Gothic Art in Spotlight: Human Anatomy since Renaissance

It has again been an awful long time since I have posted and the reason is that I am under a lot of stress at the moment. But now I would like to introduce to you a book I bought a long time a go at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

The name of the book is Human Anatomy. Depicting the Body from the Renaissance to Today by Benjamin A. Rifkin, Michael J. Ackerman and Judith Folkenberg. It was published 2006 by Thames&Hudson.

Basically this book is art history, and there are a huge amount of pictures of human bodies. I believe one of the reasons the book starts from the Renaissance is that before that it was not socially acceptable to go and study human bodies. Basically it could have been a social suicide to dig around in a dead member of the society. But when the natural sciences got a steadier position, people started to examine human body and the paintings and drawings of entrails became more life-like.

In this picture above you can see how carefully the face and expression if it's face are drawn, even though the actual point of the drawing is to teach anatomy and show the entrails.

In the picture below you can detect traces of Medieval morality and the Dance Macabre. In the upper left corner is a skeleton, called to Judgement. In the lower right there is a bunch of dead interrupting a evening of idle play.

I consider many of the pictures this Human Anatomy contains to be suitable for a goth. I would take every single one of those drawings above and hang them on my wall!

By the way, I am sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, it seems to be, that something in my camera has been broken. No matter how I alter the settings, it keeps thinking that there is not enough light and the pics are blurred. I must check if the warranty is still on.

Thanks for reading!

Samhain: a Party and a trip to the Graveyard

This is going to be rather a different post compared to the ones I usually make. I am going to tell about my ways of celebrating Samhain this year.

Yesterday (31st of October) I spent in solitude with a really important person in my life. We did things we enjoy and things that strengthen confidence between us and talked about some very personal stuff. This lovely evening was like rays of sun, shining into a dark room and all because somebody had the courage to peek between the curtains.

Today (1st of November) I am going to a theater with this friend of mine to see The Addams Family Musical. I really hope it is going to be indeed funny and not too farce-like. The beginning situation is that Wednesday has fallen in love with a normal male person and this creates a lot of drama, since especially Morticia thinks that is a bad thing. Or at least that is what the summary says at the theater's home page. Unfortunately the page is in Finnish only, so I am not linking it. But the play is an adaptation of the Broadway show. Apparently it is 'an original story' (of Charles Addams, I suppose) but as far as I am concerned, that sentence on the web page could also mean that it is an original story meaning that it (acceptance and kids growing up) is something everybody has to ponder in their life and has been for many centuries now.

Samhain: the door to the world of Dead is open!

I must say I am a tiny bit skeptical of this plot, because I have always seen Addams Family as a tolerant and open family, who (especially in the old TV-series) try not to judge anyone and most of all Morticia is the one trying to be the mediator. But we'll see how the play turns out!

2nd of November there is a goth club in my hometown, celebrating Samhain. I am attending it, but before that I have the most coolest lecture ever. Yes, I have a lecture on Saturday, All Hollows' Eve on a local Cemetery at 7 p.m.! I t is a part of a course in Literature Studies called The Traditions of Macabre and our university teacher is going to hold one of the lessons at a grave yard. After the lecture I am off to home, quickly change to party outfit and head to the goth club. I think it would be not that respectful for those other people, who might be at the cemetery, greeting their dear departed, if I was in a latex dress or something. Also, there is going to be really cold, so i would catch a cold if I'd wander around in a mini skirt!

Happy Halloween and Mysterious Samhain!