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Title: Green Man : The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth by William Anderson ISBN: 0-06-250075-9 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 07 December, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Take this book to Europe.....
Comment: I particularly enjoyed GREEN MAN because the author William Anderson brings together and explores many subjects of interest to me -- the natural world, mythology and archtypes, Gothic church architecture, Wordsworth, and the concept of Gaia. GREEN MAN has been described by it's critics as a book about Mythology and Ecology, but I think Anderson has also written a very fine art history.
Anderson suggests most art historians and critics have overlooked the Green Man as an archetypal element and artifact. And, although I've taken several art history classes on the topic of Western church architecture, I can't recall a single instructor discussing the foliate masks, vine disgorging heads, or human fruiting vegetation Anderson clearly describes. The photographs in his book show they can be found in many places in churches including on rood screens, columns, capitals, corbels, tympani, stringcourses, pediments, flying buttressses, with the Holy Virgin and child, and weeping over Christ.
Anderson suggests the Green Man (or our need for him) has morphed into variation after variation over the millenia. The Green Man probably began life as a Celtic mythical figure, but by the 20th Century he had become a hidden Art Deco element. His most amazing incarnation occurred in the Middle Ages in the Gothic cathedrals, especially very sacred spots like Chartres in France. Chartres was one of Joseph Campbell's favorite haunts, and he has shared many of his insights about the cathedral, as has the art historian Panofsky. Anderson shares a few more ideas involving the Green Man.
If you plan to visit churches or cathedrals in Britain, Ireland, or Europe, I think you'll find this book a good resource. You can also learn more about the Green Man and his link to the Earth Mother and the natural order.
Rating: 5
Summary: One of My All-time Favourite Books
Comment: I discovered this book in a small bookstore several years ago, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it several times. Having ten years of training in art and art history, many books on art frustrate me, because many people don't know how to write about it. I found Anderson's book an absolute delight. He cites his sources, and it was always clear (to me, at least) when he was speculating, and when he was using references to support his statements. Discussing art and art history can all too often lead to muddy logic and subjectivity, which means that good art historians must meet a very high standard of proof. Anderson satisfied me on that count. Mind you, this is largely a work undertaken for his own curiousity and pleasure, so perhaps I wasn't as rigourous as I might have been with a work that claimed to be authoritative. But I know trash when I read it, and this is emphatically not trash. He's done his homework, and he knows his stuff. He states his case very well.
My own research into the Green Man and into the interface between Christianity and paganism in the Dark Ages and Middle Ages have led me to disagree with Anderson on a few points. But that doesn't diminish for me the pleasure of reading his book again.
I also enjoyed the many photographs. There's nothing worse than a book about art that doesn't illustrate the points made! And this book satisfied me there. I've used the illustrations as inspiration for my own artwork many times.
I count this as one of my favourite books of all time.
Rating: 5
Summary: Historically Informative
Comment: Very good variety of photos of Green Man sculptures. Poses interesting theories as to the disappearance and reappearance of the Green Man in art and sculpture.
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Title: The Green Man: Spirit of Nature by John Matthews ISBN: 1590030192 Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: A Little Book of the Green Man (Little Books Of...Series) by Mike Harding ISBN: 1854105639 Publisher: Aurum Pr Ltd Pub. Date: July, 1998 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
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Title: The Green Man by Kathleen Basford ISBN: 0859914976 Publisher: Univ of Rochester Pr Pub. Date: 01 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Quest for the Green Man by John Matthews ISBN: 0835608255 Publisher: Quest Books Pub. Date: August, 2001 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Green Man : Tales from the Mythic Forest by Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, Charles Vess ISBN: 0670035262 Publisher: Viking Childrens Books Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.99 |
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