Acropolis Spring 2024: RAGE

RAGE

acropolis magazine

art & art history

Cover Image: Eve Rages Over the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Elena McCullough

RAGE

Editors:

Giuliana Angotti

Renny McFadin

Staff:

Giuliana Angotti

Zoe Davis

Sierra Manja

Renny McFadin

Lauren Nash

Clare Yee

From the editors:

Our theme for the Spring 2024 issue was, like all of our themes, chosen by and for the students of William & Mary. Clearly all of us recovering adolescents have a lot to be rageful about. This issue happily (and ragefully) boasts a vast variety of poetry, visual art, and art historical writing. We picked this theme knowing it would provoke a strong response in our community, encouraging individuals to pursue ways to express their anger and passion through artistic and academic means. Rage fills this issue to the brim: rage over treatment as women, rage over the AIDS epidemic, over lost land, over being tricked by a snake! Being in touch with what makes us angry is an inherently human thing.

Let this issue serve as a reminder to address your rage. Really feel it. And maybe even make something out of it. Get inspiration through our wonderful poetry and visual art. Write a response to that art piece that really makes you mad. Feel the RAGE!

Additionally, this is Renny’s last issue as an editor, and they are incredibly grateful to finish their time with Acropolis with such an impactful and robust magazine.

Renny & Giuliana

RAGE (n.)

violent, uncontrollable anger; the violent action oF natural agency; a vehement desire or passion

ARt poEtRy

6 ... You are no great kings, by Greyson Fish (Paired with Charles I with M. de St Antoine by Anthony van Dyck)

8 … God can you please grant me a 500KG bomb, by Greyson Fish (Paired with Atom Bomb Blast by Loomis Dean)

10 … Hell Hath No Fury Like a Flower Scorned, by Brianna Edwards (Paired with Vase of Flowers by Jan Davidsz. de Heem)

12 … Susanna, Restored, by Matthew Burch (Paired with Susanna and the Elders by Artemisia Gentileschi and Susanna and the Elders, Restored by Kathleen Gilje)

You are no great kings

By Greyson Fish

You are no great kings. Charlatans escapading in a quiet man’s affair:

I wish snow would fall faster so my footprints were erased but cars speed on frozen roads and stay still when on ice.

I forgot long ago, my phone is not my friend who walks away who forgets to ask why my eyes stare through space.

Yet it feels, wrapped under winter jackets and warm showers, I’m behind the group and the snow’s heavy so wash their steps away.

Why ask? Depressed? Foolish word I’m on top of the world. soon. But there’s cold in the sun, and ski(be)ing alone sucks.

Why in today’s generative worldI don’t want this to be a sad poemDoes it feel like I’ve missed out-

But I travel more in a year than most-

On the part where I get my dad loreIs that half the problem? Are my thoughts my own at this point?

I am no great prince, riding past sunsets and golden fields, hold my reins, I wish to raise my helmet. Please tell me what you see in my eye?

No man is an island. Then why do I feel like I’ve already slipped under the sea?

I fear I have done this to myself.

Anthony van Dyck, Charles I with M. de St Antoine, 1633, oil on canvas

God can you please grant me a 500 KG Bomb

by Greyson Fish

God can you please grant me a 500 KG Bomb

I want it for Christmas. I promise I won’t abuse it.

What happened to lives we said we’d live but ended up drowning in stories we try to draw breath but can’t. The bomb’s taken all the oxygen.

It bursts. Flame, spew, thump of percussion blasts houses and walls. Maybe I wanted a pocket nuke, not this comically gunmetal blue bomb.

Calvin had Hobbes, I have felony charges of possession, threatening, but god I want an upended sputtering rocket out of his window, let me watch the roof fly.

But swords have two edges, don’t swing them too fast. Eyes were once mine, but former friends

flock away. I feel alone, I must tear down this wall. All strings, cut.

Bombs leave impressions, crates fill with discarded metal. Press my hands scrape by, drag them forth. The sword is heavy. But I swung too fast, the timer ticked down, late nights disappear. I forget them. Move on.

But rage means nothing. People do. But God please give me an answer, I can’t keep searching.

Loomis Dean, Atom Bomb Blast, 1955, black and white negative photograph

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Flower Scorned

by Brianna Edwards

Jan Davidsz. de Heem, Vase of Flowers 1660, oil on canvas

You would rather let flowers die than see them in bloom. What kind of gardener withholds water from his flowers in the hopes they would die on their own, simply because he grew fearful of their beauty? Why wouldn’t you want to nourish, tend to, take care of what you grow? Our garden is not a chore, it is not a responsibility. But I became that for you, didn’t I? I was once the flower you loved to water, but I became a plant you kept alive as a chore. And of your own volition, you purposefully drained me of my life. I withered,and I wilted. Do you know how that feels? Do you know how it felt to have the roots ripped right out of me?

Do you know how it felt to have my petals plucked viciously right from my body? And once you were done with me, once you grew bored of me and said enough– you discarded me, you crushed me, right under the dirt, squashing me with your big, manly boot, with your filthy, disgusting sole. When I died, when I was finally gone, you told me you could finally breathe the fresh air. I am so sorry, I am so sorry that I suffocated you. I am so sorry, that the oxygen I worked, tirelessly, relentlessly, with an unwavering love and care that I gave myself to produce for you wasn’t enough. How is it, that I am both too much and not enough for you, oh gardener of his dying garden? I have lost so much of myself in growing this garden for us, for being the beautiful flower you could gaze at. I don’t know how to exist as a flower who is not admired, and I wouldn’t know how to exist at all if I wasn’t beautiful to look at in the first place. Is this what it means to be a flower? To live off of beauty? I cannot fathom that you are the gardener who grew tired of his flower. You admired my petals until that is what you hated most.You loved flowers, until it became what you hated most. It was a joy, to water the roots and tend to the ground where our love grew. But you killed the soil and ruined the earth. You left our garden in search of an empty field. At least now you can be free. At least now you can breathe.

You foolish, foolish, little boy. You gave up our beautiful garden for a dying field. But hell hath no fury like a flower scorned. Because like a flower, I have thorns. And like a flower, I will rise from the ground. And like a flower, I will return. Because you forget, that like a flower, I am also filled with the rage of my Mother Earth.

Susanna, Restored

by Matthew Burch

In painted history, I ducked away and tried to escape the Elders when they pawed at me like dogs. That is not untrue, not necessarily, nor is it the whole story. X-rays reveal the phantom of my anger, hot like a knife freshly retrieved from the forge, and the real knife I wielded against them. My muscles taut, my throat open in a silent explosion. My hands, pushing at them as desperately as they are pulling at me. I am both versions of what happened, the fury and the fear, the girl who cowered at their grasp and the one who stood straight and strong and fought them off.

Cowering is more palatable, I know, but if I wanted to be palatable I would have gone along and done what they wantd. Instead I stabbed them with two blades and made them pay in blood and tears for what they attempted. Although my rage has been corrected, its ghosts will haunt this scene as long as it exists, ready at any moment to come to light for those who care to look.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanna and the Elders, c. 1610, oil on canvas

Kathleen Gilje, Susanna and the Elders, Retored, 1998, X-Ray of underpainting

VisuAl ARt

16 … Oh, Persephone!, by Isabel Li

18 … Duck, by Abigail Davis

19 … Posture, by Abigail Davis

20 … Mind’s Eye, by Abigail Davis

22 … Creepy Crawly Collage, by Abigail Davis

24 … Molten, by Kara Park

25 … Scorned Touch, by Madeline Burdge

26 … Eve Rages Over the Knowledge of Good and Evil, by Elena McCullough

28 … Temper Tantrum, by Natasha Tran

30 … Blue Flag, Bloodied Land, by Ella Ibrahim

“Pomegranates have long been used as a symbol for love, death, and rebirth, inspired by the classical Greek myth of Persephone. In Christianity, however, this red fruit represents forgiveness. For this piece, I wanted to intertwine these two interpretations to represent the self-destructive nature of toxic love and forgiveness.”

Duck, Abigail Davis analog collage

Posture, Abigail Davis analog collage

Mind’s Eye, Abigail Davis analog collage

“I’ve had to read a fair amount of postmodern philosophy, and it always starts off sounding like the ravings of a pretentious madman. That being said, I’m fascinated by the tension between things that are ‘real’ and things that are simulated, constructed, or animated. I tried to show that relationship here.

Ironically, I used some pressed flowers alongside printed images, and I panicked when they started to wear and fade like real things do.”

Creepy Crawly Collage, Abigail Davis analog collage

“I

made this piece right after attending a funeral, and I think it shows. It’s a frenzy of ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and my childhood fear of centipedes.”

Molten, Kara Park

Scorned Touch, Madeline Burdge ink drawing

Eve Rages Over the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Elena

McCullough pen on paper

“Personally, I would be livid if a snake tricked me into getting evicted from my rustic solarpunk commune with a magic apple. This piece channels fury: biblical, profane, infinite, human.”

Temper Tantrum, Natasha Tran

digital (Procreate)

“I wanted to portray the urge to cut my hair to get rid of hte bad memories that haunt me. I wanted to paint rough textures so I could convey the strong and turbulent emotions I feel when experiencing rage and anger. Finally, I wanted to create this piece to normalize the emotions that people feel when they experience upsetting events; as well as to show that anger is a natural human feeling and there is nothing wrong with expressing it in a healthy way.”

Blue Flag, Bloodied Land, Ella Ibrahim digital (Clip Studio Paint)

“Rage against the dying light of our homeland. Rage against diaspora, death, and decimation. Rage against the powerlessness of our people and the pitiful plight for Uyghur freedom. For after the rage, arrives the sorrow.”

ARt HistoRicAl WRitinG

34 … The Earth Rages Back: Athena LaTocha’s work in conversation with the theories of Julie Livingston, by Logan Mischke

38 … Horror in the Darkness, by Clare Yee

41 … Raging Spirit: Repin’s Grand Duchess Sophia at the Novodevichy Covnent (1698), by Zoe Davis

44 … Rage=Action: AIDS, Memorialization, and Power, by Renny McFadin

47 … Bryan Lewis Saunders’ Red Light Series, by Giuliana Angotti

49 … Feminine Rage, by Lauren Nash

52 … Female Rage, by Sierra Manja

54 … The Wrath of Achilles, by Elissa Press

The Earth Rages Back:

Athena LaTocha’s Work in conversation with the theories of Julie Livingston by

Logan Mischke

Julie Livingston is a scholar of social and cultural analysis at New York University interested in the relationship between environmental conditions, internal functional, and embodied existence. At a lecture entitled “Suicide and Environmental Degredation”, she spoke of the correlation between the earth and people in light of new studies suggesting a correlation between the worsening of an area’s environment and local suicide rates.

Livingston suggests that we have created a world in which the natural environments reflect the difficulty of endurance. As we create conditions that endanger our world, we enable the environment’s ability to destroy itself, therefore furthering our own destruction. She advocates for more awareness of the interlocking systems of existence and questions our current conceptions of the natural earth as ownable property, something to be dominated, or something that accommodates humanity.

Renegotiating our relationship with the environment is also the work of artist Athena LaTocha, whose exhibit “The Past Never Sleeps” was recently on display at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. LaTocha’s work “explores the relationship between landscapes and the human histories that were made there” through the application of natural materials onto massive canvases, alluding to the manifestation of scholar’s ideas in a different context.

Athena LaTocha, Bulbancha (Green Silence), 2019, ink, Mississippi mud, Spanish moss on paper

The viewer is invited to challenge our relationship with nature as tamable by presenting it as a powerful entity engaged in the systems of humanity as deeply as any other intrinsic aspect of human life. In this context, the environment becomes art, living and breathing through the page just as it would have continued to do so in its original context. The appreciation LaTocha brings to natural conditions beautifully convey the insistence of nature.

LaTocha reflects the transactional relationship with humanity by revisiting the harm humanity has done to the Earth. She positions artifacts from humanity’s actions of rage against each other, such as a tarmack from the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the world trade center, in the context of their impact on the environment. In the case of It Came from the North (2021), the implication of the inhumanities of terrorism and violence is the dominant figure of

piece, but the presence of the environment underneath is acknowledged and felt.

In Burning, Sulphuric, Violent (2020), LaTocha presents the scars and anger present in our earth. Layering of the materials conveys a sense of history. As a collective, LaTocha’s work explores the complex relationship between the environment and humanity through its presentation of enduring rage. Alluding to humanity’s harm makes the natural retaliation of rage, in the form of fire, a tragically equal exchange.

By repositioning the earth as an active force capable of transactions with humanity, we challenge our perceptions of nature’s impact, inevitability, and longevity.

Athena LaTocha, It Came from the North, 2021, shellac ink, earth from the Green-Wood Cemetery, demolition sediment from downtown Brooklyn, glass microbeads from NYC DOT onpaper, and lead

Athena LaTocha, Burning, Sulphuric, Violent (detail), 2020, shellac ink, World Trade Center building sand on paper

Horror in the Darkness

by Clare Yee

Emerging out of complete darkness is a muscled, hunched over figure with wide-open eyes, a gaping mouth, and long gray hair. Gripped in his hands is a smaller figure with red pouring out of its headless form. This red outlines his hands in a grotesque, gruesome hue. The main figure, the titular Saturn, is in a crouched position, kneeling, with his intensity and energy all focused on his one action – devouring his son. The slope of his shoulders is parallel to the slope of his right thigh, and his arms form a horizontal line cutting across the middle of the painting. Black, brown, gray, and white dominate the color scheme, sharply contrasted with the crimson red of the blood of the half-eaten son.

Saturn is one of a set of Dark Paintings by Francisco de Goya from the 1820s. Known for his dark themes, Goya portrays one of the most macabre, shocking images from art history with this painting. This dramatic tone is communicated through the profound black background contrasted with the bright white of the child’s body at the center of the composition; positioned amidst a void of darkness, Saturn and what is left of his son occupy an otherworldly space. The free brushstrokes, especially in the eyebrows, and slightly unfinished feeling of the painting further lend to the tumultuous tone. Blazing in their sockets, unfocused, and unrestrained, Saturn’s eyes convey his intense rage as he consumes his child. His godly, untouchable figure, however, is balanced with a distinct human vulnerability within these eyes as well. It is as if we can feel an undertone of fear in the midst of his madness. In losing control he has also lost any reason or power over his body.

Francisco de Goya, Saturn Devouring His Son, 1820-23, mixed media mural transferred to canvas

Positioning this piece within the context of Goya’s life reveals potential meanings behind this incredibly horrific painting. At this time, Goya, in his mid-seventies, had survived a near-fatal disease leaving him deaf for much of his adult life, had lived through the French invasion of Spain and resulting war, and finally retreated to his Quinta del Sordo, or “Deaf Man’s House.” All but one of his children died before reaching adulthood. It is this son, Javier, that is theorized to have been the most direct thematic inspiration for Saturn, with Goya contemplating the fraught relationship that can occur between a father and son. Goya’s loneliness in his old age additionally may have influenced his creation of not only Saturn but also his other Dark Paintings of the

early 1820s. While the mythological story of Saturn, or Kronos, is represented in this piece, the painting additionally tells a more personal story for Goya.

A master of disturbing, thought-provoking art, Goya culminates his talents in Saturn Devouring His Son. The vivid feeling of rage, anger, wildness, fear, and horror clearly pervades through the frame. Goya’s attention to detail with Saturn’s untamed eyebrows and blood surging through fingers elevates the painting to its truly chaotic, grotesque form. As a possible philosophical self-portrait, Saturn serves as a question of how far the human mind can reach in the path of rage and terror.

Raging

Spirit: Repin’s Grand Duchess Sophia at the Novodevichy Convent (1698)

by Zoe Davis

Ilya Repin, Grand Duchess Sophia at the Novodevichy Convent (1698), 1879, oil on canvas

The woman looks fiercely and resolutely out at the viewer with drawn brows and crossed arms. While she does not fit the ideals of white feminine beauty with her strong, broad, and slightly aged features, she radiates a fervent energy. However, close inspection reveals odd details: the woman’s unkempt hair contrasts with her gold earrings and the pearls encircling her neck. A chair in the foreground breaks the visual line of her dress, and the tablecloth is oddly bundled near the woman’s backside as if she hurried from a seated to a standing position. A corpse hangs outside of her window. Who is this woman? What is her story?

Sophia Alekseyevna was the fourth daughter of Tsar Aleksey Mikhaylovich and sister and half-sister to Ivan I and Peter I (Peter the Great) respectively. As her regency on behalf of her brothers was coming to an end, rumors emerged that she planned to have Peter assassinated by the streltsy (the Russian military corps, as well as a social stratum in the society) in September of 1689. Sophia was subsequently imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent. However, she resisted taking the veil until 1698 where she was named an instigator in the streltsy uprising, after which time she was forced to become a nun. Sophia is often characterized as an ambitious and Machiavelli-esque figure, though reevaluations of her life push back against such extreme depictions.

The Russian artist Ilya Repin (1844-1930) made the painting, Grand Duchess Sophia at the Novodevichy Convent (1698), in 1879. Repin was celebrated for his depiction of historical themes, contemporary socio-political issues, and portraits — all elements that are on spectacular display in Grand Duchess Sophia. While Repin seems to take inspiration from Foy de la Neuville’s account (which derisively describes Sophia as fat, hairy, and aged) Repin infuses his imagery with vulnerability and a sympathetic gaze. Sophia stands tall and imposing, but the emotions playing across her face are conflicting. Is she looking out in barely contained fury? Is she gazing out in dread of her future?

The warm glow that illuminates Sophia’s figure, interpreted in conjunction with the painting’s title, may point at an interpretive direction. Sophia’s room is dark, with the main light source being the cold light filtering in through the window (together with a view of a strelets rebel corpse). These dark, cold characteristics contrast with the warmth and intensity of the light illuminating Sophia. The source of the warm light comes from outside the picture frame,

seemingly from the direction of the viewer. Further, the date of the scene is 1698: the year of the streltsy uprising, Sophia’s suspected implication, and her being forced to take the veil. With this information, the image acquires a tragic note. The viewer (intruder) beholds Sophia at the moment where she is forced into nunhood and, in the process, forced to quell her raging spirit.

While Grand Duchess Sophia is a Russian work, considering some English definitions of “rage” may reveal further insights. Two definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary stand out: the term’s obsolete 1400-1815 definition in its noun form as violent “sorrow or grief” and its verb form dating from 1678, which entails bringing “oneself into some (calmer) state by raging.” Sophia’s expression might thus express intense mourning for the lost potential of her rule while also facing the situation of 1698, which forcibly brings Sophia into a calmer, more controllable state after the “raging” of her regency. Whatever message the painting implies, Grand Duchess Sophia remains powerful and intriguing both in imagery and content as Repin explores this complex, frequently vilified figure.

Rage=Action: AIDS, Memorialization, and Power

by Renny McFadin

“The poster perfectly suits the American ear. It has a power. If you’ve ever stopped in front of one or turned your head for a second look, that power was at work.”

- Avram Finkelstein

How do you get the attention of an entire society not listening? How do you make people understand an epidemic that is tearing your community apart? In 1987 Avram Finkelstein, Brian Howard, Oliver Johnston, Charles Kreloff, Chris Lione, and Jorge Soccarás founded the SILENCE=DEATH Project in an attempt to make the “general population” see the devastation that was HIV/ AIDS. The now iconic poster, emblazoned with an upwardfacing pink triangle accompanied by the large statement of “SILENCE=DEATH” is immediately recognizable. The collective had made this in order to mobilize knowledge, utilizing the art of the poster to encourage action in its viewers. Silence=Death was created to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS while simultaneously acting as a critique of the inaction by the government in response to the health crisis underfoot.

Initially, one may think that the best way to garner sympathy and support for people with AIDS would be to strike an emotional chord with their audience. While true, the minimalistic design of Silence=Death is intentionally different and serves a distinct purpose. This design choice mimicked advertisements of the 1980s, since according to Finklestein, “advertisement, in my estimation, has become the folk language of capitalism.”

By utilizing advertisement-style minimalism, the collective ensured that any passersby on the streets of New York would stop and observe the bold letters and isolated geometric shape. Only upon closer inspection can one see the full message:

“Why is Reagan silent about AIDS? What is really going on at the Center for Disease Control, the Federal Drug Administration, and the Vatican? Gays and lesbians are not expendable … Use your power … Vote … Boycott … Defend yourselves … Turn anger, fear, grief into action.”

SILENCE=DEATH COLLECTIVE, Silence=Death, 1987, screenprint and letterpress on paper

This call to action by the SILENCE=DEATH Project and their associated poster’s imagery became an iconic symbol for AIDS activism and queer liberation, later adopted by the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). Even today many queer people utilize the pink triangle as a symbol of queer liberation and pride.

While the miniscule text at the bottom of the poster reveals to the average passerby the deeper meaning behind Silence=Death, those already knowledgeable about queer history immediately recognize the imagery hidden behind such a simplistic design. The pink triangle originates from the Holocaust and Nazi persecution of LGBT people. Queers at concentration camps were forced to wear the pink triangle to denote their sexual deviancy. While the triangle used in concentration camps was reversed in direction, the symbolism of this motif still holds extreme weight. The Holocaust and the AIDS crisis represent times of immense grief and loss, and the power of the pink triangle as an appropriated symbol of resistance is present in both historical moments. The SILENCE=DEATH Project managed to utilize this tool of subjugation for consciousness raising and advocating for liberation.

In this issue about rage, I thought it fit to include a moment in art history where motifs of oppression have been reworked for the power of the oppressed. Silence=Death not only mobilizes the politics of awareness and willful ignorance, but it also speaks to a queer history of subjugation and to the disappointment, despair, and rage felt by those affected by the AIDS crisis. The reclamation of a Nazi symbol and the usage of capitalist consumerism to spread such a message is not only incredibly powerful, but extremely smart as well. Not only that, but this call to action asks its audience to turn its rage into something more, a point that hits home today.

Bryan Lewis Saunders’ Red Light Series,

by Giuliana Angotti

Bryan Lewis Saunders, 11/11/98, 1998

Is there an anger innate to the human mind? Bryan Lewis Saunders is an artist who has painted a portrait of himself every day for the last thirty years. Naturally, he has accumulated thousands of images and he doesn’t plan on stopping, but as the years went on, he found himself looking for bolder and bolder means of expressing himself. In his series of Flood Light Color Months, Saunders purchased color filters for six floodlights that he kept his apartment. For each day of three corresponding months, he would bathe his small studio-residence in yellow, blue, or, in this case, bright red.

During the red month, Saunders described himself as constantly fighting to maintain his sanity or, in some cases, “recapture” it. Saunders no longer saw the color white, but at most a rosy pink whenever he attempted to paint himself. In the second and third

pictures he no longer shied away from this medium of subjectivity, as his skin took on sickly shades of pink. In the first picture, Saunders portrays a sensation that he frequently documented in his red experiment, the phenomenon of his skin feeling metallic as though he were made of something other than skin. It is also the only picture where Bryan wears clothing, donning a crimson sweater as he would the effects of the red lighting; coincidentally, it is also the earliest in the selection above.

As a whole, the series of portraits suggests something intrinsically grotesque to the human mind. Thick strokes of paint, charcoal, and pastel create the illusion of sloughing flesh or an otherworldly disease that is just waiting to be startled out of us. Is this how we appear when our barriers of appropriateness are lowered? When pushed beyond reason for the sake of our goals, are these the images of ourselves that we reveal? What Saunders paints in his self portraits is a barely contained animal rage that boils beneath the surface of anyone worn down by the world. Hardly is this what madness does to a man, but rather, the effects of restricted existence.

Bryan Lewis Saunders, 11/14/98, 1998

Bryan Lewis Saunders, 11/22/98, 1998

Feminine Rage

by Lauren Nash

Medea looks down with her arms crossed and brow furrowed as if she is plotting revenge. Her arms create a sharp angle that draws the viewer in and draws focus to the dagger resting at her hip. Medeas’ face is hardened by her immense rage and she noticeably frowns. She tightly grips her dagger and clutches her chain of pearls with great ferocity. The statue is positioned off to the side instead of in the center of the platform and one foot is placed slightly off the platform. This may reflect Medea’s imbalance, as if the anger she feels within is revealing itself in the angled placement of her body. There is also visible tension throughout her body, as shown by the harsh angles in her arms, outer leg, and brow. This rigidity indicates that while Medea is enraged, she is in control of her body and confident in her plan. Lastly, her jewelry pieces, styled hair, and intricate drapings are representative of her social status as the daughter of a King.

The statute is made with marble, leading to its light white color. It is mounted upon a rolling steel base with wooden skirts around three-quarters of an inch. The dimensions are 77 inches tall, 27 inches wide, and 26.5 inches deep. For reference, this would place the statue at a height close to 6 feet and 5 inches. It also weighs 2500 pounds.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Medea, she was a prominent figure in Greek mythology and known for her great sorcery. She appears in multiple different stories and plays, but she has a main role in the play Medea, a tragedy written by Euripides. The play Medea starts at a later point in time, but the first part of Medea’s

story is recounted in the Argonautica, an epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodes. The epic retells the adventures of Jason, a son of the King of Iolcos, and the Argonauts, his team of sailors, as they venture through the Greek world to find the golden fleece. Along the way, he meets Medea, the daughter of King Aeetes, who agrees to help Jason retrieve the fleece from her father. Afterward, the couple leaves together and gets married. However, as soon as they return to Jason’s kingdom, Iolcos, trouble befalls them. Medea uses her magic to kill his uncle Pelias, who has seized Iolcos for himself. As a result, both run off to take refuge in Corinth to avoid the wrath of Pelias’ son. The events of Euripides’ Medea focus more on the following events. Jason soon betrays Medea by falling for the princess of Corinth and deserting her. Medea then decides to use her sorcery to murder their two sons, the King, and the princess as revenge.

William Wetmore Story depicts Medea’s murderous rage after Jason abandoned her. He shows the moment when she is consumed by jealousy and anger, in which she devises her plan for revenge. The statue was likely influenced by the actress Adelaide Ristori’s performance as Medea in the 1850s, which he thought to be “as affecting as it is terrible.” Story also was inspired by many literary figures in his designs, and especially those from Greek tragedy, like Medea.

While many might classify Medea as a monster or pure evil by committing an act so abhorrent, this categorization is reductive. Her rage was born out of feelings of betrayal, inadequacy, and jealousy, which are all emotions central to the human experience. The feelings of loss she felt may have terrifyingly expressed themselves, but she is representative of those deep and dark thoughts in all people. Medea gave up her entire life and fortune

for Jason, and he repaid her by moving on with another woman. Her reaction, while out of proportion, represents an attempt to claim her own story instead of being left in the dust by history.

William Wetmore Story, Medea, 1868-1880, marble

Female Rage

by Sierra Manja

The viewer enters an opulent interior, framed by ornamental walls on which golden mirrors hang. One’s eyes drift from a corner mirror to the subject of the reflection. Here, a young girl addresses her flower crown, a simple action. Yet, these rather direct details are pushed back - far beyond the viewer’s attention, as you lock eyes with the hesitant financée. The painted women are arranged in a triangular form, at varying heights to emphasize the central figure. The hesitant financée is represented with the lightest skin, hair, and dress. Her stationary position is exaggerated in the way in which her arms rest at her side, and the elevation of her foot indicates the turn of her body. Her true disposition needs no revealing; her stare is an unwavering expression of silent rage asserting her dominance over the painted scene. The financée’s discontent is amplified by the surrounding women tending to her. Ambiguous in a lack of facial expressions, the accompanying women are defined by their gentle actions.

The painted women are no departure from the work of artist Auguste Toulmouche. The affluent female subject paired with the refined technique and accurate representation of observed life defines the academic realism of Toulmouche. Amidst the dawn of impressionism, Toulmouche’s stylistic consistency facilitated the interpretation of the painting amongst a contemporary audience. As a realist genre painter, Toulmouche did not seek to disrupt the system of the French Academy of Fine Arts. As evidence to this, The Hesitant Fiancée was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1866 and the Exposition Universelle of 1867. In an embrace of stylistic

tradition, The Hesitant Fiancée addresses the subject of tradition in a rather unconventional method; by showcasing the emotional effect of unfavorable marital arrangements.

The financée’s passivity comes to be a force more impactful than violent action. As others tend to her delicately, she is calculating, scheming. The scene need not portray the financée’s wrath, the viewer senses an impending retaliation. As the financée’s gaze meets the viewer a strong passion is evoked. One understands that in reality, suppression can not always be combated with force. The financée’s restriction of individual agency speaks to the disadvantaged female viewer. In incorporating the onlooker, the female rage becomes a collective empowering force.

Auguste Toulmouche, The Hesitant Fiancée, 1886, oil on canvas

The Wrath of Achilles

by Elissa Press

The site of Pompeii in the Bay of Naples is renowned for its magnificently preserved Roman homes, temples, and pieces of art that were abandoned after the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Wealthy Pompeians showcased extravagant pieces of art, from sculptures to wall paintings, in their homes for the allure of wealth and influence. The mosaic pictured above was found in the House of Apollo in Pompeii, known for its magnificent garden and collection of artworks featuring Homeric heroes. This particular mosaic depicts the scene in Book 1 of Homer’s Iliad where Agamemnon is faced with the wrath of the poem’s hero, Achilles.

Homer’s Iliad opens with the following line: “Sing, goddess, of the wrath of Achilles, son of Peleus.” (Iliad, Book 1.1) The poet invokes that Achilles, the great warrior and prince of Phthia, is seething with rage at Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae and commander-in-chief of the Greek army. The poet goes on to explain that Greeks have sacked Trojan towns and captured two young women. Agamemnon claimed Chryseis and Achilles claimed Briseis. However, after Chryseis is returned to her father, Agamemmnon takes Briseis for his own, despite her status as the war prize of Achilles. The mosaic from the House of Apollo at Pompeii depicts the scene that follows as Achilles prepares to kill Agamemnon for his discretion but is halted by Athena, the goddess of wisdom.

Wrath of Achilles: Athena appears to prevent the hero from assaulting Agamemnon.

1st Century AD

(House of Apollo, inside wall of the garden) mosaic

On the leftmost side of the mosaic, Agamemnon is sitting on his throne, asserting his authority as the commander-in-chief of the Greek army. Achilles is depicted on the right in the nude, unsheathing his sword. This is a significant detail because the Romans followed an Italic tradition of depicting heroes fully clothed, but Achilles is being portrayed here as a nude hero, which is a popular Greek tradition. Many Pompeian mosaics, such as this one, were Roman replications of a fourth-century BCE Greek mythological or historical painting in a mosaic format. An artist would be commissioned to intricately transfer the painting to a tiled fresco that would be featured on the floors or the walls of a wealthy Pompeian home.

The most significant theme in this mosaic is that of Achilles’s rage. The goddess Athena appears on the upper right side of the mosaic behind Achilles. Athena comes into the scene when Achilles draws his sword in line 191 of the Iliad, Book 1. Achilles is acting purely on his anger in this scene and is not considering the consequences of killing the leader of the Greek army. Athena is shown in the mosaic as pulling Achilles by the hair to get his attention and implore him to regain his senses. Despite her physical position, Athena’s presence is only visible behind Achilles. The Iliad spares the possibility that Athena’s appearance was figurative, as Athena herself represents wisdom and strategy, and this dilemma is expressed in the mosaic through her visibility, exclusive to the space behind Achilles’s figure.

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