Images from a Lost World

1. Onas family - Tierra del Fuego.

2. Adornments. Solomon Islands.

3. Andaman Boy with his father's bones (Andaman Islands, India).

4. Dogon ritual dance masks - southeast of Timbuktu, Mali.

5. Hmong (Meo) women in wedding clothes. Vietnam (Tonkin).

6. Two Moi tribesmen in a hut built on piles, southern Annam, Vietnam.

7. Algonquin shaman, Canada.

8. Aboriginal people with their shaman and sacred pole, Australia.

9. Group of Ainu people, Japan.

10. Araucanian graveyard, Chile.

11. Cleaning wells. Southern Tunis.

12. Eskimos with their tent make of skins, Greenland.

13. Indian turner.

14. Young Abyssinian playing the lyre.

15. Woman in mourning, Madagascar.

16. Fetish Priest Hazena. Niger.

17. Sakai boy blow the dart from the sumpit (blowgun), Malaysia.

18. Two Patamona indigenous build a boat, Guyana.

Boyle Family - The Tidal Series

1-14. Tidal Series (sand on Epikote and fibreglass) - details.

Appendix 4 - Mineral Solids. The Tidal Series.
A series of 14 studies 4'9" x 4'9" made on the same square of the beach at Camber Sands after each tide for a week. The objective was to examine the effect of the elemental forces on the site; and to lift the actual sand off the surface and to fix it in its exact place and shape. Camber Beach was chosen because it was extensive, with a considerable area between high and low tide marks. The sands are situated between the sea and Romney Marsh, a very extensive flat area of country. For this reason there is no protection from the wind from any direction. A site was chosen about mid way between high and low water just landward of a large sandbank. The site was not chosen at random. It was selected deliberately to give maximum time to work on the site, in an area that always seemed to be rippled (as was 90% of the beach). The series started on the first of November 1969. It was a week of ferocious gales — Force 9 gusting to 10 much of the time. The wind swept all around the compass. When it came from the south west the Beach Cafe, where the series was being assembled, was half buried in sand. The ripple variation on the site was considerable and the sand bar moved about in the storm, with the result that, where the series started to landward of it, on some days the square was actually on the bar either on its seaward or landward slope. Some days there was a considerable amount of animal and vegetable material on, or in the vicinity of, the square with the result that sea-birds moved across the surface of the square. On other days the marks of annelids and crabs appeared in the sand. I.2. All of these were fixed, the actual grains of sand these creatures touched being in their correct position, in the final study. So that to a very large extent the studies are microscopically accurate, and the individual crystals of quartz and salt can be isolated.

Lovis Corinth - Faith / Myth / History

1. In Paradise - Expulsion from Paradise. Color lithograph, 375 x 330 (14 1/2 x 13). 1920/21. Unmoved to pity, the angel expels the first man and woman from the Garden of Eden. Adam turns, his arm raised in a gesture of protest. Eve hides her face in her hand. Only the dog, which accompanies the couple on their flight, gazes with curiosity into the future. The sense of hopelessness evoked by this expulsion is accentuated by the cool, pale blue of the sky, in contrast to the radiant yellow light shining within the gates of Paradise.

2. Cain. Lithograph, 273 x 240 (11 1/16 x 9 1/4). 1915. This lithograph returns to a subject Lovis Corinth had already depicted in an etching in 1895. The composition of the two prints is also similar: his face distorted, Cain stands before the corpse of his murdered brother; overhead, vultures hover. In the 1895 etching, Cain and Abel are symbolic figures; the group is depicted with Caravaggesque lighting in a dark empty space. In this lithograph, however, Cain is portrayed as a monumental presence, boldly drawn in rough outline and set against a landscape background that lends the scene an impression of reality.

3. The Flood - The Building of the Ark. Hand-colored lithograph, 530 x 665 (20 3/4 x 26 1/4). 1923. In 1923 Lovis Corinth drew eight lithographs on the biblical subject of the Flood. In the title he adopted the popular, quaint, German spelling "Sündfluth'' (instead of the more normal "Sintflut"). "Sündfluth" recalls the reason for the catastrophe described in Genesis - it was as divine punishment for man's sins ["Sünde" = sin]. The human beings appear as small, shadowy, anonymous figures. This lithograph shows the building of the ark, which is to save Noah, his family and all the animals from the Deluge. The vessel stands in a great dockyard. In accordance with God's commands, it is being coated with tar to protect it against the water. In the foreground a man is standing by the cauldron of tar, from which purple smoke rises, spreading over the entire picture.

4. The Flood - The Flight into the Ark. Hand-colored lithograph, 520 x 648 (20 1/2 x 25 1/2). 1923. In a colorful procession, the pairs of animals selected by Noah take refuge in the ark. Lovis Corinth chooses exotic species here - giraffes, tigers, elephants, apes and an ostrich - all on their way to the ark. Above them, two herons fly with outstretched necks towards the ark, their pink-tinged plumage mingling with the colors of the setting sun.

5. The Flood - The Waters Recede. Hand-colored lithograph, 520 x 650 (20 1/2 x 25 5/8). 1923. The mountain peaks emergering from the waters are the first signs of the receding Flood. The ark, here visible in the misty background, comes to rest on Mount Ararat. In order to find out whether the Earth is dry enough, Noah first sends out a raven, then doves, the last of which returns to the ark bearing an olive twig in its beak. Lovis Corinth places the young tree from which this twig is taken in the foreground. With its fine branches and delicate coloration -spots of lime green and pale yellow - the tree becomes a symbol of the resurgence of nature.

6. Lamentation. Drypoint, 305 x 242 (12 x 9 1/2). 1920/21. This print was based on the 1908 painting of the same title.

7. The Amorous Adventures of Zeus - Calisto and Zeus-Artemis. Color lithograph, 255 x 325 (10 x 12 3/4). 1920. This depiction of Zeus and the nymph Calisto is one of a cycle of eight lithographs with a cover sheet illustrating the amorous adventures of Zeus. Calisto is shown breaking her vow of chastity in the embrace of the god, who assumed the form of Artemis, Calisto's hunting companion, in order to gain her confidence. To protect her from the jealousy of his wife, Hera, Zeus subsequently turns Calisto into a bear.

8. Train of Devotees of Bacchus. Drypoint, 240 x 300 (9 3/8 x 11 7/8). 1920/21. This print was based on Lovis Corinth's painting of 1898, "Homecoming After the Bacchanalia".

9. Birth of Venus. Etching, with white gouache highlights, 464x278 (15 7/8 x 10 7/8). 1916. Lovis Corinth used the story of Venus as subject matter on a number of occasions. Here he parodies an oil painting dating from 1896.

10. From the Life of Frederick the Great - Torgau. The King Writing on the Steps of the Altar. Color lithograph, 337 x 284 (13 1/4x 11 3/16). 1922. Here, during the Battle of Torgau, in which the Prussians defeated the Austrians, the king is depicted seated on the altarsteps of a village church, writing his battle orders for the following day.

11. From the Life of Frederick the Great - Peace. Te Deum. Color lithograph, 372 x 282 (14 5/8 x 11 3/16). 1922. The king is portrayed here as an old man. After all the successes and misfortunes of his life, Frederick the Great is depicted seated on his throne in the chapel of Charlottenburg Palace, sunk in thought, while listening to the music.

12. Götz von Berlichingen - Adelheid with the Gypsies. Etching, 275 x 215 (10 13/16 x 8 1/2). 1920/21. Impressive particularly for its handling of light, this etching shows Adelheid - author of untold intrigues, who will later poison Weislingen - sitting at a fire with two gypsy women.

Jean Lurcat - Tapestries

1. The Sparrow-owl, 1954. 1m 44cm x 1m 10cm.

2. Blue Forest, 1953. 2m 05cm x 1m 50cm.

3. Blue Scarlet, 1953. 1m 70cm x 95cm.

4. The He-goat and the Astrapatte, 1949. 1m 50cm x 2m 45cm.

5. The Poet's Garden, 1955. 3m 60cm x 7m 15cm.

6. Wine and Music or the Little Grey Wine, 1954. 2m 22cm x 3m.

La Fiesta de la Muerte

1. Calavera de Azúcar. A "sugar skull" executed in cardboard. By the Linares family. Mexico City.

2. An All Souls' Day offering in the Anahuacalli. By the Linares family. Mexico City.

3. Alegre carroza funeraria. An amusing funeral carriage in polychromed clay. Metepec.

4. Altar de Muertos. An All Souls' Day altar in a private home decorated with handcrafts from different regions of Mexico.

5, 6. A Zapatista skull "Judas". By the Linares family. Mexico City.

7. A Judas. Mexico City.

8. Miguel Linares giving the finishing touches to a cardboard "sugar skull". Mexico City.

9. the Linares family, excellent artisans in the making of "Judases", mask, "sugar skulls" and fantastic "alebrijes". Mexico City.

10. Judas alebrijado. A 10 meter high "judas". By the Linares family. Mexico City.

Death is a prominent theme in Mexican popular art, so familiar to us from the great sculptures of pre-Hispanic Mexico, of which the most outstanding example is the majestic and terrifying Coatlicue, Goddess of the Earth and of Life, who wears the mask of death, or perhaps the beautiful skull shaped in rock crystal by the master hand of an Aztec craftsman. The theme is perpetuated in the bittersweet humor of great popular cartoonists, such as Santiago Hernandez, Manuel Manilla and Guadalupe Posada, who highlighted events in the daily life of the people through the portrayal of figures of skeletons showing an ironic grin full of sarcastic humor in which Death is a personality with human traits, a friend or companion with whom we can make a joke. Diego Rivera said of Posada, 'His talent was as corrosive as the acid he used to prepare his etchings in holding up to scorn the Establishment of his day". "Posada: Death has become a carouser who fights, gets drunk, cries and dances". "A friendly death, a death which becomes a thing of articulated cardboard to be moved by pulling a string". "Death as a sugar candy skull, a death to feed the sweet tooth of children while their elders fight and fall dead or are hung by the neck". "A reveling death which takes part in dances and visits the cemetery to eat 'mole' and drink pulque among the graves." ". . . All are portrayed as skeletons, from cats and bean sellers to Porfirio Diaz and Zapata and including ranchers, artisans and 'dudes' as well as workers, farmers and even Spaniards". Although to a person from the Old World or one who has absorbed its culture the thought of death is a horrifying one, most Mexicans do not consider it as a denial of life, but rather as a complement to it and they accept it so naturally that they eat candy skulls, play with skeleton puppets to produce a macabre dance, buy the little figures known as "padrecitos" which have a chick pea for a head and which, glued to a strip of paper, march in a procession carrying a tiny coffin or gather around a tomb from which when a string is pulled a skeleton appears with a bottle in his hand. Death is also represented in all manner of clay or cardboard skeletons: cyclists, priests, "charros", mothers with children in their arms, street musicians who paradoxically assume oddly lifelike postures, even a couple dressed as bride and groom, ironically portraying Death as participating in the sacrament that perpetuates life! This is a basic idea which goes back to the very roots of the Indian half of Mexican culture. To the pre-Hispanic Mexican death is only a necessary prelude to resurrection; one must die to be born again and it is death which is the great creator of life. The celebration of the "Day of the Dead" (November 2) is a source of inspiration for the artisan who devotes part of his production to it: incense burners for the special altars honoring the dead in the homes or grave ornaments. Those from the State of Oaxaca are very beautiful as are those of Santa Fe de la Laguna in Michoacán, from the Barrio de la Luz in Puebla in black glaze known as "toritos" and surrounded by candles and marigolds, those of black glaze also from Metepec in the State of México, the polychromed ones of Matamoros, Puebla and Ocotlán, Oaxaca, about which are portrayed the dead souls as tiny figures clasping hands. In the states of Oaxaca, Jalisco and Guanajuato polychromed pottery toys representing death are made and in Toluca little tombs, animals, flower baskets and shoes of spun sugar are made for the souls of dead children. Altars are also decorated with garlands of tinfoil and tissue paper flowers and paper cutouts with allegorical figures as well as the traditional sugar candy skulls with tin foil and the names of dead relatives written on the bony foreheads. In Mexico City for All Saints' Day decorated sugar skulls are made and cardboard toys called "entierros" (burial processions) with a file of marching monks and a coffin pasted on a strip of cardboard.