I musta missed a session in Bible studies class— I woulda remembered this'n about The Dream of the Shulamite. This's from the Song of Solomon I guess, and see, she (the Shulamite) was smitten with somebody, prolly Solomon hisself, though maybe it's a shepherd and see, she had this dream or maybe more'n one, and see she was 'shamed cuz she didn' want em to know she had worked in the fields, and and. I dunno. I think I musta missed that session.
In case you missed it too, here's a visual aid by RHI Gammell:
Robert Hale Ives Gammell — The Dream of the Shulamite — 1934
6 comments:
Wow !
Beautiful.
awesome!
They don't teach it 'cuz it makes parents uncomfortable!
Before there was pornography, there was the Bible. And Greek mythology. There's plenty of material in the Bible to produce "earthy" pictures. Song of Solomon (which features the Shulammite) is a book about earthly love and romance. This scene doesn't register with me though, I don't think it's in there.
I don't like all the nudity of the Renaissance either. I used to be ok with it but the more I study Biblical art the more I see that these people weren't actually interested in portraying the Bible stories. There's a very humanist attitude in what they painted. It's primarily about the human body. The nudity is totally distracting, it does not portray the Bible story successfully. I even resent it when the Baby Jesus is naked, because this is GOD, and I think it's totally disrespectful to show God with his little peepee showing. But many of the ancient artists did full frontal nudity on adults or babies whenever they could. Adam and Eve, the Good Samaritan... the list is endless. Like I said, it's distracting and I somewhat doubt the religious sincerity of the artist when nudity is present.
In my own collections of Bible art, my own Favorites, everybody has their clothes on and the central message is a spiritual message. I especially appreciate what the Pre-Raphaelites did in making a deliberate effort to get away from the Humanist approach to art and return to a focus on Devotion. Their ideas were radical and brought about dramatic, beautiful changes in religious art.
This illustration is modern, but I don't think the artist was making any effort to be true to the Bible story. It's rather ridiculous actually. IMO.
If any of you wish to see this piece of artwork - called "Dream of the Shulamite" by Robert Gamell, it probably is still hanging in the Maryhill Castle Museum on the Columbia River in Oregon, at Maryhill, Oregon - across from Goldendale Washington. Just google "Maryhill Castle".
I totally fell in love with this lady when I was 12, back in 1962. Little did I know that my Shulamite would be born 18 years later in 1980. The picture would come alive in 1980. And, she is to tell me yes or no to marriage tomorrow - May 7th, 2014.
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