Two Headed - Severed Heads at the Getty Center
My quest for severed heads in museums continues. I think my ultimate goal is to find a museum with an almost gratuitous number of severed heads, so I can crown it “Most Metal Museum”. Something along those lines. The two works below are of severed heads from the Getty, and although they’re not amongst my favourites, but they must be cataloged for completeness’ sake.
Above - Jean-Baptiste Chatigny, Head of Saint John the Baptist, 1869 - This piece has the unfortunate fate to be crammed next to the door in the same small room with James Ensor’s massive Christ’s Entry into Brussels in 1889. I’m not going to say that I like this piece much, although I do like the detail on the gory neck. It’s just too loosely sculpted for my taste, and Johnny here still looks alive, which I think is a huge error on the part of Chatigny.
Above - Paul Gauguin, Arii Matamoe (The Royal End), 1892. I wrote about this piece when the acquisition was announced, but I hadn’t seen it in person before today. As I’ve said before, Gauguin’s work is uninteresting to me, but I’m glad that he did visit this subject. I still can’t believe the Getty went to such lengths and paid millions for this.
Technorati Tags: severed head, Paul Gauguin, Arii Matamoe, Saint John the Baptist, John the Baptist, head, Saint, Jean-Baptiste Catigny, Getty, Getty Center, art
