Art Nouveau Series
"Feathers through Time"
Exploring human relationships with birds through a series of paintings depicting bird-people from mythological folklore. Shining a light on the paradigm between humans and the birds who represent the qualities that humans may wish to possess. These half-bird, half-human cultural deities may represent our many psychological desires including flight, freedom, beauty and closeness to the heavens. Alternatively, each bird character symbolizes a human quality that we may possess or strive for.
I chose to display each iconic bird entity through an Art Nouveau lens. The theatre poster was one of the more prevalent pieces of art from the decorative time period between 1890 - 1910. Therefore I have utilized the theatre poster as an underlying theme throughout this series of paintings.
Thoth the Philosopher
An Egyptian diety of wisdom, science and philosophy, Thoth is represented as a man with the head of an Ibis. The border of his theatre poster holds his sacred animal the baboon, and the scales of justice. Snakes represent the enemy and the quills signify his writing tool for the papyrus that he holds. I represented his icons in gold for the opulence of Egypt and fashioned the moon and its rays after the decorative textiles of the Art Nouveau era.
Acrylic on canvas 14"x14"
Horus the Warrior
Horus, brother of Thoth is ruled by the sun and sky. He presents as a man with the head of a Falcon which is his sacred animal. The golden theatre poster border holds the Eye of Horus for protection along with his most revered falcons and the enemy snakes. These two brothers are designed to be similar yet opposite therefore I utilized many of the same design elements for both paintings.
Acrylic on canvas 14"x14"
Morrigan the Celtic Raven
This Phantom Queen Raven keeps watch over the battlefields in ancient Celtic war. Legend tells that Morrigan could decide a battle or provide passage for the defeated. In such dark folklore only Aubrey Beardsley, the fantastic and eerie Art Nouveau illustrator, could be watching over me while I painted this canvas. The stone border of the theater poster represents the ruins of war and grass symbols embody the soldiers in battle. This raven's wings take flight in a style of line that pays homage to Beardsley.
Acrylic on canvas 14"x14"
The Swan Maidens
After exploring the tale of the Swan Maidens I felt like something beautiful should be happening. The Art Nouveau artist, Alphonse Mucha, with his lovely flowery tendrils and sensuality inspired my version of the Swan Maidens. This Germanic folklore speaks of Seven Swan Maidens who shapeshift into swans when they don their swan cloaks. The swans shapeshift back into ladies when they remove their cloaks which is only when they bathe in the pond.
Acrylic on canvas 14"x14"
More paintings in this series on the way . . . . keep checking back!
© All artwork copyright - Julie Carlisle
FOLLOW ME on INSTAGRAM