretch of Fifth Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willem Danielsz van Tetrode</span> Dutch sculptor

Willem Danielsz. van Tetrode, known in Italy as Guglielmo Fiammingo, was a sixteenth-century sculptor of Dutch origin who served as a pupil of Benvenuto Cellini in Florence. On his return to Delft in the Netherlands in 1567–68, it has been suggested that he may have trained the young Adriaen de Vries and encouraged him to go to Florence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of Medusa and Gorgons</span> Medusa and the other Gorgons in art and culture

The mythological monsters Medusa and her sister Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, have been featured in art and culture spanning from the days of ancient Greece to present day. Medusa has been variously portrayed as a monster, a protective symbol, a rallying symbol for liberty, and a sympathetic victim of rape and/or a curse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nude (art)</span> Work of art that has as its primary subject the unclothed human body

The nude, as a form of visual art that focuses on the unclothed human figure, is an enduring tradition in Western art. It was a preoccupation of Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central position with the Renaissance. Unclothed figures often also play a part in other types of art, such as history painting, including allegorical and religious art, portraiture, or the decorative arts. From prehistory to the earliest civilizations, nude female figures were generally understood to be symbols of fertility or well-being.

<i>Perseus with the Head of Medusa</i> 16th-century sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini

Perseus with the Head of Medusa is a bronze sculpture made by Benvenuto Cellini in the period 1545–1554. The sculpture stands on a square base which has bronze relief panels depicting the story of Perseus and Andromeda, similar to a predella on an altarpiece. It is located in the Loggia dei Lanzi in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Italy. The second Florentine duke, Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, commissioned the work with specific political connections to the other sculptural works in the piazza. When the piece was revealed to the public on 27 April 1554, Michelangelo's David, Bandinelli's Hercules and Cacus, and Donatello's Judith and Holofernes were already installed in the piazza.

<i>Medusa</i> (Bernini) Sculpture by Gianlorenzo Bernini

Medusa is a marble sculpture of the eponymous character from the classical myth. It was executed by the Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Its precise date of creation is unknown, but it is likely to have been executed in the 1640s. It was first documented in 1731 when presented to the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome, and is now part of the collections of the Capitoline Museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museo Archeologico Ostiense</span> Museum in Rome, Italy

The Museo Archeologico Ostiense is an archaeological museum dedicated to the ancient Roman city of Ostia in Rome, Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillie and Marc</span> Artist team

Gillie and Marc Schattner are an Australian collaborative artist couple. Gillie and Marc are known for their animal, human-animal hybrid and abstract sculptures, which have been exhibited as public works of art around the world. They also create paintings, street art and statues of people.

The year 2020 in art involved various significant events.

<i>Nymph of Fontainebleau</i> Sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini

The Nymph of Fontainebleau, also known as the Nymph of Anet or the Nymph with the Stag, is a c.‑1543 bronze relief, created by the Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini for the Château de Fontainebleau in France. It features a long-limbed reclining nude female nymph with a stag, wild boars, dogs, and other animals. It was Cellini's first large scale bronze casting.

<i>A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft</i> Public statue in Newington Green, London

A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft is a public sculpture commemorating the 18th-century feminist writer and advocate Mary Wollstonecraft in Newington Green, London. A work of the British artist Maggi Hambling, it was unveiled on 10 November 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Cascone, Sarah (13 October 2020). "The Artist Behind a (Very Questionable) Nude Public Statue of Medusa as a Feminist Avenger Defends His Work". artnet . Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Griffin, Annaliese (3 October 2020). "The story behind the Medusa statue that has become the perfect avatar for women's rage". Quartz . Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  3. Garbati, Luciano [@GarbatiLuciano] (8 July 2018). "Medusa con la cabeza de Perseo - Medusa holding Perseus' head. Escultura de Luciano Garbati, 2.25 mts. Sculpture by Luciano Garbati, 92 inches" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  4. Ceren Çıplak Drillat (2 February 2018). "Feminist Medusa". Cumhuriyet . Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  5. Gershon, Livia (13 October 2020). "Why a New Statue of Medusa Is So Controversial". Smithsonian Magazine . Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  6. Griner, David (12 October 2020). "What the People Behind NYC's Polarizing New Medusa Statue Want You to Know About It". Adweek . Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  7. "263 Bowery Pop-up Installation, November 2018- Jan 2019". MWTH. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  8. Di Liscia, Valentina (12 October 2020). "Across From the New York County Criminal Court, a Public Statue Reimagines the Myth of Medusa". Hyperallergic . Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  9. Jacobs, Julia (13 October 2020). "How a Medusa Sculpture From a Decade Ago Became #MeToo Art". The New York Times . Retrieved 14 October 2020.