Set in Stone

Alexandra McCoy

Professor Marstine

Nov. 20th, 2006

The exhibition "Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture is a series of heads from sculptures during the middle ages that were destroyed and disassociated from their sculptures or monuments. During the middle ages the face was a very important feature and symbolized a person's identity. The heads in the exhibition are from medieval statues that were destroyed in order to belittle the religion or political ways of that culture by people who destroy sacred paintings or monuments that have meaning. The face of a sculpture was thought of as being important during this time because it is what shows your emotions and is your identity and who you are. This form of destruction of sculptures is referred to as Iconoclasm.

Someone who is against icons or a specific icon is referred to as an iconoclast. Iconoclasts tend to focus on the face when destroying monuments because they want to ruin the identity of the icon as well as erase the religious and political beliefs or ideas of that icon. In Iconoclasm: The Legacy of Violence, the Head of King David was removed from the sculpture and the face was severely ruined the nose being broken and his lips are flattened in. It seems almost as if it were hit with something across the face after being removed from the rest of the sculpture. On the back of the crown you can also see that small pieces are missing. It is very important to reconnect the heads to the original sculptures to better understand the work. It may also give more knowledge to that time period and the type of art work that was done during that time. Reconnecting with the original works would give a better idea of the culture such as their clothing styles and the way the sculpture was designed to understand certain personality characteristics. For example, you could look at Egyptian sculptures and notice that they thought of permanence as being important so they could preserve things for the afterlife. The statues would be straight up and down with nothing sticking or poking out. Then you could look at a Greek or Roman sculpture and see that they were more into the life now because of the more realistic features of their work. Some sculptured may have body parts protruding and more curves to accentuate the body.

The heads in the exhibition done by portraiture have a more realistic human like look. Portraiture gives the viewers or audience a more realistic view, one that you can relate with. You have to ability to connect to the sculpture as if it were real. With portraiture I was able to see the facial expressions better and understand what emotion the artist wanted to give off, opposed to architectural sculptures, where I could only see the face and its features but not as much emotion. The portrait head of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus is a good example because of the harsh expression on his face which makes him have an almost militant look. I can see his eyebrows right over his eyes and the lines on his forehead which give him an aggressive look like he is a very physical person almost. His facial expression lets me know that he is a person who takes charge. I can also see his hair which almost appears as if it were real. There is