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Title: Disarmed : The Story of the Venus de Milo by Gregory Curtis ISBN: 0-375-41523-8 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Alexandros The Great
Comment: What a remarkable book, especially for a "first-time" author! There is so much fascinating information contained in the space of 200 pages, it's a tribute to Mr. Curtis (and his editor) that he was able to sandwich everything in - and to keep the sandwich neat and tidy. The book is a joy to read, from when the statue is uncovered by a farmer on the Aegean island of Melos right up until the final flourish, when Mr. Curtis presents his conclusions concerning who sculpted the Venus, when it was done, and what makes the statue a great piece of art. At first, there was a dispute about who was going to get possession of the Venus - the Turks or the French. Mr. Curtis explains why it was so important for the French to bring home this prize: Greek works were considered the epitome of art, if they were from the classical period (around the 4th century B.C.). It was thought that you could do no better than to imitate what the Greeks had done, and the best way to imitate the Greeks was to have their works where your own artists could study them, copy them, and gain inspiration from them. The British had the famous Elgin marbles and the Vatican had the Apollo Belvedere (which was removed from the Louvre and returned to Italy after Napoleon's final defeat), so it was very important to the French that they "bring home the bacon" and get the Venus to Paris. Mr. Curtis did extensive research and it really shows: in addition to the story of the Venus, we learn a lot about Greek society, including the role of women and female sexuality. Mr. Curtis also gives us a crash course in Greek mythology (we need this information in order to understand his conclusions about why the statue was located where it was, its purpose, and what position the missing arms would have been in and what they were doing). The author also gives us a blow-by-blow description of the "battles of the scholars." French scholars were desperate to prove that the sculpture came from the "right" (classical) period and was not carved at a later date. (This was due to the huge influence of a thinker named Johann Winckelmann, who stated that Greek art from after the classical period was inferior.) Battling against the "French School" was the highly respected Adolf Furtwangler, who concluded (based on physical evidence found at the same site where the Venus had been unearthed) that the statue was created during the Hellenistic period, sometime around 100 B.C. This argument seems silly to us - after all, if the Venus is a great work of art, what's the difference? But it points out the importance of historical context and frames of reference. At that time, it was important to the cognoscenti that the sculpture have the right pedigree. This all allows Mr. Curtis to have a lot of fun showing us the mental "loop-the-loops" the various scholars went through trying to prove they were right and their opponents were wrong. This included much wishful thinking and groundless speculation, in addition to selective use of the available data. (Does this sound surprisingly modern to anyone out there?) Another section of the book I really enjoyed was where Mr. Curtis explained how the Venus de Milo would have been displayed back at the time she was created. Based on standard practice of the time, she would have been adorned with bracelets, earrings and a necklace; her hair would have been painted blonde and her lips would have been painted red; likewise, her drapery would have been painted. Mr. Curtis explains that nowadays we would think all of this would ruin the statue, but to the Greeks it all would have made her more lifelike. Over the years many people were involved with the story of the Venus de Milo, and the author doesn't miss out on the chance to humanize the story by letting us in on their idiosyncrasies. For example, one of the Frenchmen who went to Melos to try and get possession of the statue after the discovery was the comte de Marcellus. He was very eager to sail to the island, but not because he was an art lover. He had happened to see a beautiful girl in a painting by a Viennese painter by the name of Johann Ender. Marcellus was obsessed with the girl in the painting, and found out from Ender that she lived on Melos. So, Marcellus was interested in beauty - but not of the inanimate kind! The aforementioned Furtwangler was also a rather interesting specimen - he proposed to his future wife, Adelheid Wendt, on the first night he met her. As with many brilliant men, Furtwangler had no use for brains that he perceived as operating at a lower wattage. Thus, he referred to a fellow scholar as a "complete ignoramus" and he was never happier than when he was able to pick out a museum's prize piece and label it a fake. The book is full of people such as Marcellus and Furtwangler - brilliant, odd, and entertaining. There is one last thing I should mention: the title of my review refers to the artist who sculpted the Venus, a Greek man named Alexandros of Antioch. He also wrote poetry, and composed and sang songs. Those works are all lost to us, but we still cherish his greatest creation.
Rating: 5
Summary: Behind the Masterpiece, the Venus de Milo's real story
Comment: There aren't many titles about the Venus de Milo, and far fewer in English yet.
Gregory Curtis has written an entertaining and informative book that tells more than the usual cut and dry history and dates for the Venus de Milo. He has written a book that introduces a whole range of characters that had a direct influence on the statue from the time of her discovery on Milos through her arrival at the Louvre and her subsequent history.
I've always fancied myself as an armchair student of the Venus, but learned some new and fascinating things.
The book is a breeze to read. I only wish there had been many more illustrations and preferably some color shots.
Mr. Curtis is convincing in his opinion that the somewhat rough and crude arms found with the statue were probably the originals, but unfortunately, there is no illustration to show how the statue would have looked when she was finished.
This will make an excellent addition to art history libraries and enthusiasts bookcases everywhere.
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