Frescoes By Bogdanoff

Okay, so you’re probably asking yourselves “What does Thanksgiving have to do with Greek frescoes and pottery from 1500BC?” Well, not much on the surface. I mean, the Mayflower did not have a swank ballroom with ornate painted walls or ceilings, and meals were not served in decorative painted bowls. My intent is not to make light of the brave men, women and children who made that monumental crossing. I owe much gratitude to them. My partner’s ancestors were on that ship. So, what am I talking about? First, let’s look at the fundamental meaning of Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is a holiday celebrated primarily in Canada and the United States. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God and the Native Americans for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. Although half of the pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower had already died, many more would have had it not been for the native Americans teaching the pilgrims to harvest foods. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three whole days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians.

So, harvesting and celebrating was a large part of what Thanksgiving represented in the beginning. Now I can segue into my topic by introducing you to a group of frescoes located on the north and east walls in room 3, Xeste 3 at the settlement of Akrotiri. On the upper story the subject of the composition is crocus (saffron) gathering.

Dominating the scene on the north wall is a female figure seated on the tripartite platform and flanked by two exotic animals, a monkey and a griffin. Historians are certain that this figure is a goddess, and some further believe that she is the ‘Mistress of Animals.’

She is physically separated from the human community by the platform, the tripartite form of which has definite religious connotations; also it is resting on incurved altars. The goddess is symbolically separated because her animal attendants are surreal, which creates a realm of the fantastic.

On the east wall, set in a rocky landscape scattered with clusters of crocus, women dressed in festive clothes and wearing expensive jewelry are collecting the valuable commodity of saffron and place them in baskets.

The figure on the left has rich black short and curly hair, which is held by a blue band on the forehead, except for two long ringlets down her back and a smaller forelock.

The second figure, much younger in appearance and whose head is almost completely shorn, is trying to pluck crocus blossoms, with her two hands (both of which, incidentally, the artist has depicted as right hands), while gazing at the woman opposite with a lively and impatient expression, as if anxious for reassurance that she is performing the task correctly. Minoan artists depicted younger women with shaved heads, and painted the shaved sections blue.

Based on the jewelry that the women wear, we can deduce that this is a festival. And, because the women are harvesting the saffron, this fresco may be depicting a harvest celebration.

For the birds
When we think about Thanksgiving the first image that comes to mind is a turkey.

Thera did not have turkeys running around the island, but swallows were plentiful, as evidenced by the Fresco of the Lilies.

Situated on the ground floor of room 2, the Fresco of the Lilies adorned 3 walls from floor to ceiling.

Swallows fly amid stalks of red lilies. The slight bend of the stalks implies a gentle breeze. It is believed that the artist was attempting to express the beginning of spring. Because a millstone and sickle were discovered in room 2, the room is thought to have been a shrine where rites were practiced in relation to a harvest festival and/or the processing of grain.

Clay for Play
A fresco tells a story about what life was like back when it was originally created. Frescoes are invaluable tools for archeologists and historians because they are windows into the past. Another outstanding source for information is pottery. One notable example is the Harvester Vase from Agia Triada (”Holy Trinity”), a Minoan site in southern Crete.

The images on the vase depicts a procession which has been variously interpreted as a band of soldiers or marines returning in triumph from a victory, or as a body of harvesters marching in some sort of harvest thanksgiving festival. This interpretation seems, on the whole, the more probable of the two. In the middle of the procession is a figure, which appears to be quite different from his companions. He has not the usual pinched-in waist of the Cretans, but is quite normally developed, and he bears in his hand the sistrum, or metal rattle, which was one of the regular sacred musical instruments of the Egyptians. In all probability he is meant to represent an Egyptian priest, though what he is doing in a Cretan festival it is hard to tell. The three figures, possibly of women, who are following him, have their mouths wide open, and are evidently singing lustily.

One of the figures, that of an elderly man, who appears to be the chief of the party, is clad in a curious, capelike garment, which may be either a ceremonial robe or a wadded cuirass (a breastplate and backplate that were joined with either metal plates, leather or a combination of the two in order to form a more complete means of protection for the upper body). Apart from all questions of what kind of incident the artist meant to represent, the artistic value of his work is unquestionable. It has been said of this little vase that ‘not until the fifth century BC. should we find a sculptor capable of representing, with such absolute truth, a party of men in motion.’

Because the Fresco of the Lilies features swallows, and the room that the fresco was found is believed to be a harvest room or a shrine where rites were practiced in relation to a harvest festival, we can only deduct that the following example of pottery also represents a harvest.

Found in Xeste 3, this artistic vase depicts flying swallows, lilies and crocuses. As in this work, crocuses are prominent in much of the landscape and nature Minoan art. Not only do they appear on the adyton frescoes but also on the costumes of women depicted in the frescoes earlier mentioned. This leads me to conclude that this vase was a part of the harvest celebration.

Conclusion
So, there you have it. I’ve tied Thanksgiving in with Minoan frescoes and pottery. The common thread is a harvest celebration. Of course, North Americans today have turned Thanksgiving into a celebration of gluttony.

It’s a celebration of overeating…

followed the next day (known as Black Friday) with overspending …

But, it’s also about getting together with family and friends, being grateful for what we have and enjoying life!

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The art of fresco recaptured by Steve Bogdanoff  American artist Steve Bogdanoff is a master in replicating the fresco form. Originally influenced by ancient Greek art, Steve’s career has flourished over the past 19 years, earning him international recognition in his field. “My initial introduction to fresco art came during my studies of the Minoan civilization, circa 1500BC. The artists on the island of Thera were innovators in utilizing color from the earth, and their free style of drawing and interpretation of subject matter was brilliant. I believe that art as we know it today was borne from these ancient artists, and I honor them through my work.”

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Tags: Agia Triada, antelope, Bronze Age, Crete, Egyptian, fresco artist, fresco of the lilies, fresco secco, Greek art, harvest vase, Minoan, saffron gatherer, swallows, Thanksgiving, Thera, Xeste 3

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 9:00 am and is filed under Art History, Frescoes and Wall Murals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.