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=> with all due respect for Dr George....

with all due respect for Dr George....
Posted by beezelbub (Guest) - Monday, November 7 2005, 20:50:53 (CET)
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...just had a pleasant chat with Narsai...we discussed this and that about the AIDS dinner...then he, almost too smugly, told me some of Donny George's criticisms of my sculpture...he and I had already discussed it some when we met at the dinner...Donny said there was no doubt I was a talented whatever...all the more reason, then, was it a pity I hadn't consulted an archaeologist so that the details of my sculpture could have been more "correct". This of course also includes the tired old critique that my Ashurbanipal is really "Gilgamesh"...because that's the name archaeologists pasted onto that particular sculpture.

One point was the dress on Shumirum...that Assyrian custom was for a fold of the dress to go this way, rather than "that" way...and I had done it the wrong, or Greek way.

As to the Gilgamesh comment...I once compiled some photos and an explanation which I sent to Julius Shaabas...who'd made the same observation. The photo I sent was taken from a rather hefty book on the Archaeology of BetNahrain...it showed two statues,rather similar in appearance...one of them is the one famously called Gilgamesh...the other one...almost identical...is NOT called Gilgamesh...in fact, in this book neither sculpture is called Gilgamesh...both are refered to as "Lion Tamer Heroes".

The truth is that nothing written on the "Gilgamesh" monument SAYS that word...or any other. No one knows WHO it is of...but the lion cub in its grip reminded someone of the part a lion plays in the Epic..and since the people who dig these things up want to call them something...the name Gilgamesh was pasted on...but the French book...compiled and edited by people just as learned and famous as any other, didn't use that name at all...it may well be that since an Englishman decided that sculpture should be Gilgamesh...a Frenchman refuses to credit it...which only points out the kinds of things that have ruled a field where everyone and his brother has brought his own nationality and ethnic and cultural AND religious prejudices to bear...you have to be careful WHAT you accept as "proof".

Indeed there ARE depictions of Ashurbanipal...but why would I copy those? An archaeologist has his own standards and concerns...someone making a monument has his own. Unless I was prepared to put Ashurbanipal on a horse...spearing or stabbing an animal...or reclining on a couch...I would have had to select a position on my own...and that would have brought its own outrage.

I figured the stance of the sculpture SOMETIMES called Gilgamesh was not only more appropriate for a moument...but was no doubt a formalized and acceptable one for Assyrian sculpture...that although nothing has survived that shows any one ELSE in that exact same pose...the fact that more than one sculpture exists WITH that pose made it "Assyrian" enough for me.

Next we have the short skirt issue. Donny sad the only time a king would wear a short skirt was during a hunt...that may be true and it may not. Above all else we must realize that what we have today represents a very, very, very small fraction of all that was created over centuries..that we must not make the mistake of all archaeologists who believe that if they haven't found it..it never existed. On that basis we would not believe our ancestors capable of anything that hadn't survived the ruin and depredations brought to them by their ENEMIES..and I, at least, am not willing to give the Jews, or anyone else, the right to tell me what my ancestors created or COULD have created...just because THEY..or someone else destroyed the evidence..or because it lies under the dessert yet.

I like the way Assyrians showed muscle...anatomy. I'm not a tailor...wherever possible I prefer to show skin...the stylized way the Assyrians sculpted muscle is very distinct from the Egyptians and others of that period...therefore...I chose to show clothing AND as much muscle as I could...and since kings DID wear short skirts...it's hardly an "error".

I was not making a direct copy...as I had done on several other pieces before that time...there is absolutely nothing to be gained by errecting a modern monument as an exact copy of what exists in a museum...the original sculptor is the artist...I become a mere copier...nothing original in that..and yet, I can't stray too far from tradition and culture...so, I mix and match...and only here and there make a leap of faith...but it is ALL based on what actually has been discovered...and here and there only what might yet be discovered.

For instance, there is no depiction anywhere of Sargon the Great...we have no way of knowing how he dressed or stood or what his jewelry was like...so that if we want to show him today...we have to guess...but it can be an educated guess...and I spent years ALSO studying...though limited by the materials available to me...years of study at the Baghdad Museum did NOT qualify or prepare Donny George to make an Assyrian monument...all of his knowledge...without the talent, practise and skills required for sculpting..would have gotten him no closer to making a monument than I can be expected to get to be his kind of expert...but, he doesn't NEED to sculpt..and I don't NEED to be that kind of expert.

There is no accepted depiction of Sargon the Great..but there IS a stelle showing his grandson, Naram-Sin...and it would be a fair assumption that what the famous grandfather wore was not thrown out by his grandson....in those days fads and seasonal fashions did not rule people's lives..on the contrary there was great determination to maintain continuity...to keep styles and laws and customs eternal and unchanging...for this promoted stability...something very important to ancient kingdoms and empires...on the basis of a little knowledge and a lot of reason...you could be forgiven for assuming that the very helmet shown on Naram-Sin's head would be the EXACT same one that had graced his grandparent's head...much as a crown is passed down from generation to generation and is all the more valued for it.

I wonder what Donny would have said about the helmet on my Sargon the Great...the one Nimrod and Ashurian said was a Viking helmet? We'll have that discussion later.

As far as Shumirum's dress...I took the design from a Sumerian statuette...and modified it to show more skin...so shoot me. I also changed all of her jewelry when that tomb was discovered in 89...I have no idea what she wore 'exactly" and neither does anyone else....what Donny George is reacting to is the accuracy of my choices within the narrowest possible limits...as he should be...when doing archaeology and dating and classifying objects...but I'm not interested in the PRECISE accuracy of the details...I figure I have a broad range to choose from...just as my subjects did...and I'll choose the ones which are most pleasing..as they would have done...especially considering that this monument will be placed in the marketplace for all the nations to see and respond to.

No one knows what OTHER belts or shoes Hammnurabi had in his closet but surely the "King Of The Four Corners" had more than the ONE he is shown wearing in the very FEW depictions of him to have survived...why must I limit myself to anything...why must I imit myself to what those who DESTROYED that variety left for me? Must Donny George be satisfied with what the Americans will leave HIM?

He and I skirted these issues at the dinner in a most pleasant manner...it wasn't the time or place to have the full discussion...the gift I gave him was also my own rendition of a Lamasu...its position all "wrong". Just like Picasso did eyes "all wrong". The Chaldeans in Detroit are facing this very same issue as they select what to place in their museum...so far it seems they'll get plaster copies of original works...which is a shame because it only underscores that we are dead and buried...that the best we can do in the modern era is make erstaz copies of what we had NO hand in making or uncovering...that we simply run behind other's and ask permission to copy what used to be ours...how much more vital and alive we would be in THIS age if we allowed our artists scope to interpret our past history...how much more interesting it would be if we had not only ancient originals, but modern ones as well.

I consciously chose to begin at the beginning as to my influence and training...to draw my artistic bow back as far as it could possibley go before launching myself into the future, in order to make perfectly clear that whatever I produce of today...is only possible because I know where I came from...BUT...I am NOT carbon paper.

I know Donny and I will discuss this someday soon...and whatever our disagreements, we won't resort to calling each other's mothers names...we will benefit from the exchange...change some perceptions, reaffirm others...and part as good friends and gentlemen...something lost on Assrians.



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