Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Cthulhu Artifact

CoastConFan did a very nice writeup about the Arkham Sanitarium props. The post includes this picture, showing a nifty Cthulhu (Cthulhoid?) sculpture. What interests me about the piece is that it looks like something that was actually excavated from a dig, and that's a very tough effect to pull off. Cthulhu idols are normally approached as art pieces meant for display, so there's a natural tendency to craft idealized depictions that appeal to modern tastes. That's not a bad thing in the slightest, but this one goes in a different direction, both in finish and design, and I really like the result.

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6 comments:

  1. elmo iscariotNovember 10, 2010 at 5:53 AM

    You know, I always looked askance at the modern fantasy-art "idols" because their style is too "clean", precise, and modern, but rereading The Call of Cthulhu recently, I kind of have to admit that those artists are pretty on target. The "exquisitely artistic workmanship" of the Legrasse idol definitely doesn't indicate a rough-hewn chunk of rock attacked with a chisel by a degenerate primitive.

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  2. Mr. RemakreNovember 10, 2010 at 6:49 AM

    .....that pic with the plates is dangerously close to "Cthookware and Cthulhu"

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  3. CoastConFanNovember 10, 2010 at 7:03 AM

    The Cthulhu herme was dug! Michael Moses made this piece in the middle 1980s using clay from Laviron, in southern Greece (where Attic clay was mined for pottery in classical times) and buried it in soil from a circa 2nd century B.C. Athenian site for two years, so that the soil clinging to the statue dates to that period. The figure however, would date to the modern era via thermoluminesence testing (oh well).

    The same Cthulhu statue appears in the photo from my posting for October 29, 2010 Lost Worlds Photo at CoastConFan Blog. Its one of the few things pictured that I still own. I’ll have to photograph just the figure and post it later.

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  4. LoneIslanderNovember 10, 2010 at 10:03 AM

    Looks really interesting.

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  5. Mr. RemakreNovember 10, 2010 at 7:09 PM

    ,,,,uh,,,,what's a "Herme" ?

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  6. elmo iscariotNovember 11, 2010 at 3:22 AM

    Also a herm or herma, it's a conspicuously Greek type of sculpture. I'm just grateful the gentleman left out Cthulhu's, ah, nether regions. ;)

    The work, by the way, is outstanding, and the story makes it immeasurably better.

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