"Tis magic all, thou fools, seduced so easily"
60 x 42 cm. Rapidograph inks on Schoelleshammer G4d illustration board.
A year has now passed since the death of Valentine and Faust is uneasy in his soul. Margereta is imprisoned for murdering their child which she believed was the seed of Satan and Mephistopheles has taken him to a hill top on Walpurgis Night to show him the third degree of devilry, lust. As he sits in the shadows watching the many witches dancing naked and convorting with strange gypsys, naked men dressed as devils and goats, Faust suddenly has a vision of Margereta in the dancing flames. He bitterly reproaches Mephistopheles and commands the spirit assist him in rescuing Margereta.
This image represents the turning point of the story. This is the moment when Faust finally understands he has been tricked by Mephistopheles into selling his soul and all for nothing but ruin. In his turn, this is Mephistopheles moment of triumph as he delivers the third and final example of devilry, he gloats over the spectacle of human depravity, amused that the witches in their attempt to conjure up the devil cannot even identify him as he stands in their midst.
This was the other big picture of the project. It took three weeks to draw (the sky alone took a week) and features both myself., Mette and our friend Vasilios as models (I'm, Faust, to the far left, head in hand). When I showed it to one of my tutors she raged at me for portraying women in a sexist manner, but I felt I had been moderate, for though I kept to the 'sexist' narrative in the book, I left out the goats...
The sky has an interesting detail in that the stars are actually a sky map of the northern hemisphere on Walpurgis Night.
2 comments:
I haven't yet read faust, but it is what it is. I don't see how portraying a scene dedicated to the devilry of lust can be viewed as being a sexist statement by you as an artist. It's an accurate portrayal of the story.
Additionally, I think it's a fallacy to view women portrayed in a sexual manner as automatically being "sexist." Certainly, it can be, but I don't see that here. Witches dancing naked around a bonfire generally indicates a certain amount of power present within the female.
Anyhow...beautiful image. Thank you for posting it. :)
...and thank you for looking.
=)
This is the only home these images have. They took so long to do and I enjoyed doing them so much that it seems a shame for them to sit, unviewed in my old portfolio.
At least here they can have an audience, no matter how small it may be.
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