Acropolis Spring 2023: Floral

ACROPOLIS

ART & ART HISTORY JOURNAL

Floral Spring 2023

Floral Editors: Emma Capaldi K’Vahzsa Roberts Staff: Guiliana Angotti Emma Capaldi Sierra Manja Renny McFadin Lauren Nash K’Vahzsa Roberts

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Letter from the Editors The theme Floral came quite easily to us for the Spring 2023 issue of Acropolis as flowers characterize William & Mary’s springtime landscape. Floral is a popular element and subject matter among works of art from various time periods and cultural contexts. Therefore, we sought to encapsulate a range of works employing floral motifs, including first century BCE wall painting and contemporary poetry, to demonstrate the diversity of these motifs both in form and conveyed meaning.

As graduating seniors, Floral is our final issue as editors of Acropolis. We have greatly enjoyed this opportunity to communicate with the campus community through works of visual art and art historical scholarship. We hope you enjoy exploring our selected written and visual works that capture and discuss floral motifs and use it as an opportunity to further explore the natural environment that surrounds us at William & Mary and beyond.

Emma and K’Vahzsa

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floral (adj.) of flowers

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Visual Art

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CONTENTS 6 ... Golden Wattle and Symbiosis by Bayleigh Albert (Class of 2024) 8 ... Matoaka Creek by Faith Ronquest (Class of 2024) 10 ... Flowerbed of Peonies by Alice Pancake (Class of 2025)

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Golden Wattle (top) and Symbiosis (bottom)

“The artwork I create strives to establish a connection between science and art, emulating the immense power of engagement and education for the viewer when the two are combined. These photographs were taken during my study abroad experience in Adelaide, Australia. My goal with these visual works is to illustrate the beauty and vast interconnectedness of nature. I also want to showcase a floral spectacle native to Australia that is a symbol of unity and serves as Australia’s floral emblem, proudly displaying the nation’s colors of green and gold. Through my photographs, I hope to evoke emotion within the viewer, leading them to appreciate the beauty and intricacy of nature while inspiring them to take action to protect it for future generations.”

Bayleigh Albert

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Matoaka Creek

“This is a piece that I recently made, and it is titled Matoaka Creek. It is based on the scene across Jamestown Road from Lake Matoaka. In the past few weeks, I have loved all of the flowers that are blooming along the side of the road.”

Faith Ronquest

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Flowerbed of Peonies

“I sat in a flowerbed outside of Caf to paint peonies for my art final. Because of my lowered perspective, the stems and foliage surrounded me as the painter. The perspective transports the viewer into a magnified setting like they are looking up at the flowers from the eyes of a curious animal. During our class discussion of the piece, one of my classmates noted that they liked the open composition and the promise of a sky, and I appreciated that comment. I was inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s expressive florals, and I used acrylic on canvas as my medium.”

Alice Pancake

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Art Writing

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CONTENTS 14 ... plucking the Lily petals by Lace Grant (Class of 2023) [Paired with Water Lilies by Claude Monet] 17 ... Alina Bliumis’s Plant Parenthood: Floral Symbolism & Abortion by Sage Futrell (Class of 2026) 20 ... Odilon Redon’s Bouquet in a Persian Vase by Giuliana Angotti (Class of 2024) 22 ... Harmony Between Wild and Cultivated: Augustan Imperial Imagery in the Villa ad Gallinas Albas at Primaporta by Emma Capaldi (Class of 2023) 25 ... Wildflowers by Sierra Manja (Class of 2026) 28 ... Carnality & Chastity: The Duality of Temptation in Rochegrosse’s Le Chevalier aux Fleurs by Renny McFadin (Class of 2024) 31 ... A Sunny Disposition by Lauren Nash (Class of 2026) 36 ... Reframing History in Lina Iris Viktor’s “A Haven. A Hall. A Dream Deferred.” by K’Vahzsa Roberts (Class of 2023)

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plucking the Lily Petals

by Lace Grant when I was born, they said I was a Lily, “it means purity and fertility, youthful innocence and a new life.” they baptized me in God’s garden.

“Lily, Lily, be born anew” the name rang in my ears, and it promised my soul to an all-seeing God “my Lily will stay as pure as the day she was born.”

I budded in spring, I was twelve. long white petals dangled from my center and I was on display in a see-through vase to be admired and to be adored. they first plucked at my petals when I was thirteen, my first kiss to a young boy, one. taking a sip of my mother’s beer, two. nobody noticed the first few petals after all, I came in abundance. they said I was “mature for my age.” that’s why they continued to pluck petal by petal, white and virginal leaving them at the bottom of my vase. sneaking out to unknown places, three. inking my skin with strange patterns, four. until a sole petal was left. one long, white petal, attached at the stem and a lone pistil exposed to the air 14

it was hardly a Lily, a vague something the desecration of a promise and the stripping of an identity. bare and broken, I picked up my petals and I felt the soft whites in my hands.

I needed to be dressed again in fine whites and new dreams. taking a needle to my corpse, my thread made of soul, I made a Lace from the petals.

I thread myself in the bobbin creating petals to my liking. they are handmade with my love and designed in my likeness. the wilt of the past is erased and woven into something beautiful, something lasting, something new. the Lace is never finished, but I dress myself in it daily creating new petals at every moment. holes in the Lace give a peek at my core, yet, now, I welcome it in. stitched into my stem, I am everlasting.

I will not be plucked.

I will not rot away.

I am a mimicry of a Lily made of the finest Lace.

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Image Caption: Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1906, Art Institute of Chicago, oil on canvas, https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/3c27b499-af56-f0d5-93b5-a7f2f1ad5813/ full/1686,/0/default.jpg

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Alina Bliumis’s Plant Parenthood: Floral Symbolism & Abortion

by Sage Futrell Before surgical procedures and pills, certain plants were used to induce abortions in antiquity. Ancient Greek physician Dioscorides (40-90 CE) observed pipevine’s ability to “expel the menstrua and fetus when taken as a drink,” and mugwort was a symbol of the virgin goddess Artemis because of its similar properties. In the Middle Ages, such flora were considered components of witchcraft, as abortion was a taboo subject amongst the Church. The flowers of these plants became notorious euphemisms of this time. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Ophelia insults Queen Gertrude by handing her rue, another abortion-aiding herb.

Today, such flowers’ associations with curing pregnancy should have been largely forgotten by modern society, with safer clinics and misoprostol being readily available. Saffron is just a spice, and peacock flowers are just pretty sights. However, with the recent overturn of Roe v Wade in the US and mass censorship of reproductive justice content across the world, we find ourselves moving backwards in time.

Alina Bliumis (1972-) is an internationally renowned contemporary Belarusian artist who is currently based in New York City. Her most recent project, Plant Parenthood (20222023), puts a spotlight on 24 herbal abortion agents. The title of the collection is a clear play-on-words of Planned Parenthood, America’s underfunded organization dedicated to sexual and reproductive wellness. Bliumis uses her signature medium of watercolor to capture these plants as powerful portraits on wood panels. The flowers simultaneously stand out and meld with their equally vibrant backgrounds. At first glance, one might not catch Bliumis’s tongue-in-cheek use of texture in these pieces.

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Observant viewers will see that the vaguely veiny and sinewy textures incorporated into the flowers are meant to make them seem suggestive, to say the least. The double entendre of visual taboos – overt representations of forbidden flowers and of genitalia – makes this collection extra provocative. Bliumis clearly takes artistic censorship as a challenge, considering that she released this collection while portrayals of abortion in art are being banned at disturbing frequencies.

Thankfully, she continues to create despite controversy. Her response to the overturning of Roe v Wade: “We have to fight for this again.”

Plant Parenthood is currently housed in SITUATIONS, a Manhattan gallery of contemporary social justice-themed art.

Image Description: Three of watercolorist Alina Bliumis’s Plant Parenthood pieces on display, framed in leather and painted on wood. The first panel portrays a bright green stem of mugwort with six pink vulva-like flowers. The background of this

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painting is blue with hints of purple around the plant. The second panel is a close-up of a phallic pipevine flower with a yellow pistil and red, heart-shaped petals. This painting’s background is sea green. The final panel is of a pink and purple barrenwort flower that has four drops of liquid falling from its yellow stigma. The background is dark blue and includes parts of this plant’s light green leaves and stem.

Image Caption: Alina Bliumis, Plant Parenthood, 2022-2023, Situations, watercolor and watercolor pencils on wood panel, artist’s velvet frame, https://images. squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55d73e07e4b0ea12462aef85/1678215988462W9ET4U1UMKYDNMA9DR4D/2AlinaBliumis_Plant_Parenthood_WEB. jpg?format=1500w

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Odilon Redon’s Bouquet in a Persian Vase

by Giuliana Angotti “They come from our nightmares,” one critic wrote at the Salon d’automne, “Redon is a painter of flowers as they are seen in dreams.”

By 1910, Odilon Redon (1840-1916) already had decades of experience as an artist and had even gained the respect of the Symbolist writers in Belgium, but it would be in the new century, when he would put down his charcoal lithography for bright, dream-like pastels, that he would achieve fame in his native France, and the title “Prince of Dreams.” His Bouquet in a Persian Vase differentiates itself from the works of the other Symbolist painters of the time by an otherworldly softness, an ethereal, almost underwater quality that makes the flowers seem both there and not there. There are no viable textures like van Gogh or Cezanne, nondescript colors like Gauguin, or even surreal imagery like Rousseau, but rather Redon’s flowers make something mystical of the mundane. Critiques would describe Redon’s stilllife painting as bridging truth to the otherwise groundless, as though to peer at ones dreams with a magnifying glass. Our objects from another realm.

With this mysticism though came an air of fear that seemed to surround the Redon bouquet. The flowers do not populate our view but “haunt” it. Only enhanced by the seeming transparency of the pasteled vase against the brown background, the flowers appear as spectors, mirages, receding from the picture plane as surely as they are solidified. In this way, it seems that Redon is documenting not the flowers themselves but the intangible idea of the flowers, the “fairyland” between two consciousnesses perceiving the same object. Their unreality filled in by one spectator in their way and by 20

another spectator entirely different.

Bouquet in a Persian Vase quite literally fizzes away at the edges. Its farmost flowers taper off to become indistinguishable from the background, unaccountable for the wholeness of its reality. It occupies the space of the physical world but also the

space of our dreams. The flowers take the form of flower and attempt to fill it, though only melting into the hazy vision of the mind’s eye.

Image Caption: Odilon Redon, Bouquet in a Persian Vase, 1910, pastel on paper, https://flic.kr/p/ z2mtYV

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Harmony Between Wild and Cultivated: Augustan Imperial Imagery in the Villa ad Gallinas Albas at Primaporta

by Emma Capaldi Wandering through the various rooms of the Villa ad Gallinas Albas at Primaporta, also referred to as the Villa of Livia at Primaporta, catching sight of and entering what has come to be known as the Garden Room necessitates a shock. Upon crossing through the threshold, one is instantly overcome by the representation of a lush garden wrapping around the surface of the walls. This panoramic painting creates an alternate universe, an escape from the mundane.

In a room in a home of Augustus, the inaugural imperator of Rome, this wall mural reflects the values and aspirations of Augustus’ political reign and publicly displayed identity. Through the inclusion of this wall painting in the decorative program of Augustus’ house, Augustus’ imperial image as a successful ruler and as a purveyor of prosperity is conveyed beyond areas of public display and in the domestic sphere.

Only interrupted by the doorway, this continuous wall painting program depicts a sea of green and blue with pops of reds, oranges, and yellows constituting a dense gardenscape.

The landscape is framed along the bottom by a fence in the foreground with a patch of grass and regularly spaced plants just beyond enclosed by a stone parapet. Beyond the stone parapet is a diverse assortment of grasses, bushes, vines, and trees dotted with flowering blossoms and birds.

Augustus ushered in a new political era in Rome creating formal distinctions for himself as sole ruler. Through the representation of an idyllic, even unrealistic scene of nature in the interior of one of his domestic spaces, Augustus conveyed the success of his reign in alluding to his achievements which have 22

brought about peace and prosperity throughout the expanding empire. Augustus was in somewhat of a precarious position in holding a new political office and altering the structure of Roman government from how it had operated for decades. Therefore, he was tasked with justifying both his accession to power and the continuation of his reign. Through the decoration of one of his domestic spaces, Augustus alludes to the peace and prosperity that characterized his reign and projects his achievements. The juxtaposition between the well manicured, ordered plantings and the overgrown on either side of the stone parapet creates a harmony between order and disorder. This balance between wild

and cultivated flora and fauna results in a bustling yet calming landscape, therefore reflecting the growth, success, and harmony that Rome experienced under Augustus’ rule. Despite the fact that the plants represented in the gardenscape have different flowering cycles in the natural world, in this representation they are all depicted in bloom simultaneously. This evocation of fecundity serves as a reference to the enduring prosperity during the reign of Augustus. In addition, this fertile garden scene includes various different types of plants used throughout the Roman period to make triumphal crowns, crowns worn by individuals to celebrate 23

accomplishments, including laurel, myrtle, pine, oak, and ivy.

The depiction of various plants associated with triumph alludes to Augustus’ many achievements that have improved the empire. Not only functioning as beautiful decoration, the Garden Room in the Villa ad Gallinas Albas at Primaporta and the particular imagery chosen by its homeowners contribute to Augustus’ imperial imagery, bolstering his position as sole ruler of the Roman Empire.

Image Caption: Frescoes from the Villa of Livia, second half of the 1st century BC, Museo Nazionale Romano di Palazzo Massimo, https://www.milestonerome.com/wpcontent/uploads/2018/04/VillaofLivia-MilestoneRome1.jpg

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Wildflowers

by Sierra Manja Melancholy amidst beauty is depicted in Louis Janmot’s (1814-1892) Flower of the Fields. The Alps mountains blur into an iridescent background of the eastern French countryside. The point of convergence is a seated young woman who, despite the splendor of her surroundings, holds a somber expression. Not a blemish appears across the young woman’s face; fair skin, blushed cheeks, and a slender nose. The young woman is draped in thin layered linens of exuberant pink, green, and red. Her left hand delicately holds a bundle of deep crimson poppies. The young woman’s right hand is placed in her lap, fingers interlaced in a collection of buttercups, daisies, and cornflowers. A crown of miniature leaves and flowers sits atop her dark hair, a stark contrast to her fair skin.

These aspects culminate to display a young woman romanticized as a goddess.

The Flower of the Fields is an oil painting on wood. The use of oil paint in contrast to acrylic paint allows for more smooth blending. The full extent of Janmot’s blending ability is seen in the background which, despite its detail, is blurred to not detract from Janmot’s main figure. The medium additionally results in an enhancement of the realistic nature of the main figure of the work, in turn further romanticizing the features of the young woman.

Regarding functionality, painting on wood is more durable than on canvas. This technique was not popular in the nineteenth century; rather, it references one from two centuries prior.

Janmot derives inspiration from the fifteenth and sixteenthcentury Italian Renaissance movement. The hyperrealism in which the young woman is displayed is reminiscent of portraits by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Why did Janmot utilize this aged 25

technique? Perhaps the reference to portraits by the old masters would evoke thoughts of celestial higher beings. The identity of Janmot’s young woman is unknown. This allows the viewer to interpret the young woman as they wish. Subjectivity is a defining factor of the late eighteenth and nineteenth century movement of Romanticism. Some have chosen to view the young woman as a

symbolic allusion to mythology. The young woman’s flawless appearance brings to mind the Roman goddess of flowers, Flora.

My initial infatuation was that of the young woman’s beauty, for it was refined to the extent of a goddess and curated to objective perfection. What, beyond her physical appearance, contributed to the young woman’s allure? Janmot’s flowers serve to frame and decorate the young woman. Beyond that they are a motif 26

for elegance and youth.Yet, the flowers which the young woman is grasping are wildflowers of the unruly field. I believe this is the most profound aspect of the Flower of the Fields. Wildflowers encapsulate beauty amidst chaos to accompany and further mystify the young woman’s melancholy amidst beauty.

Image Caption: Louis Janmot, Flower of the Fields, 1845, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, oil on wood, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Flower_of_ fields-Louis_Janmot-MBA_Lyon_B502-IMG_0466.jpg

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Carnality & Chastity: The Duality of Temptation in Rochegrosse’s Le Chevalier aux Fleurs

by Renny McFadin Upon first viewing Georges Rochegrosse’s (1859-1938) Le Chevalier aux Fleurs one is immediately captivated by the painting’s soft whimsy and delicate eroticism. The pastels of the flowers contrast the erect, reflective suit of armor standing in the center of the piece. Once one’s eyes have graced the rigid knight, we’re slowly guided by the painting into viewing the circle of nude women surrounding him. Unlike our reflective paladin, these ladies are soft, supple, and decorated with the very flowers that compose the landscape. If we allow our eyes to travel beyond the circle of captivating women, one can see in the hazy landscape even more ladies, coyly hiding in the fields of flowers.

The scene unfolding here is the tale of Parsifal. Inspired by the popular 1882 opera by Richard Wagner, Rochegrosse created a tableaux that exudes both eroticism and chastity, softness and rigidity, and a juxtaposition of realism and impressionism.

Wagner’s Parsifal was a re-writing of the medieval epic poem by Wolfram von Eschenbach, chronicling Arthurian legend Parzival’s quest for the Holy Grail. Rochegrosse chose to depict Act 2, Scene 2 of Wagner’s opera: Parsifal, knight and hero, has just defeated the knights sent by the evil Klingsor. After his victory, Parsifal strays into the Flowermaiden’s garden, who lament the defeat of their lovers, Parsifal’s foes. In this garden of seduction, the evil sorceress Kundry appears to seduce and defeat Parsifal. However, he is able to eschew the advances of both Kundry and the Flowermaidens through the power of purity and is able to continue upon his journey.

Rochegrosse’s depiction of this scene is surprisingly lacking in both action and climax but still manages to captivate the 28

audience through its strange juxtapositions of carnality and purity, as well as other stylistic components that seem at odds. According to the painter in the 1894 Journal des Débats, Le Chevalier aux Fleurs was intentionally distanced from Wagner’s libretto in order to depict the “central idea of the scene”: that Parsifal is immune to carnal temptation and seduction because he was “obsessed with the ideal.” Parsifal is certainly the “ideal” in the sense of his stiff posture- including the way he pushes away the Flowermaidens’

perfectly styled hair, and polished armor. Conversely, the Flowermaidens appear almost wild in their nakedness and disheveledness. In this it seems that Parsifal is almost too ideal, when compared to the naturalness of the seductive Flowermaidens.

The Flowermaidens are adorned only in narcissi, peonies, roses, irises, tulips, violets, and hydrangeas, while Parsifal stands fully covered, his armor serving as an extra layer of protection from the lustful advances of Kundry and the Flowermaidens. Rochegrosse’s graphic interpretation of the Flowermaidens as femme fatales with their brazen displays of lust adds to the sense of overwhelming 29

carnality Parsifal faced. Subsequently, our hero seems unnaturally pure when compared to the joyful sexuality of the ladies.

Visually, Le Chavelier aux Fleurs demonstrates a duality in style: Parsifal and the Flowermaidens versus the surrounding landscape. All of the people in the painting are done in the style of realism, recalling the dramatic tableaux of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. This in itself is interesting because it seems that Rochegrosse was attempting to portray a relatively abstract subject, the triumph of chastity and purity, with a realist image.

Conversely, the background almost calls towards impressionism with how the vegetation is not rendered in full realism like the rest of the piece. This duality of style only seems to draw one’s attention back to Parsifal at the center of it all: conquering the lustful devious Flowermaidens in his bold, albeit unnatural, display of virtuousness.

Image Caption: Georges Rochegrosse, Le Chevalier aux Fleurs, 1894, Musée d’Orsay, oil on canvas, https://uploads1.wikiart.org/00283/images/georges-rochegrosse/lechevalier-aux-fleurs-2560x1600.png!Large.png

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A Sunny Disposition

by Lauren Nash A vase of sunflowers sits in the center of the painting. They are arranged haphazardly, varying greatly in length and angled in different directions. Some flowers retain their petals, while others appear to be wilted, with none remaining. The petals are painted to look very rigid and slender, each outlined by a darker shade of yellow and coming to a sharper edge. Van Gogh stuck to a palette of mainly yellows, browns, and greens, with only the occasional darker outline. The background wall shines the brightest, consisting of a very light yellow, while the ground has a darker shade, similar to the petals. There are no dramatic shadows or apparent light force within the painting. This helps show that the flowers remain separate from the outside world. Lastly, Van Gogh incorporates texture into this piece, not unlike many of his other works. Brushstrokes are plainly visible on the background wall, giving it a patterned appearance, similar to stucco. The dying sunflowers are painted in the darkest shade of yellow and are the most textured, causing them to stand out drastically from the rest of the piece.

The painting is an oil on canvas and one of seven sunflower paintings Van Gogh painted between 1888 and 1889. Together, all the pieces were supposed to function as side panels to Van Gogh’s portrait of Madame Roulin. In the paintings he employed long strokes to create the stems, leaves, and petals, reflective of Art Noveau. To make the sunflower heads, Van Gogh utilized small, raised dabs of paint, creating an impasto effect. He also limited the color palette to include only one primary color, yellow, in this case. This choice could have represented happiness, but it was also a tribute to the painter Monticelli, who created a piece depicting 31

Southern France all in yellow.

Each sunflower represents a different stage of life, with some approaching death, while others barely near maturity. Van Gogh depicted the flowers in the spirit of the vanitas tradition, a Dutch style of painting that was popular in the 17th century that

highlights human transience within artwork depicting flowers. In addition, the sunflowers may have represented friendship and the vitality of nature. This makes sense as he created these paintings as a gift to his friend and fellow painter, Gaugin. Van Gogh wanted to please Gaugin while he remained a guest at Van Gogh’s house by surrounding his room with sunflower paintings, a subject that Gaugin was fond of. At this time, Van Gogh tried to persuade 32

Gaugin to help him form a group of like minded artists. This ultimately failed as the two men had a falling out shortly after.

A more recent depiction of sunflowers is Le Tournesol (The Sunflower), a tempera and oil piece done on canvas by Edward Steichen. The piece is an abstract, unlike Van Gogh’s much more

traditional still life. In the center of the painting sits a bright, yellow sunflower within a green vase, an arrangement similar to that in Van Gogh’s depiction. However, unlike Sunflowers, the background is brightly painted with many colors that draw the eye. The lighter reds especially stand out against the darker colored sections. Steichen utilizes bold outlines throughout the piece, creating a stark contrast between different shapes. While Sunflowers’ has more natural lighting and less dramatic hues, 33

Le Tournesol appears more artificial. Steichen was an avid gardener in the years after World War I. He frequently painted and photographed the different flowers in his garden, including delphiniums and sunflowers. Steichen also found inspiration in mathematical ratios within nature. This influenced him to learn geometry in order to find the “golden mean” within nature. Le Tournesol illustrates Steichen’s fascination with mathematical ratios because the sunflower looks like a spiral, similar to the infamous golden ratio, a phenomenon often found in nature.

Therefore, this piece allowed Steichen to combine his interests in painting, photography, mathematics, and gardening while embracing a contemporary art style.

While both approaches seem very different, there are still some similarities between the two painter’s styles. For instance, both paintings place the subject in the center foreground. In addition, the painters chose to paint more in the style of a still life by placing the sunflowers in a vase rather than in nature. However, Steichen’s piece is very rigid and formatted and seems detached from its natural form. On the other hand, Van Gogh’s piece highlights natural imperfections by depicting multiple sunflowers that vary in age, length, color, and shape. His forms are more organic, while Steichen’s appear more geometric. Steichen’s piece is reflective of a growing movement towards modern art, while Van Gogh’s harkens back to a period popularized by impressionism.

I am more of a fan of Van Gogh’s depiction because I feel that it has a stronger connection to nature by showcasing the sunflowers as they are, imperfections and all. It adds a sense of life to the painting, making me feel as if I am there with the flowers. In addition, his usage of texture draws me in because it adds a great amount of dimensionality to the piece. However, I still appreciate Steichen’s efforts to combine his various interests and study mathematics to showcase his appreciation for nature. While both 34

pieces vary dramatically stylistically and in terms of technique, likely influenced by the different time periods that they were made, both pieces stem from an appreciation of beautiful flowers and nature. The two painters would likely agree on this one point, even as their art seems so diametrically opposed.

Image Captions: Vincent Van Gogh, Sunflowers, 1889, The National Gallery, oil on canvas, https://iiif.micr.io/TZCqF/full/1280,/0/default.jpg Edward Steichen, Le Turnesol (The Sunflower), National Gallery of Art, tempera and oil on canvas, https://media.nga.gov/iiif/e77dc11f-135a-4174-989aa01ebcde5dad/full/!588,600/0/default.jpg

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Reframing History in Lina Iris Viktor’s “A Haven. A Hall. A Dream Deferred.”

by K’Vahzsa Roberts Lina Iris Viktor (1987-) is a Liberian-British artist whose textural pieces express a fascination with art as both a visual language and a craft. Her mixed media collection of paintings, “A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred.,” grapples with the often forgotten history of Liberia and its connections to the Antebellum South. The artist uses materials such as 24-karat gold, acrylic, ink, and copolymer resin to depict a series of feminine portraits and spaces that are set in a vibrant flora.

Although visually similar to Viktor’s other portraits, the use of color in this exhibit is particularly special. Referencing the iconic palette of both the American and Liberian flags (red, white, and blue), the artist brings these hues to their extremes by deepening the saturation and taking them out of their usual context.

Her piece titled First perfectly encapsulates this representation of heritage as a fractured narrative. The center figure divides the picture plane into two parts that are unified with an elegant floral motif that gives the appearance of a luxurious Baroque wallpaper.

However, upon closer inspection, this aesthetic background becomes a constellation of symbolism and technique that states the work’s true intent, which is to not simply portray a beautiful composition, but tell a story of interconnectedness.

The shapes of flowers and leaves are transformed into tiny figures and birds, seemingly meeting the assumed gaze of the woman sitting in the painting. Interestingly, this pattern of people, animals, and nature mimics some of the motifs of Black American folk art, which Viktor appears to be conjuring in her pictorial depictions. This is offset by the regality of the colors. As opposed to the usual earth toned palettes of traditional folk art, Viktor 36

employs hues that are closer to that of precious jewels, and, when paired with the liberal use of gold in the work, these pigments give Liberian history a majestic form, that not only deserves, but demands, posterity.

Image Captions: Lina Iris Viktor, First, 2017-2018, pure 24-karat gold, acrylic, ink, gouache, copolymer resin, print on cotton rag paper, https://images.squarespacecdn.com/content/v1/5542a90ce4b09befa5d64b4e/1547643748338DOCKW3VWT0QUQZB5HEBB/1.jpg

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Bibliography Alina Bliumis’s Plant Parenthood: Floral Symbolism & Abortion

by Sage Futrell “Alina Bliumis - PLANT PARENTHOOD, Flowers That Have Been Used to Induce Abortion throughout History, Roe v. Wade,.” n.d. Alina Bliumis. https://www.alinabliumis.com/.

“Muvs - Pflanzen.” n.d. Muvs.org. https://muvs.org/en/topics/tplants/.

“Ophelia’s Flowers and Their Symbolic Meanings.” n.d. Holy Trinity School, https://htsdc.org/wp-content/uploads/OpheliasFlowers.pdf.

Odilon Redon’s Bouquet in a Persian Vase

by Giuliana Angotti Druick, Douglas W., and Odilon Redon. Odilon Redon, Prince of Dreams: 1840-1916; Exhibition Dates: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2 July - 18 September 1994, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam 20 October 1994-15 January 1995, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 16 February - 21 May 1995. Abrams, 1994.

Harmony Between Wild and Cultivated: Augustan Imperial Imagery in the Villa ad Gallinas Albas at Primaporta

by Emma Capaldi Jones, Frederick. “Drama, Boundaries, Imagination, and Columns 38

in the Garden Room at Prima Porta.” Latomus 72, no. 4 (2013): 997–1021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23800161.

Kellum, Barbara A. “The Construction of Landscape in Augustan Rome: The Garden Room at the Villa Ad Gallinas.” The Art Bulletin 76, no. 2 (1994): 211–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/3046020.

Wildflowers

by Sierra Manja “Flower of the Fields.” Google Arts & Culture. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/flower-of-the-fields-louis-janmot/xAGrOlfRBoQvFw?hl=en Carnality & Chastity: The Duality of Temptation in Rochegrosse’s Le Chevalier aux Fleurs

by Renny McFadin “Le Chevalier aux Fleurs.” Musée d’Orsay. https://www.museeorsay.fr/en/artworks/le-chevalier-aux-fleurs-21819.

Orradre, Alejandro. “The Knight of the Flowers – Georges Rochegrosse.” Medium. September 28, 2022. https://medium. com/the-collector/the-knight-of-the-flowers-georges-rochegrosse471414c8bab7.

“The Story in Paintings: Georges Rochegrosse, gorgeous girls.”

The Electric Light Company. July 4, 2016. https://eclecticlight. co/2016/07/04/the-story-in-paintings-georges-rochegrossegorgeous-girls/.

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A Sunny Disposition

by Lauren Nash “Le Tournesol (The Sunflower) by Edward Steichen.”

National Gallery of Art. https://www.nga.gov/features/ slideshows/le-tournesol-the-sunflower-by-edward-steichen. html?udbd=10&xyfv=&xnt7=#slide_1 “Sunflowers.” The National Gallery. https://www.nationalgallery. org.uk/paintings/vincent-van-gogh-sunflowers#VideoPlayer95764 Reframing History in Lina Iris Viktor’s “A Haven. A Hall. A Dream Deferred.”

by K’Vahzsa Roberts “Lina Iris Viktor’s ‘A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred.’” n.d.

Whitewall. https://whitewall.art/art/lina-iris-viktors-haven-helldream-deferred. ‌

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William and Mary Studio Art Major Minimum Required Credit Hours: 37

Core Requirements ART 211 - Drawing and Color, and ART 212 - 3D Design: Form and Space ART 461 - Capstone I ART 462 - Capstone II ART 463 - Capstone III (2) 200-level Art History courses at, or above ARTH 230 (1) 300-level Art History course at, or above ARTH 330 *17 Additional Credits in Two or Three Dimensional Focus Studies

William and Mary Art History Major Minimum Required Credit Hours: 33

Foundational Courses (3) 200 level courses at or above ARTH 230 to ARTH 299 ART 211 - Drawing and Color, or ART 212 - 3D Design: Form and Space Core Requirements ARTH 331 - The Curatorial Project ARTH 333 - Theories and Methods of Art History ARTH 493 - Capstone Seminar *9 Additional Credits at or above ARTH 330 and 1 Elective Course

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