Historical Context of my Work

With looking into myth, I have to consider those who also used their stories to create their work. The most famous possibly would be the Renaissance painters such as Botticelli. Renaissance artists are the ones who gave classical Greek Gods their classical forms. Mythology and Renaissance humanism had achieved perfect synthesis. They painted classical, idealised forms despite often portraying a sad or terrible myth, almost romantising them. Even forming means of escape for the artist and/or the audience in that period, like what video games are now often used for.

This form of escapist art is what I am attempting to create, a distraction from the everyday with fantastic creatures born from the imagination of ancient civilisations. By romantising these myths, they’re using the skills modern Hollywood film makers use. Creating an ideal world to escape into; making everyday life something more by giving the characters purpose and meaning, a similar feeling those might feel who believe in a higher power/deities.

There hasn’t been a lot of art heavily linked to religion during the 1900’s. More so however in France and Spain, with Braque and Picasso frequently visiting this theme. Picasso worked with the Minotaur legend, which he used to comment on the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, which gives his work a critical/cultural context.

I wonder how Renaissance myth paintings would be viewed if the idea of a limbo-like space the Egyptians used had been harnessed sooner. They wouldn’t be effected by the expensive halls and houses they were shown in. Would this have changed how people saw them? Changed people’s opinions of them?