Friday, January 25, 2008

Chapter 1 Pioneer Women in sculpture



Women have been a subject and/or theme in sculpture almost since the art began. Egyptian sculpture is filled with female images, as deities, queens and slaves and this usage continues through Greek and Roman sculpture, it muddles through the Middle Ages, is revived by the Renaissance and crosses the Atlantic to the New World with Columbus. Well, not quite with him, but very soon after.

By the time the 20th Century rolled around America was solidly set and settled and ready to take a look back at it's own history, and to produce this view in stone. And bronze and a few other mediums. The purpose of this blog is to examine what the monuments were that this hindsight produced, why they took the shape they did and what they tell us about the creators of the memorials, about our ancestors and about ourselves. Life is supposed to be interesting.

2 comments:

Alcoholic Outsider Artist said...

How interesting you are studying these Madonna of the Trail pieces. I assume they are mostly WPA things. I grew up in Richmond Indiana and there is a beautiful limestone one at the main entrance to Glen Miller Park. I remember it very fondly from my childhood. It sat at the top of the hill on Highway 40, the National Road.

I always thought it would be interesting to photograph the roadside homages to people sadly killed in auto accidents. Some are quite simple and others very sophisticated.

Well, thanks for visiting my site.
Parker

luckyzmom said...

I have seen some in Spokane at Riverfront park, somewhere along the riverwalk.

Me too, thanks for visiting my sight. We lived in Clovis, NM for many years.