Wall Sculpture Adds Dimension to Any Wall

I saw a friend a short while ago and, although I don’t typically notice, I had been fascinated by his interior decoration. The style is known as steam punk, a kind of futuristic Victorian, that seemed like it arrived straight from Jules Verne, a sort of Captain Nemo meets Robur the Conqueror, all shining brass, leather, futuristic technology, and clockwork. My friend’s version was much more ‘Indiana Jones’, with his steamer trunk table, collection of fascinating artifacts, statues and intriguing ancient wall reliefs.  It went together with his home, originally constructed in the 1920′s and created a comfortable, interesting inside properly suited to his huge collection of books.

My home is somewhat modern-day, so when I considered ways of furnishing my living room (something I was informed was ‘up to me’) I rejected the steam punk concept. While I am no interior designer I can see that a certain harmony between interior and exterior is beneficial. Although modern day houses tend to be roomy they can be really bland, then i realized this gave me a lot more range to stamp my personality on the room, and that notion gave me the idea to use wall art and wall sculptures to provide my room some identity, but what would work best?

Old Greek buildings were not what we see today. Many people realize that they were wonderful buildings which stood, in many cases for centuries, prior to suffering damage we know now, but did you  realize that they were bright colored?  You wouldn’t think so to examine the remains inside a museum. I used to eat my lunchtime while appreciating the huge Assyrians gateways in the British Museum in London,  just near room 18, the home of the ‘Elgin marbles’. These famous sculptures were stripped away from the Parthenon in the first years of the 19th century by the Earl of Elgin,  and the Greek government is still seeking to get them returned to Greece.  The sculptures tend to be stark, white and incredibly beautiful, precisely what we think of whenever we think ‘classical art’ yet what might the ancients have thought of them? Euripides provide us with a hint 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 stunning marble statues in their gleaming white were once vivid and colorful. So different from what we observe now and connect with the ancient world, it’s truly difficult to picture.

We all look at the ancient gods as abstract, the result is that ancient wall sculptures such as Poseidon in his chariot are ‘classical’ and perfectly at home in a modern room. It was only at the Renaissance that, discovering classical statues removed of their color by time, the sculptors thought they’d originally been white marble, and set out to emulate them.   In antiquity the Greeks believed in living breathing Gods;their statues were colored brightly in order to echo that. While we enjoy the amazing craftsmanship of the Parthenon statues the ancients adored 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 statues and painting techniques had been designed to bond and boost the three dimensional quality of the stone, bringing the subject to life. Archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann is working hard to analyse ancient sculpture and build authentic reproductions. These, detailed with intricate paint techniques and pigments are as close as possible to those found in ancient times and the results are intriguing; the ancient world won’t ever seem the same again.

So what should I do? I could choose classical Greek wall art and create a modern room, making my choice on a basis of symbolism. Hercules wrestling the lion could emphasize that even if my todo checklist is a bit long, it is not the Labours of Hercules, while Dionysus on a donkey would remind me that the point of work is to fund the fun in the future. Being an inhabitant of the ” new world ” I could utilize Mayan wall reliefs, but I think my selection will 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 have a continuous enchantment. We’re much more accustomed to color when it comes to Egypt, and hence observe these more as they really were, bold and extraordinary in the desert sunlight.

For my Bedroom the primary options are clear; Thoth, the god of writing and wisdom, to help keep me right at all times!