human animal by lilgraphics

animal vs human in the visual arts an overview

Mesolithic cave painting (detail) from Cova del Moros, Kogus, Spain, ca 10,000 BC

introduction Throughout human history, as far back as the cave drawings, humans have depicted themselves combined with animals. Sometimes they take animal characteristics and make fantasy creatures to enhance the human image. They use animals to create more power, more fertility, more wisdome et cetera. Growing up with cartoons with talking superhero animals behaving like humans this subject is fascinating me up until now. This action of human beings called anthropomorphism is not something simple to explain since there are many different reasons to do it. In this book you will find my collection of human-animals from ancient times up until the present.

Anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, natural and supernatural phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Subjects for anthropomorphism commonly include animals and plants depicted as creatures with human motivation able to reason and converse, forces of nature such as winds or the sun, components in games, unseen or unknown sources of chance, etc. Almost anything can be subject to anthropomorphism. The term derives from a combination of the Greek ánthropos (human) and morphe (shape or form).

Within these terms, humans have more recently been identified as having an equivalent opposite propensity to deny common traits with other species—most particularly apes— as part of a feeling that humans are unique and special. This tendency has been referred to as anthropodenial by primatologist Frans de Waal. In religions and mythologies, anthropomorphism refers to the perception of a divine being or beings in human form, or the recognition of human qualities in these beings. Many mythologies are almost entirely concerned with anthropomorphic deities who express human characteristics such as jealousy, hatred, or love. The Greek gods, such as Zeus and Apollo, were often depicted in human form exhibiting both commendable and despicable human traits.

Humans seem to have an innate capacity to project human characteristics in this way. Evidence from art and artifacts suggests it is a long-held propensity that can be dated back to earliest times. It is strongly associated with the art of storytelling where it also appears to have ancient roots. Most cultures possess a long-standing fable tradition with anthropomorphised animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognised types of human behaviour. The use of such literature to draw moral conclusions can be highly complex.

Many religions and philosophies have condemned anthropomorphism for various reasons. Some Ancient Greek philosophers did not approve of, and were often hostile to their people’s mythology. These philosophers often developed monotheistic views. Plato’s (427–347 BC) Demiurge (craftsman) in the Timaeus and Aristotle’s (384– 6

322 BC) prime mover in his Physics are notable examples. The Greek philosopher Xenophanes (570–480 BC) said that “the greatest god” resembles man “neither in form nor in mind.” The similarity of these philosophers’ concepts of god to the concepts found in the Bible facilitated the incorporation of much pre-Christian Greek philosophy into the Medieval Christian world view by the Scholastics, most notably Thomas Aquinas. Anthropomorphism of God is rejected by Judaism and Islam, which both believe that God is beyond human limits of physical comprehension. Judaism’s opposition to anthropomorphism grew after the advent of Christianity, which claimed Jesus was a physical manifestation of God, until becoming codified in 13 principles of Jewish faith authored by Maimonides in the 12th Century. This debate often led to persecution of the Jewish people in Europe. This conception is also championed by the doctrinal view of Nirguna Brahman. From the perspective of adherents of religions in which the deity or deities have human characteristics, it may be more accurate to describe the phenomenon as theomorphism, or the giving of divine qualities to humans, rather than anthropomorphism, the giving of human qualities to the divine. According to their beliefs, the deity or deities usually existed before humans, therefore humans were created in the form of the divine. However, for those who do not

believe in the doctrine of the religion, the phenomenon can be considered anthropomorphism. In his book Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion, Stewart Elliott Guthrie theorizes that all religions are anthropomorphisms that originate due to the brain’s tendency to detect the presence or vestiges of other humans in natural phenomena. On rare occasions the literary use of anthropomorphism has been opposed on non-religious or political grounds. Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was banned in China’s Hunan province in 1911 because “animals should not use human language” and it “put animals and human beings on the same level.”

John Tenniel's depiction of this rabbit was featured in the first chapter of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 7

theriantropy Therianthropy refers to the metamorphosis of humans into other animals. Therianthropes have long existed in mythology, appearing in ancient cave drawings such as the Sorcerer at Les Trois Frères.

with bears often being able to shed their skins to assume human form, marrying human women in this guise. The offspring may be creatures with combined anatomy, they might be very beautiful children with uncanny strength, or they could be shapeshifters themselves.

The term therianthropy was used to refer to animal transformation folklore of Asia and Europe as early as 1901. Sometimes, “zoanthropy” is used instead of “therianthropy”.

P’an Hu is represented in various Chinese legends as a supernatural dog, a dog-headed man, or a canine shapeshifter that married an emperor’s daughter and founded at least one race. When he is depicted as a shapeshifter, all of him can become human except for his head. The race(s) descended from P’an Hu were often characterized by Chinese writers as monsters who combined human and dog anatomy.

Therianthropy was also used to describe spiritual belief in animal transformation in 1915 and one source raises the possibility the term may have been used in the 16th century in criminal trials of suspected werewolves. Animal ancestors

In Altaic mythology of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples, the wolf is a revered animal. The shamanic Turkic peoples even believed they were descendants of wolves in Turkic legends. The legend of Asena is an old Turkic myth that tells of how the Turkic people were created. In Northern China a small Turkic village was raided by Chinese soldiers, but one small baby was left behind. An old she-wolf with a sky-blue mane named Asena found the baby and nursed him, later

Stories of humans descending from animals are common explanations for tribal and clan origins. Sometimes the animals assumed human forms in order to ensure their descendants retained their human shapes; other times the origin story is of a human marrying a normal animal. North American indigeneous traditions particularly mingle the idea of bear ancestors and ursine shapeshifters, 8

giving birth to the half wolf, half human cubs who were the ancestors of the Turkic people. Animal spirits In North and Central America, and to some extent in West Africa, Australia and other parts of the world, every male acquires at puberty a tutelary spirit. In some Native American tribes the youth kills the animal of which he dreams in his initiation fast; its claw, skin or feathers are put into a little bag and become his “medicine” and must be carefully retained, for a “medicine” once lost can never be replaced. In West Africa this relation is said to be entered into by means of the blood bond, and it is so close that the death of the animal causes the man to die and vice versa. Elsewhere the possession of a tutelary spirit in animal form is the privilege of the magician. In Alaska the candidate for magical powers has to leave the abodes of men; the chief of the gods sends an otter to meet him, which he kills by saying “O” four times; he then cuts out its tongue and thereby secures the powers which he seeks.

Portrait of P’an Hu from Sancai Tuhui

antiquity

SET Set is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, Storms, Darkness, and Chaos.. Set was mostly depicted as a mysterious and unknown creature, referred to by Egyptologists as the Set animal or Typhonic beast, with a curved snout, square ears, forked tail, and canine body, or sometimes as a human with only the head of the Set animal. It has no complete resemblance to any known creature, although it does resemble a composite of an aardvark, a donkey, and a jackal, all of which are desert creatures. The main species of aardvark present in ancient Egypt additionally had a reddish appearance (due to thin fur, which shows the skin beneath it). In some descriptions he has the head of a greyhound. The earliest known representation of Set comes from a tomb dating to the naqada I phase of the Predynastic Period (circa 4000 Bcâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;3500 Bc), and the Set-animal is even found on a mace-head of the Scorpion King, a Protodynastic ruler.

AnuBIS Anubis was the god to protect the dead and bring them to the afterlife afterlife. He was usually portrayed as a half human, half jackal, or in full jackal form wearing a ribbon and holding a flail in the crook of its arm. The jackal was strongly associated with cemeteries in ancient Egypt, since it was a scavenger which threatened to uncover human bodies and eat their flesh. The distinctive black color of Anubis “did not have to do with the jackal but with the color of rotting flesh and with the black soil of the nile valley, symbolizing rebirth.” Anubis is depicted in funerary contexts where he is shown attending to the mummies of the deceased or sitting atop a tomb protecting it. In fact, during embalming, the “head embalmer” wore an Anubis costume. The critical weighing of the heart scene in Book of the dead also show Anubis performing the measurement that determined the worthiness of the deceased to enter the realm of the dead (the underworld). new Kingdom tomb-seals also depict Anubis atop nine bows that symbolize his domination over the foes of Egypt.

SoBEK Sobek was the deification of crocodiles, as crocodiles were deeply feared in the nation so dependent on the nile river. Egyptians who worked or travelled on the nile hoped that if they prayed to Sobek, the crocodile god, he would protect them from being attacked by crocodiles crocodiles. The god Sobek, which was depicted as a crocodile or a man with the head of a crocodile was a powerful and frightening deity; in some Egyptian creation myths, it was Sobek who first came out of the waters of chaos to create the world. As a creator god, he was occasionally linked with the sun god ra.

Pharaoh Amenhotep III and god Sobek

SEKHMET Sekhmet was originally the warrior goddess of upper Egypt. She is depicted as a lioness, the fiercest hunter known to the Egyptians. It was said that her breath created the desert. She was seen as the protector of the pharaohs and led them in warfare.

HoruS Horus is one of the oldest and most significant of the deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-roman times. different forms of Horuses are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists. These various forms may possibly be different perceptions of the same multi-layered deity in which certain attributes or syncretic relationships are emphasised, not necessarily in opposition but complementary to one another, consistent with how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the multiple facets of reality. The earliest recorded form is Horus the Falcon who was the patron deity of nekhen in upper Egypt and who is the first known national god, specifically related to the king who in time became to be regarded as a manifestation of Horus in life and osiris in death. The most commonly encountered family relationship describes Horus as the son of Isis and osiris but in another tradition Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife.

EGYPTIAN SPHINX In Ancient Egyptian mythology, a sphinx is a zoomorphic figure, usually depicted as a recumbent lioness or lion with a human head, but occasionally as a lion with the head of a falcon, hawk, or ram. The figure had its origin in the Old Kingdom and is associated with the solar deity Sekhmet. The use of heads of other animals atop the lioness body followed the titular deities of the city or region where they were built or which were prominent in the Egyptian pantheon at the time.

famous is the Great Sphinx of Giza, sited at the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile River and facing due east, is also from the same dynasty. Although the date of its construction is uncertain, the head of the Great Sphinx now is believed to be that of the pharaoh Khafra. Avenue of ram-headed sphinxes at Karnak in Luxor dating to the eighteenth dynasty What names their builders gave to these statues is not known. At the Great Sphinx site, the inscription on a stele erected a thousand years later, by Thutmose IV in 1400 BCE, lists the names of three aspects of the local sun deity of that period, Khepera - RĂŞ - Atum. The inclusion of these figures in tomb and temple complexes quickly became traditional and many pharaohs had their heads carved atop the guardian statues for their tombs to show their close relationship with the powerful deity, Sekhmet.

Later, the sphinx image, something very similar to the original Egyptian concept, was exported into many other cultures, albeit often interpreted quite differently due to translations of descriptions of the originals and the evolution of the concept in relation to other cultural traditions. Perhaps the first sphinx, Hetepheres II from the fourth dynasty (Cairo Museum) Generally the role of sphinxes was as temple guardians; they were placed in association with architectural structures such as royal tombs or religious temples. Perhaps the first sphinx was one depicting Hetepheres II, of the fourth dynasty that lasted from 2723 to 2563 BC. The largest and most

Perhaps the first sphinx, Hetepheres II from the fourth dynasty

GrEEK SPHInX From the Bronze Age, the Hellenes had trade and cultural contacts with Egypt. Before the time that Alexander the Great occupied Egypt, the Greek name, sphinx, was already applied to these statues. The historians and geographers of Greece wrote extensively about Egyptian culture. They sometimes called the ram-headed sphinxes, criosphinxes, and the bird-headed ones, hierocosphinxes.

name was Phix, though he does not identify a source for this information. The Sphinx, though, is called by this name by Hesiod in line 326 of the Theogony. In Greek mythology, a sphinx is represented as a monster with a head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and a serpent headed tail. The sphinx was the emblem of the ancient city-state of chios, and appeared on seals and the obverse side of coins from the sixth century Bc until the third century Ad.

The word sphinx comes from the Greek sphíng, meaning “to strangle”. This name may be derived from the fact that the hunters for a pride of lions are the lionesses, and kill their prey by strangulation, biting the throat of prey and holding them down until they die. The word sphincter derives from the same root.

A sphinx appeared at the middle of the helmet of the statue of Athena Parthenos.

There was a single sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck. According to Hesiod, she was a daughter of Echidna and orthrus; according to others, she was a daughter of Echidna and Typhon. All of these are chthonic figures from the earliest of Greek myths, before the olympians ruled the Greek pantheon. Pierre Grimal’s The Penguin dictionary of classical Mythology states that Sphinx’s proper

Late Archaic Greek sphinx, Attica, c. 530 BC

A bronze statue of a centaur, after the Furietti Centaurs.

CENTAUR In Greek mythology, the centaurs are a race of creatures composed of part human and part horse. In early Attic vase-paintings, they are depicted with the torso of a human joined at the waist to the horse’s withers, where the horse’s neck would be.

Arcadia and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia. The most common theory of origin holds that the idea of centaurs came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture, as in the Minoan Aegean world, to nomads who were mounted on horses. The theory suggests that such riders would appear as halfman, half-animal (Bernal Díaz del Castillo reported that the Aztecs had this misapprehension about Spanish cavalrymen). Horse taming and horseback culture arose first in the southern steppe grasslands of Central Asia, perhaps approximately in modern Kazakhstan.

This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as liminal beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, both as the embodiment of untamed nature, as in their battle with the Lapiths, or conversely as teachers, like Chiron. The centaurs were usually said to have been born of Ixion and Nephele. Another version, however, makes them children of a certain Centaurus, who mated with the Magnesian mares. This Centaurus was either the son of Ixion and Nephele (instead of the Centaurs) or of Apollo and Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus. In the latter version of the story his twin brother was Lapithus, ancestor of the Lapiths, thus making the two warring peoples cousins.

The Lapith tribe of Thessaly, who were the kinsmen of the Centaurs in myth, were described as the inventors of horse-back riding by Greek writers. The Thessalian tribes also claimed their horse breeds were descended from the centaurs. Of the various Classical Greek authors who mentioned centaurs, Pindar was the first who describes undoubtedly a combined monster. Previous authors (Homer only uses words such as pheres (cf. theres, “beasts”) that could also mean ordinary savage men riding ordinary horses. However, contem-

Centaurs were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, Mount Pholoe in 23

on Greek mythology, On Incredible Tales mounted archers from a village called Nephele eliminating a herd of bulls that were the scourge of Ixion’s kingdom. Another possible related etymology can be “bull-slayer”. Some say that the Greeks took the constellation of Centaurus, and also its name “piercing bull”, from Mesopotamia, where it symbolized the god Baal (picture on facing page) who represents rain and fertility, fighting with and piercing with his horns the demon Mot who represents the summer drought. In Greece, the constellation of Centaurus was noted by Eudoxus of Cnidus in the fourth century BC and by Aratus in the third century.

poraneous representations of hybrid centaurs can be found in archaic Greek art. Lucretius in his first century BC philosophical poem On the Nature of Things denied the existence of centaurs based on their differing rate of growth. He states that at three years old horses are in the prime of their life while at three humans are still little more than babies, making hybrid animals impossible. The Greek word kentauros is generally regarded as of obscure origin. The etymology from ken - tauros, “piercing bull-stickers” was a Euhemerist suggestion in Palaephatus’ rationalizing text

Bova Korolevich fighting Polkan (a centaur-like creature). Russian lubok. 1860 A centaur-like half-human half-equine creature called Polkan appeared in Slavic mythology, folk art, and lubok prints of the 17th-19th centuries.

MINOTAUR In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was a creature that was part man and part bull. As the Greeks imagined him, the Minotaur, had the body of a man and the head and tail of a bull. PasiphaĂŤ nursed him in his infancy, but he grew and became ferocious. Minos, after getting advice from the Oracle at Delphi, had Daedalus construct a gigantic labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Its location was near Minosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; palace in Knossos. It dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction built for King Minos of Crete and designed by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus who were ordered to build it to hold the Minotaur. The historical site of Knossos, with over 1300 maze like compartments is identified as the site of the labyrinth. The Minotaur was eventually killed by Theseus, the son of Aegeas.

Pan teaching his eromenos, the shepherd Daphnis, to play the panpipes 2nd century AD

PAN Pan in Greek religion and mythology, is the companion of the nymphs, god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein, meaning “to pasture”. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism.

Satan: Pan’s image lived on in medieval depictions of Satan. The Devil was often shown to have the horns and lower body of a goat, as well as lust being his prime power.

In Roman mythology, Pan’s counterpart was Faunus, a nature spirit who was the father of Bona Dea (Fauna). In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in the romanticist movement of western Europe, and also in the 20th century Neopagan movement.

Pan has had a lingering connection with Satanism and Pagan religions, even into modern times. The upside down pentagram, a symbol used in Satanism, is said to be shaped like a goat’s head. The “Baphomet of Mendes” refers to a Satanic goat-like figure from 19th century occultism.

A common superstition in the Middle Ages was that goats whispered lewd sentences in the ears of the saints. The origin of this belief was probably the behavior of the buck in rut, the very epitome of lust. The Black Mass, a probably-mythological “Satanic mass,” was said to involve a black goat, the form in which Satan supposedly manifested himself for worship.

SHEDU of the bull-man were often used as gatekeepers.

The Shedu is a celestial being from Mesopotamian mythology. He is a human above the waist and a bull below the waist. He also has the horns and the ears of a bull.

To protect houses the shedu were engraved in clay tablets, which were buried under the doorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s threshold. At the entrance of palaces often placed as a pair. At the entrance of cities they were sculpted in colossal size, and placed as a pair, one at each side of the door of the city, that generally had doors in the surrounding wall, each one looking towards one of the cardinal points.

The bull man helps people fight evil and chaos. He holds the gates of dawn open for the sun god Shamash and supports the sun disc. He is often shown on Cylinder Seals. It appears frequently in Mesopotamian art, sometimes with wings. Statues

FAUN The Barberini Faun (Glyptothek, Munich, Germany) is a Hellenistic marble, c. 200 BC that was found in the Mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian (the Castel Sant’Angelo) and installed at Palazzo Barberini by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (later Pope Urban VIII), the patron of Bernini, who heavily restored and refinished it, so that its present ‘Hellenistic baroque’ aspect may be enhanced.

In Roman mythology, fauns are placespirits (genii) of untamed woodland. Romans connected their fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and orgiastic drunken followers of Bacchus (Greek Dionysus). However, fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures. Both have horns and both resemble goats below the waist, humans above; but originally satyrs had human feet, fauns goatlike hooves. The Romans also had a god named Faunus and goddess Fauna, who, like the fauns, were goat-people.

A faun, as painted by Hungarian painter Pรกl Szinyei Merse

WEREWOLF Werewolves are often granted extrahuman strength and senses, far beyond those of both wolves or men. The werewolf is generally held as a European character, although its lore spread through the world in later times. Shape-shifters, similar to werewolves, are common in tales from all over the world, most notably amongst the Native Americans, though most of them involve animal forms other than wolves.

Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to shift shape into wolves or anthropomorphic wolf-like creatures, either purposely, by being bitten or scratched by another werewolf, or after being placed under a curse. This transformation is often associated with the appearance of the full moon, as popularly noted by the medieval chronicler Gervase of Tilbury, although it may have been recognized in earlier times among the ancient Greeks through the writings of Petronius.

MEDUSA In Greek mythology, Medusa was a female monster; gazing upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon until giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity and today, the image of the head of Medusa finds expression in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion. She also has two gorgon sisters.

Medusa, by Caravaggio

middle ages

Take the Fair Face of Womam, by Sophie Anderson

FAIRY Fairies are generally described as human in appearance and having magical powers. Their origins are less clear in the folklore, being variously dead, or some form of angel, or a species completely independent of humans or angels. Folklorists have suggested that their actual origin lies in a conquered race living in hiding, or in religious beliefs that lost currency with the advent of Christianity. These explanations are not always mutually incompatible, and they may be traceable to multiple sources.

Although in modern culture they are often depicted as young, sometimes winged, humanoids of small stature, they originally were depicted much differently: tall, radiant, angelic beings or short, wizened trolls being some of the commonly mentioned. Diminutive fairies of one kind or another have been recorded for centuries, but occur alongside the human-sized beings; these have been depicted as ranging in size from very tiny up to the size of a human child. Even with these small fairies, however, their small size may be magically assumed rather than constant.

Much of the folklore about fairies revolves about protection from their malice, by such means as cold iron (iron is like poison to fairies and will not go near it) or charms of rowan and herbs, or avoiding offense by shunning locations known to be theirs. In particular, folklore describes how to prevent the fairies from stealing babies and substituting changelings, and abducting older people as well. Many folktales are told of fairies, and they appear as characters in stories from medieval tales of chivalry, to Victorian fairy tales, and up to the present day in modern literature.

Wings, while common in Victorian and later artwork of fairies, are very rare in the folklore; even very small fairies flew with magic, sometimes flying on ragwort stems or the backs of birds. Nowadays, fairies are often depicted with ordinary insect wings or butterfly wings. Various animals have also been described as fairies. Sometimes this is the result of shape shifting on part of the fairy, as in the case of the selkie (seal people); others, like the kelpie and various black dogs, appear to stay more constant in form.

SELKIE Selkies are creatures found in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish mythology.

their lover is a selkie, and wakes to find them gone. Other times the human will hide the selkieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skin, thus preventing them from returning to seal form. A selkie can only make contact with one particular human for a short amount of time before they must return to the sea. They are not able to make contact with that human again for seven years, unless the human is to steal their selkieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skin and hide it or burn it.

They can transform themselves from seals to humans. The legend apparently originated on the Orkney Islands, where selch or selk(ie) is the Scots word for seal (from Old English seolh). Stories concerning selkies are generally romantic tragedies. Sometimes the human will not know that

A selkie-woman and selkie-man

SATAN Satan was the one who challenged the religious faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible. Since then, the Abrahamic religions have variously regarded Satan as a rebellious fallen angel or demon

that tempts humans to sin or commit evil deeds. Others regard the Biblical Satan as an allegory that represents a crisis of faith, individualism, free will, wisdom and enlightenment.

Satan, from Gustave DorĂŠâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s illustrations for Paradise Lost

Lucifer (Le gĂŠnie du mal) by Guillaume Geefs

ANGEL In this same period, Saint John Chrysostom explained the significance of angels’ wings: “They manifest a nature’s sublimity. That is why Gabriel is represented with wings. Not that angels have wings, but that you may know that they leave the heights and the most elevated dwelling to approach human nature. Accordingly, the wings attributed to these powers have no other meaning than to indicate the sublimity of their nature.”

Angels are usually viewed as messengers of a supreme divine being, sent to do the tasks of that being. Traditions vary as to whether angels have free will. While the appearance of angels also varies, many views of angels give them a human shape. The earliest known Christian image of an angel, in the Cubicolo dell’Annunziazione in the Catacomb of Priscilla, which is dated to the middle of the third century, is without wings. Representations of angels on sarcophagi and on objects such as lamps and reliquaries of that period also show them without wings, as for example the angel in the Sacrifice of Isaac scene in the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus.

From then on, though of course with some exceptions, Christian art represented angels with wings, as in the cycle of mosaics in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (432-440). Fourand six-winged angels, often with only their face and wings showing, drawn from the higher grades of angels, especially cherubim and seraphim, are derived from Persian art, and are usually shown only in heavenly contexts, as opposed to performing tasks on earth. They often appear in the pendentives of domes or semi-domes of churches.

The earliest known representation of angels with wings is on what is called the Prince’s Sarcophagus, discovered at Sarigüzel, near Istanbul, in the 1930s, and attributed to the time of Theodosius I (379-395).

CHERUB Cherubs are described as winged beings. The biblical prophet Ezekiel describes the cherubim as a tetrad of living creatures, each having four faces: of a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a man. They are said to have the stature and

hands of a man, the feet of a calf, and four wings. Two of the wings extended upward, meeting above and sustaining the throne of God; while the other two stretched downward and covered the creatures themselves. 44

The Archangel Michael by Guido Reni. 17th century 45

MERMAID A mermaid is a aquatic creature with a human head and torso and the tail of an aquatic animal such as a fish or dolphin. The word is a compound of mere, the Old English word for “sea,” and maid, a woman. The male equivalent is a merman, however the term mermaid is sometimes used for males. Various cultures throughout the world have similar figures, typically depicted without clothing.

from their work and causing them to walk off the deck or run their ships aground. Other stories have them squeezing the life out of drowning men while attempting to rescue them. They are also said to take humans down to their underwater kingdoms. In Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid it is said that they forget that humans cannot breathe underwater, while others say they drown men out of spite.

Much like sirens, mermaids would sometimes sing to people and gods and enchant them, distracting them

“A Mermaid” by John William Waterhouse, 1901

CERNUNNOS Cernunnos is a pagan Celtic god whose representations were widespread in the ancient Celtic lands of western Europe. As a horned god, Cernunnos is associated with horned male animals, especially stags and the ramhorned snake; this and other attributes associate him with produce and fertility. Cernunnos is also associated mainly as the God of the Underworld.

a unique beast that seems to belong primarily to him: a serpent with the horns of a ram. This creature may have been a deity in its own right. He is associated with other beasts less frequently, including bulls (at Rheims), dogs, and rats. Because of his frequent association with creatures, scholars often describe Cernunnos as the “Lord of the Animals” or the “Lord of Wild Things”, and Miranda Green describes him as a “peaceful god of nature and fruitfulness”.

Cernunnos is nearly always portrayed with animals, in particular the stag. He is also frequently associated with

Depiction of Cernunnos from the Pilier des nautes, Paris, France

BASA ANDERE Basa Andere (Basque, “forest-woman”) In Basque legend Basa Andere is said to be a beautiful woman, “perfectly shaped” for love and covered all over with soft, golden hair like a cat’s. This Basque “wild lady” can usually be met near a sunlit stream in a forest, where she awaits the wanderer while combing the hair of her soft belly with a golden comb. She will smile lovingly at the

man, lie back with open legs, and offer him first a view of the beautiful moist flower between her thighs, and then entrance into her warm and fragrant body. It is said that the pleasure of making love to a Basa Andere is so intense that a man will die from it at the height of his orgasm. The dead are found with their backs arched in the agony of unimaginable pleasure.

fema wisd and sexu

SAHMARAN Shameran, or Sahmaran (Kurdish meaning: King of the snakes) is a character in Kurdish mythology representing the goddess of wisedom and the guardian of the secrets. Shameran is considered as an anthropomorphic fig-

ale dom d uality

ure with a female head on a snake body with six legs and a tail, all as snake heads; and this is how she is often depicted. Her portraits are traditionally hung on walls inside houses especially on bedroom walls of Kurdish girls.

KEMONO Kemono (Japanese for â&#x20AC;&#x153;beastâ&#x20AC;?) is a genre of Japanese art and character design that prominently features anthropomorphic animal characters. It is used widely in visual arts, especially drawing and painting, and can be found in many manga, anime, and video game works. Anthropomorphic animal characters in the kemono genre are frequently called Juujin. Their design differs from artist to artist, but they generally employ animal traits

considered cute and endearing. However, most kemono characters retain a fundamentally human personality, seldom behaving as the actual animals from which they have been anthropomorphized; as such, kemono are typically depicted living as humans do.

kawaii 52

Kemono-Taiheiki, a work of Japanese art from the Muromachi period.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;cuteâ&#x20AC;? in Japanese 53

PRESENT

Photographer Wanda Wulzâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; - Cat & I, 1932

myth becomes reality: the human animal this article is a translation from the dutch newspaper article “Het mens-dier: mythe wordt werkelijkheid” published on March 1st 2007 in Trouw quail-chicken. And in 1984 there was even a mixture of a goat and a sheep.

A rabbit with a human heart? A monkey with a human brain? It sounds like science fiction, but Dutch cell biologists would be able to start with the creation of such composite beings by tomorrow. The “Embryowet” does not explicitly prohibit it and politicians seem not to care either. Experts think it’s time for a public debate.

Scientists are not only mixing animals nowadays, but also humans and animals. The wildest combinations are possible. Mice with human blood. Rabbits with human sperm and ova. Pigs with human skin, liver or heart. And also monkeys with a humanized brain.

Originally the chimera is a mythical monster from Greek antiquity: a cruel, fire blowing being with a lion’s head, a goat and a snake tail body. The beast created long death and destruction in Asia Minor, until the hero Bellerophon pierced it with the tip of his lance.

Is that allowed in the Netherlands? It seems so, the Maastricht professor of biomedical ethics Guido de Wert concluded last year in his assessment of Embryowet. In itself this law prohibits the fusion of animal and human embryos. But there is a modern alternative with the same result: it injects the researcher cultured, human embryonic stem cells in an animal embryo. These cells have the theoretical potential to grow into all kinds of human tissues. If such a mixed embryo is placed in an animal uterus, then there may be an animal with partly human organs.

Today there are still chimeras. Real ones in fact. They are hybrids of different animals. Biologists were “building” them together for at least a century. This is done by two very young embryos are to merge, after which it becomes a whole organism. It started ever modest, with frog salamanders. In 1969 French biologists dared then to a 58

This biological detour is not explicitly prohibited in the “Embryowet”. The Decision Biotechnology in Animals also categorically prohibits the route, but does obligate an ethical test and authorization. “If we want we can start making this kind chimera tomorrow,” says Prof. Dr. Christine Mummery, who is cell biologists in the Hubrecht-laboratory in Utrecht. “We do not, because it is too provocative, especially with the CDA and the Christian Union in the Cabinet. But that decision is based on our common sense, not the law.” Ethicus De Wert finds this “an undesirable situation”. He brought the case last year to the attention of the then Secretary of State for Health, Clemence Ross. Who did not see an issue. The value is thus a public debate with the main question: do we want the creation of animals with human traits allowed?

Caricature of Darwinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theory in the Punch almanac for 1882, published at the end of 1881

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Venerable Orang-outangâ&#x20AC;?, a caricature of Charles Darwin as an ape published in The Hornet, a satirical magazine 61

KEMonoMIMI (animal ears) is an anime and manga terminology that describes characters that possess animal like features. The characters will be predominately human and any real animal characteristics are minimal, unlike kemono characters who possess a large percentage of animal parts in ratio with their human parts. Generally kemonomimi characters have ears and a tail which is animal-like. often this is just part of their attire and can be removed at will.

cartoons & comics Animal superheroes. These characters are usually changed from a non-human animal into human form or came from another planet to Earth. Some of the characters live on Earth, but its population comprises other anthropomorphic animals as well. The 1985 cartoon, ThunderCats, made this concept even more serious with their cat-like characters looking more human than animal. Today, anthropomorphic characters can also be found in central roles in hollywood blockbusters and video games.

PATRICIA PICCININI issues; those who are objective observers, and those that are actually affected by the issues, such as somebody who has a family member who is affected by a disease. These two viewpoints are often very different. It is impossible to be objective about these issues when you are emotionally involved, but I don’t think that is a bad thing. These are not simple issues with easy answers: It is one thing to talk about an idea and another to be confronted by the emotional reality of a creature, and yet another to be in need of what that creature might provide.

The Young Family presents a transgenic creature. The inspiration behind this work is the expectation that we have of growing human organs in other species, especially pigs. Rather than make a didactic image that argues for or against these technologies, I want to address the reality of these possible creatures in a very compassionate way. The question I raise, that I am interested in, relates to the distinction between human and animal characteristics: Not so much her humanity, but the ‘animalness’ in us. Genetically, we share traits with her, but also we share the fundamental trait of looking after offspring. I am interested in the kinds of ways that we look at the many ethical issues that surround medical technologies. There are two kinds of people who are thinking about these

A sculpture by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini entitled “The Young Family” 2002-2003

HUMANZEE the People’s Commissar on Education and Science Anatoliy Vasilievich Lunacharsky and to other officials. Ivanov’s proposal finally sparked the interest of Nikolai Petrovich Gorbunov, the head of the Department of Scientific Institutions. In September 1925 Gorbunov helped allocate US$10,000 to the Academy of Sciences for Ivanov’s human-ape hybridization experiments in Africa.

The humanzee (also known as the Chuman or Manpanzee) is a hypothetical chimpanzee/human hybrid. Chimpanzees and humans are very closely related (95% of their DNA sequence, and 99% of coding DNA sequences are in common, leading to contested speculation that a hybrid is possible, though no specimen has ever been confirmed. Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov was the first to actually attempt to create a human-ape hybrid. As early as 1910 he had given a presentation to the World Congress of Zoologists in Graz, Austria in which he described the possibility of obtaining such a hybrid through artificial insemination.

In March 1926 Ivanov arrived at the Kindia facility, but stayed only a month without success. The Kindia site, it turned out, had no sexually mature chimpanzees. He returned to France where he arranged through correspondence with French Guinea’s colonial governor to set up experiments at the botanical gardens in Conakry.

In 1924, while working at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Ivanov obtained permission from the Institute’s directors to use its experimental primate station in Kindia, French Guinea, for such an experiment. Ivanov attempted to gain backing for his project from the Soviet government. He dispatched letters to

Ivanov reached Conakry in November 1926 accompanied by his son, also named Ilya, who would assist him in his experiments. Ivanov supervised the capture of adult chimpanzees in the interior of the colony, which 68

Sukhumi using ape sperm and human females. Eventually in 1929, through the help of Gorbunov, he obtained the support of the Society of Materialist Biologists, a group associated with the Communist Academy. In the spring of 1929 the Society set up a commission to plan Ivanovâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experiments at Sukhumi. They decided that at least five volunteer women would be needed for the project. However, in June 1929, before any inseminations had taken place, Ivanov learned that the only postpubescent male ape remaining at Sukhumi (an orangutan) had died. A new set of chimps would not arrive at Sukhumi until the summer of 1930.

were brought to Conakry and kept in cages in the botanical gardens. On February 28, 1927, Ivanov artificially inseminated two female chimpanzees with human sperm. On June 25, he injected a third chimpanzee with human sperm. The Ivanovs left Africa in July with thirteen chimps, including the three used in his experiments. They already knew before leaving that the first two chimpanzees had failed to become pregnant. The third died in France, and was also found not to have been pregnant. The remaining chimps were sent to a new primate station at Sukhumi. Although Ivanov attempted to organize the insemination of human females with chimpanzee sperm in Guinea, these plans met with resistance from the French colonial government and there is no evidence such an experiment was arranged there.

Oliver There have been no scientifically verified specimens of a human/ape hybrid, although a performing chimp named Oliver was popularized during the 1970s as a possible Chuman/ Humanzee. Genetic tests conducted at the University of Chicago concluded that, despite Oliverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s somewhat

Upon his return to the Soviet Union in 1927, Ivanov began an effort to organize hybridization experiments at 70

National Primate Research Center in Orange Park, Florida in the 1920s, but was destroyed by the scientists soon after. Gallup claimed he heard the story as a young graduate student, when an elderly academic confided in him that he had been part of the team behind the experiment. Gallup added that he feels the colleague telling him of this genuinely believed the story to be true but that he, Gallup, has never been able to prove it one way or another.

unusual appearance and behavior, he was a normal chimpanzee;[8] he had the same number of chromosomes as normal chimpanzees. The “hybrid” claims were possibly a promotional gimmick. As a result of being humanized (habituated to humans rather than to chimps), Oliver was said to be attracted to female humans, and did not mate with chimpanzees. An episode of Unsolved History, Humanzee, originally broadcast on the Discovery Channel on March 27, 1998, discussed the controversies over Oliver the chimp and also detailed some of the rumors and urban legends about “humanzees”. One claim was that a common chimpanzee was impregnated by human sperm in a laboratory in China, but died from neglect before giving birth during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. A similar story, reported by University at Albany psychologist Gordon Gallup, alleged that a human-chimp hybrid was successfully engendered and born at the old Yerkes 71

Planet of the Apes (1968 film). The apes above are the result of a scientific experimentation 72

BETH CARTER Beth Carterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work creates a rich allegorical world by integrating the human figure with animal form. She works within the realm of a sculptural tradition where the symbolic use of animal imagery has been a continuously potent source, she seeks a new level of inquiry into these timeless themes, and in this sense her work is flavoured by a mythological and classical aesthetic.

HUMANANIMAL ANIMALHUMAN In his project humananimal - animalhuman artist Paul Contryn makes the inhabitants of the neighbourhoud Mechelen in Belgium wear animal masks. The masks become a piece of their own body. It makes them anonymous and also creates a cynical world.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;nothing-the-matterâ&#x20AC;?

FASHION

“to nourish beauty. everything that has a soul” quote by V&R

Victor & Rolf - Fall 2004 colection

Diet Butcher Slim Skin 2009 fall/winter

Native American woman wearing fur

Woman wearing fur for status

Fursuit Fursuits are comparable to costumed characters and are similar in construction to the mascots and walkaround characters used by theme parks and stage shows. The concept is also similar to cosplay, despite the latterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus on Japanese culture.

Fursuits are animal costumes associated with furry fandom (a fandom devoted to anthropomorphic animal characters). They range from simple tails and ears to full costumes cooled by battery-powered fans. Similar to mascot suits, they allow the wearer to adopt another personality while in costume. Fursuits can be worn for personal enjoyment, work or charity.

The term fursuit, believed to be coined in 1993 by Robert King, can also refer to animal mascot costumes in general, as opposed to human or inanimate object mascots. Fursuits have also been featured in visual mediums as backdrops or as part of a central theme.

Fursuits are usually sold at conventions, or online by commission or auction. Due to their delicate nature, they require special handling while washing.

Oleg Kulik ,The Mad Dog, 1994

OLEG KULIK Oleg Kulik is an Ukrainian-born Russian performance artist. Kuliks creates a symbolic set of parameters, which define the environment the dog-personae will inhabit and then devise a series of actions that unfold as a response. The artist describes the dialogue within his practice as “a conscious falling out of the human horizon” which places him on hands and knees. His intention is to describe what he sees as a crisis of contemporary culture, a result of an overly refined cultural language that leads to barriers between individuals. Thus, he simplifies his performance language to the basic emotive of a domestic animal. At the Interpol group exhibition in Stockholm in 1996, he performed in the gallery chained next to a sign labelled ‘dangerous’. An international scandal occurred when he not only attacked members of the public who chose to ignore the sign, in one case biting a man, but also attacked other artworks within the exhibition, partially destroying some pieces. For Kulik this was an excusable act, as there was a warning label attached to his performance that people chose to disregard. His intention was to divulge his angst of the current cultural crisis through the violent anger of a dog.

THE LIZARDMAN The Lizardman (Erik Sprague), is a freak show and sideshow performer, best known for his body modification, including his sharpened teeth, fullbody tattoo of green scales, bifurcated tongue, and recently, green-inked lips. He has stated an ambition to get a tail transplant.

STALKING CAT Dennis Avner is widely known as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Catmanâ&#x20AC;?, though he prefers his Native American name, Stalking Cat. Stalking Cat has spent considerable resources to surgically modify his body to resemble that of a tiger.

Chow Martin

“to nourish beauty. everything that has a soul” quote by V&R

Victor & Rolf - Fall 2004 colection Specimen C

Trust the panda

ffl paris French-based FLL PARIS produced this wacky sexed-up human-animal weirdness campaign for Orangina together with Psyop.