When it comes to the moon, people tend to have these kinds of feelings or impressions: Mysterious, poetic, melancholic, emotional and so on. Traditionally, people have believed that the moon’s phases affect a person’s psyche. The English word lunatic, as described by the Online Etymology Dictionary: “affected with periodic insanity dependent on the changes of the moon, from Old French lunatique 'insane,' or directly from Late Latin lunaticus 'moon-struck,' from Latin luna 'moon'".
There are also many myths and folklore stories related to the moon, both in the western and eastern culture. For example, in the west there is folklore about a human-looking being, who transforms into a werewolf during full moon and attacks people. In the eastern mythology, there is a moon rabbit, who makes an elixir of immortality on the moon with the lunar goddess. There is another folklore story that is about a moon or sun eating dog, who in the ancient time was believed to cause an eclipse.
From all these captivating and imaginary folklore or mythical stories, we can see how people have had different fascinations over the moon since the ancient times. For a long time, the moon has also been a muse for a great number of artists. There are countless artworks depicting the moon in different form and phases. Today we are going to look at artworks with a moon related theme in the Turku City Art Collection.
Maiden of the island
The cycle of the moon is believed to relate to the fertility and femininity, and for that reason a silhouette of a woman can easily be found in many moon-themed art pieces. The drawing Maiden of the Island (1936) by Wäinö Aaltonen is related to Finnish and Finno-Ugrian folktales. The maiden of the island is mentioned in Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. In folktales from Estonia and the Ingria region regarding the creation of the world, an island is born from a bird’s egg and the first person, a maiden, appears on the island.
The drawing is delicately depicting a scenario of the maiden of island wading in water and possibly dancing under the moonlight. The space around the maiden is skillfully and subtly left blank, creating a feeling of illumination of the maiden. Interestingly, the moon is also believed to relate to the phenomenon of tide. In this work we can see how elements like fertility, creation, femininity and tide are connected and reflected by the moon.
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| Wäinö Aaltonen: Maiden of the Island, sketch, 1936, lithograph on paper. Turku City Art Collection. Photo: Raakkel Närhi / Museum Centre of Turku. |
Atlantis and Pegasus
Another art piece also by Wäinö Aaltonen related to the moon, is a set of paintings called Atlantis and Pegasus (1930). The artwork consists of two parts, both with a deep indigo blue background and a bright moon partially covered by ”clouds”. However, with a closer look, the clouds have the appearance of a human’s profile and a horse-like flying creature, a Pegasus as the title indicates. Pegasus is a Greek mythical creature, a winged horse. In the painting, Pegasus is ridden by a woman figure, flying past the bright full moon. The shape of the figures is simple and geometric. We can clearly see the influence of Cubism on Wäinö Aaltonen.
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| Wäinö Aaltonen: Atlantis and Pegasus, 1930, oil on canvas. Turku City Art Collection. Photo: Aleks Talve / Museum Centre of Turku. |
Moonlight landscape
Moonlight landscape (1979) is a lithograph print by Polish artist Lucjan Mianowski. The artist’s depiction of a “landscape” consists of several human figures with a patterned background under the crescent moon. The crescent moon is the third day of a month in the lunar calendar, but it could also be a common symbol representing the moon in general without specifically indicating the phase. In Moonlight landscape, there are brick walls, stairs and primitive-looking patterns in the background. The composition of the patterns and human figures creates a three-dimensional illusion, feeling almost like some of the people were standing on an open farming field. In his works, it often combines people and natural environment and phenomenon in a surrealistic way. From Mianowski’s work, we can see the influence of pop art and surrealism.
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| Lucjan Mianowski: Moonlight landscape, 1979, lithograph on paper. Turku City Art Collection. Photo: Raakkel Närhi / Museum Centre of Turku. |
Text:
Ching Lam Yeung
Museum Assistant
Museum Centre of Turku
Sources:
Takanen, Ringa: “From the Wader to the Garden of My home. Mythical Female Figures and Water in Wäinö Aaltonen’s Works.” Wäinö Aaltonen: Poses, 2017. Turku Museum Centre.
Online Etymology Dictionary. Lunatic. https://www.etymonline.com/word/lunatic (accessed 15.5.2020)
月光之下──圖爾庫市政府藝術典藏月亮主題之藝術品
當說到月亮，人們通常會聯想到神秘、詩意、憂傷或是情緒化等印象。傳統上亦相信月亮的週期會影響人的心理狀態。根據線上字源學資料庫Online Etymology Dictionary英文字”Lunatic” 字義為受月亮影響之週期性精神錯亂，來自古法語中字義為瘋狂的 ”lunatique” 或在晚期拉丁文中有字義同為瘋狂的“lunaticus” ，字源都是拉丁文 “luna” ──月亮一詞。
不論東西方文化中都有不少關於月亮的傳說，例如在西方就關於「人狼」這種生物的傳說。相傳人狼平常外型與常人無異，但每逢月圓之夜在月光之下化身成人狼並襲擊人類。而在東方亦有很多關於月亮的傳說，例如月兔在月亮上搗長生不老藥、日月蝕則是因為有一巨大之天狗食日或食月等。有趣的是，在北歐神話中亦有一類似的故事，不過主角由天狗變為兩匹追逐日月的兇狼，它們分別名為斯庫爾(Sköll) 與哈提 (Hati)。
由以上這些引人入勝同時充滿想像力的傳說中，我們可以看到自古以來人們就對月亮十分著迷，而且充滿各種想像。長久以來，月亮亦是不少藝術家心中的靈感來源與繆斯女郎。今天我們將會來看看圖爾庫市政府藝術典藏中以月為題之藝術品。
島嶼少女
月亮週期被認為與生殖力與女性陰柔等有關，因此在以月亮為主題的藝術作品中通常不難找到女性的身影。威諾‧阿爾托寧 (Wäinö Aaltonen)的作品《島嶼少女》(Saarenneito, 1936) 與芬蘭及芬蘭-烏戈爾族的傳說有關。在芬蘭的民族史詩《卡勒瓦拉》(又譯《英雄國》)中就有提及「島嶼少女」。而在愛沙尼亞及英格里亞地區的傳說中，世界的開端來自一巨大的鳥蛋。島嶼自鳥蛋而生，而在島嶼上出現的第一個人就是島嶼少女。
在自然中，月亮亦與潮汐漲退的現象有關。阿爾托寧的作品輕柔細緻地描繪出島嶼少女涉水而行，月下起舞的情境。少女身體周圍的空間巧妙地留白，肌膚猶如映照出月亮光芒。在作品中我們可以看到生殖力、創造力、女性陰柔等元素透過月亮連結起來。
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| 威諾‧阿爾托寧 (Wäinö Aaltonen): 《島嶼少女》(Saarenneito), 1936, 石版畫紙本, 圖爾庫市政府藝術典藏 圖：拉奇爾‧那希(Raakkel Närhi) / 圖爾庫博物館中心 |
亞特蘭提斯與佩加索斯
威諾‧阿爾托寧另一組以月為題材的作品是《亞特蘭提斯與佩加索斯》(Atlantis ja Pegasos, 1936) 。此組作品由兩幅油畫組成，兩幅畫背景均為深藍色，並且均描繪了一幀被「雲層」局部遮蓋的月光。然而，當我們細心觀察，會發現「雲層」的形態其實隱藏了人的側面，以及天馬佩加索斯。佩加索斯源自希臘神話，是一背上長著翅膀並能飛天之天馬。畫中一有著女性形態的角色騎乘著佩加索斯，並飛越皎潔的圓月。畫中描繪的對象形態簡單並呈幾何形，由此可見立體主義對阿爾托寧的形響。
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| 威諾‧阿爾托寧 (Wäinö Aaltonen): 《亞特蘭提斯與佩加索斯》(Atlantis ja Pegasos), 1930, 油畫布本, 圖爾庫市政府藝術典藏 圖：亞歷斯‧達非 (Aleks Talve) / 圖爾庫博物館中心 |
月光風景
《月光風景》(Moonlight landscape, 1979) 是由波蘭藝術家Lucjan Mianowski所作的石版印刷畫。藝術家所描繪的「風景」由一輪眉月下的人物與圖案背景所構成。在傳統農曆中，眉月代表一個月的第三日，而眉月的在符號學中亦概括地代表月亮而不特別指涉一特定月相或是時間。在《月光風景》的背景可見磚牆、爬梯與一些具原始感的圖案。圖案與人物的空間排列營造出一種具三維立體感的錯覺。Mianowski的作品以超現實的手法刻畫和組合人與自然環境。在他的作品中，我們可以看到普普藝術與超現實主義的影響。
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| Lucjan Mianowski: 《月光風景》(Moonlight landscape), 1979, 石版畫紙本, 圖爾庫市政府藝術典藏 圖：拉奇爾‧那希(Raakkel Närhi) / 圖爾庫博物館中心 |
撰文：
楊清琳
藝術館助理
圖爾庫博物館中心
資料來源：
Takanen, Ringa: “From the Wader to the Garden of My home. Mythical Female Figures and Water in Wäinö Aaltonen’s Works.” Wäinö Aaltonen: Poses, 2017. Turku Museum Centre.
Online Etymology Dictionary. Lunatic. https://www.etymonline.com/word/lunatic (accessed 15.5.2020)
