Traditionally there are [1]four winds, four cardinal directions, [2]four temperaments and four elements. These symmetries stemmed from the enquiring minds of the Classical World, and were further developed by the philosophers and mystics of later centuries in the application of alchemy. The four elements were said to form from the interaction of the further four qualities of hot, cold, wet and dry, and also represented four different phases of the alchemical work.
The traditional symbols for these elements are simple and direct: the four triangles in my painting above (left to right: water, fire, air and earth). When these four symbols are overlaid upon each other they form a six-pointed star. Our contemporary view recognizes this symbol as the familiar Star of David, but in traditional mysticism it represents the Hermetic ideal of ‘as above, so below’, with the combined triangles pointing both upwards to the heavens and downwards to our own world.
My painting is based upon the engraving of these personified symbols in D. Stolcius von Stolcemberg’s 17th-century Viridarium Chymicum. The figures have been adapted from Eadweard Muybridge’s 19th-century sequence of photographs of the dancer Isadora Duncan. I first considered using the photographs themselves, but from a reference point-of-view the quality of the images was too degraded, and I ended up completely repainting them.
Notes:
[1] Also Four Gospels? With considerably more presumption than logic, Irenaeus, the influential bishop of 2nd-century Lyons, taking the examples of four winds and four cardinal directions as his model, decided that there also should be four gospels. He then selected the four texts of his choice - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - to become canonical, and which now appear in the New Testament. This in turn meant that some thirty-odd other popular gospels then in circulation which in the bishop’s personal opinion did not measure up, and which otherwise would have made the New Testament as substantial as the Old Testament, hit the cutting room floor. It is an irony of history that Irenaeus’ bizarre reasoning was actually based upon Classical Greek – and therefore pagan – teachings.
[2] Choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic.
[2] Choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic.
Hi David, I love all your blogs but I was wondering if you are the same David Bergen that did book covers for PAN in the 80's? I have a website www.panfans.net for those that appreciate the artwork of PAN book covers and not necessarily their content some of which is dire! On holiday last week I picked up a copy of 'Castle Raven' with cover credit given to a David Bergen. I did find a mention of someone with the same name on "The Illustrated Gallery" website but they ended by saying this David seems to have disappeared in the last few years and I would like to prove them wrong. Sorry for the bother if it's not you but trying to do a blog every week means I'm always on the look out for new material. Regards, Tim K
ReplyDeleteHi Tim, thanks for getting in touch. Yes, 'I am he whom you seek'! Most of my work for Pan (and Picador) was commissioned from me by David Larkin during the period when he was the art director there, although as I recall 'Castle Raven' was commissioned by his successor, and I knew both George Sharp, Roger Coleman, Gino d'Achille and Tom Adams from that same period. It's all a long time ago now - but as you see from my blogs, I am still very active, although no longer accepting commissioned work. The catalogue of Pan titles which you are compiling on your website is laudible, as paperback titles by their nature tend to be transient things. For my own pleasure I still have quite a number of Pan covers from that time in a folder of my own, by Roger, Harry Hants, Michael Leonard, Chris Foss, Gino and others.
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