Artworks Damaged/Destroyed by Islamic Totalitarians: Various Works from the Mosul Museum

Location: Mosul Museum, Mosul, Iraq

Here are a variety of works recently damaged or destroyed by the Islamic State in Mosul, Iraq.  I am trying to find "before and after" images of the same works, but this is difficult as many of these works look similar and the Mosul Museum does not appear to have a website.  If you can offer help in this regard, please feel free to do so in the comments.  Additionally, many of these works have been damaged over the centuries, so I can't assume every imperfection was caused by ISIS.

Works Destroyed/Damaged by ISIS:

Artworks Damaged/Destroyed by Islamic Totalitarians: Great and Minor Buddhas of Bamiyan

Nationality: Persian

Born-Died: 1748-1825

Size:

   Minor: 121 feet

   Great: 180 feet 

Creation Date:  

   Minor: 507 AD

   Great: 554 AD

Media: Sandstone, Mud, Straw, Stucco

Location: Bamiyan province, Afghanistan

"Great" Buddha Before:

Jean-Léon Gérôme's "Woman with a Veil"

Nationality: French

Born-Died: 1824-1904

Creation Date: c. 1891

Size: 23.8 x 12.8 in (60.5 x 32.7 cm)

Media: Bronze 

Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Art I Hate and Why: "The Politician: A Toy" by Billie Lawless

Nationality: American
Born-Died: Don't know, don't care
Creation Date: 1996
Size: Huge
Media: A bunch of crap glued together
Location: Cleveland State University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

The only thing positive that I can say about this sculpture is that it was funded by private money.  Let fools throw their own money away, in my opinion.

For many years I drove past this artistic horror daily where it instilled in me the feeling that I had just seen a tragic accident involving clown cars. From these firsthand experiences, I can assure you that this sculpture is as asinine in real life as it is in these two photographs and that nothing significant is lost in the translation.  Although the photographs don't show the way the thing moves--its mouth mechanically opens and closes in what is supposed to be a statement about politicians--I would not call that any loss. It is a parody of a child's toy, but it certainly has less visual appeal than one as it was designed with less sensitivity and less wit.  If an artist is going to shamelessly rip off Picasso, they should at least rip off the good aspects of his work--the sensitivity to composition--not merely the cubist trappings.

The garbage art as I will always remember it.

The first picture here perfectly summarizes the way I always experienced this sculpture: like a long joke that wasn't funny amidst the rotted-out background of Cleveland's gray Chester Avenue.*  Because sometimes stains refuse to be scrubbed away, this sculpture has recently been moved from Dunham Tavern to Cleveland State University where it will, no doubt, blight the campus.  When students look at it, I expect it will affect their minds in the manner of huffed lighter fluid, perhaps taking away their will to live a little more each day.  

Unknown Sculpture by Unknown Artist

Media: Stone? (Marble?) 


I know nothing about this amazing sculpture but I have had this photograph in my files for years because I love it so much.

Thutmose's "Nefertiti Bust"

Nationality: Egyptian

Born-Died: 14th Century, BCE
Creation Date: 1345 BCE

Size: 19 in (47 cm)

Media: Painted limestone

Location: Neues Museum, Berlin, Germany

Copy of "The Discus Thrower" or "Diskobolos" by Alcamenes (Attributed)

Nationality: Greek

Born-Died: Second half of 5th Century, B.C.E.

Size: Larger than life size

Media: (this copy) Plaster

Location: (this copy) The Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, UK

This is probably my favorite ancient Greek sculpture.  It is wonderfully composed from every angle.

Hermann Klotz's "Empress Elizabeth of Austria"

Nationality: Austrian

Born-Died: 1978-

Creation Date: 1906

Media: Plaster (?)

Location: The  Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA

Unknown Egyptian Sculpture of a Woman

Nationality: Egyptian

Media: Ivory (?)

Location: The Louvre, Paris, France

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth "Aspiration"

Nationality: American

Born-Died: 1880 - 1980

Creation Date: 1933

Media: Stone

Location: Berwind Tomb, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Greek Sculptor's "Piping and Dancing Satyr"

Nationality: Greek
Creation Date: 300-100 BCE
Size: 8.5 inch (21 cm)
Media: Bronze
Location: The Cleveland Museum of Art

The first photo (the inferior one) is by me.  I like the idea of depicting someone who is dancing, perhaps playing music and essentially rocking out. 

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 7: Statue

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Marble
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

I admit that I don't know who this is a statue of.

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 6: A Variety of Carvings and Architectural Details

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Marble
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 5: Statue

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Marble
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 4: Carved Animals

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Wood
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 3: Tomb of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Marble
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

St. Giles Cathedral, Day 1: Sculpture

Nationality: Scottish
Media: Stone
Location: St. Giles Church, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

This week I'm going to post images from St. Giles Cathedral* located in the old town of Edinburgh.

It was quite dark in there and I was hesitant to use a flash, so pardon the blurriness and darkness of these images.  I did my best to photoshop them into a recognizable state.

* it's technically not a cathedral.

Art I Hate and Why: Fernando Botero's "Man on Horse"

Nationality: Columbian
Born-Died: 1932-

Creation Date: 1992

Size: 25.125 x 34.875 inch (63.8 x 88.5cm)

Media: Bronze

Location: The Israel Museum, Jeruselem, Israel

 
Not only is Botero a mediocre artist, (this is one of his better works) but his view of man is hate-filled buried in cutesiness—a kind of defeated smile of acceptance in regards to what he believes is stupid and evil.  When I see artists ridicule the good, the serious, the capable, the majestic, the beautiful, the graceful, the heroic, I don’t believe it is because those artists have some sort of special knowledge about the nature of human beings.  Alternatively I think it is because they have a view of themselves as bad, absurd, incapable, lowly, ugly, graceless and cowardly.  To me, that is sad. 

Gian Lorenzo Bernini's "Bust of Louis XIV"

Nationality: Italian
Born-Died: 1598-1680

Creation Date: 1665

Size: 9.875 x 5.625 inch (25.08 x 14.2875cm)
Media: Marble
Location: The Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France

Photo by me.

(Possibly) Arnolfo di Cambio's "St. Peter"

Nationality: Italian
Born-Died: 1240/c. 1300-1310

Media: Stone

Location: St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City, Rome, Italy

This is a detail photograph that I took of a sculpture in St. Peters in Rome.  In my various travels I have seen a lot of sculptures with noses, feet, etc. that have been polished smooth by the countless touches of human hands, but this sculpture is the most worn away I have ever seen.  It looks like the feet have melted--like they have actually lost material.  It's a shame that the work has been damaged in this way, but it's also quite amazing to think of stone being polished and literally eroded away by millions upon millions of soft, human hands over the course of centuries.