TitleElephantine
Artist
Ellen Lanyon
(1926 - 2013)
Date1995
MediumAcrylic on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 60 1/4 × 84 1/4 in.
SignedSigned on reverse
SubmissionNA diploma exchange presentation, 2003
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number2003.13
Label Text"Elephantine" is a continuation of a concept that Ellen Lanyon has worked on for over ten years, namely that of a collection of animate and inanimate forms emerging from an archaic stone wall. "Elephantine" was created for a 1996 installation in Chicago entitled "Archaic Garden" in collaboration with the architect Laurence Booth and depicts a row of elephant heads, trunks and tusks that the artist describes as "emerging in animation while, at the same time, obviously captured in stone…time and memory captured." The painting is overlaid with delicate, transparent images of prehistoric sea creatures, shells and fossilized plants, which enhance the message of the passage of time and the persistence of life. The painting contains a portrait of one of Lanyon's bronze sculptures of Horus, the Egyptian god of light, who is believed to ascend one's spirit after death. Many of Ellen Lanyon's paintings from the end of the 20th century feature exotic locales, worlds with magical objects and alien settings that chronicle her travels to places such as Italy, Ireland, England, Egypt, and Japan. This work was sketched while Lanyon was on a trip to the gardens at Bomarzo, Italy, a town famous for its Parco Dei Mostri, a garden full of extraordinary, monstrous sculptures that appealed strongly to the surreal imagination of Salvador Dali.
In a detailed statement, the artist decoded the image:
"'Elephantine'... [is] a continuation of a concept worked on for over ten years...that being the emergence from an archaic stone wall of an image which would make use of a collection of animate and inanimate forms. Early on, there was a theme which [I] concentrated on the seasons as represented by the twelve signs of the zodiac. I worked these paintings for about ten years and at the time that I was to have a major installation in Chicago in collaboration with the architect, Laurence Booth, I created this singular work to accompany the exhibit. "Elephantine" repeats the archaic wall with three elephants, heads, trunks and tusks, all apparently emerging in animation while, at the same time, obviously captured in stone....time and memory captured. The falcon is a portrait of a bronze sculpture which was commissioned in 1985. It was inspired by an onyx figure of the Egyptian god Horus which I had seen and sketched in the Vatican Museum. It is actually a vessel and its lid is a hand holding a quill pen. It was cast at the University of Illinois in Carbondale, in a district of the state known as 'Little Egypt.' Hence, although the title of the sculpture is 'Falco'...the subtitle is 'A Message From Little Egypt'...the God Horus is believed to have the ability to ascend one's spirit after death.
The human hand holding the shell and the ghost-like linear floating aquatic and botanical images enhance the message of the passage of time and the persistence of life."
