Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

[Flex Mentallo]

Bells from the Deep

 

This is a tale of miracles, ending with another of my pictures.

 

My paintings are nothing special, [as should be self-evident by now] – there are artists on these boards far far better than I will ever be.

 

But the various intertwining strands surrounding this picture fit the theme of this thread, so I thought it might be of interest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

In 1971 Werner Herzog was location scouting for Aguirre, the Wrath of God in Peru and narrowly avoided taking LANSA Flight 508 which later disintegrated after being struck by lightning with one miraculous free-fall survivor. His reservation was cancelled due to a last minute change in itinerary.

 

Juliane Koepcke was a German Peruvian high school senior student studying in Lima, intending to become a zoologist, like her parents. She and her mother, ornithologist Maria Koepcke, were traveling to meet with her father, biologist Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke, who was working in the city of Pucallpa.

 

The airplane was struck by lightning during a severe thunderstorm and exploded in mid-air, disintegrating at 3.2 km (10,000 ft). Koepcke, who was seventeen years old at the time, fell to earth still strapped into her seat. She survived the fall with only a broken collarbone, a gash to her right arm, and her right eye swollen shut

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliane_Koepcke

 

In 2000 Herzog made Wings of Hope a documentary film that explored the story.

 

Edited January 4, 2013 by alanna

[Flex Mentallo]

Herzog’s films often feature heroes with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals who find themselves in conflict with nature.

 

It is these latter I find most compelling.

 

French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog "the most important film director alive" and American film critic Roger Ebert stated that Herzog "has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular." Above all I admire his lack of compromise, and his willingness to take whatever risks are necessary. [Remind me to tell you the story of Yasna's cat sometime!]

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Herzog

 

Edited January 4, 2013 by alanna

[Flex Mentallo]

Recently, I saw Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia, a 1993 documentary written and directed by Herzog.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bells_from_the_Deep

 

 

 

The second half of the film is primarily concerned with the legend of the lost city of Kitezh. This myth is about a city that was in peril of being destroyed by marauding Mongols, but whose citizens prayed for rescue. Hearing their prayers, God placed the city at the bottom of a deep lake, where it resides to this day.

 

 

 

The Invisible Town of Kitezh (1913) by Konstantin Gorbatov

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

This legend gave birth to numerous incredible rumours, which have survived to this day. It is said that only those who are pure in their heart and soul will find their way to Kitezh It is also said that in calm weather one can sometimes hear the wailing sound of chiming bells and people singing from under the waters of the Lake Svetloyar. Some people say that the most pious individuals may actually see the lights of religious processions and even buildings on the bottom of the lake. This is why the Lake Svetloyar is sometimes called the "Russian Atlantis".

 

 

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya (1907) is based on the legend of Kitezh.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_the_Invisible_City_of_Kitezh_and_the_Maiden_Fevroniya

 

 

The most astonishing scene shows a man literally swimming across the frozen lake, as the ice creaks and cracks below him.

 

 

"I wanted to get shots of pilgrims crawling around on the ice trying to catch a glimpse of the lost city, but as there were no pilgrims around I hired two drunks from the next town and put them on the ice. One of them has his face right on the ice and looks like he is in very deep meditation. The accountant’s truth: he was completely drunk and fell asleep, and we had to wake him at the end of the take."

 

 

However, though staged, Herzog assures us it accurately depicts what pilgrims who visit the lake actually do - presumably when interfering filmmakers arent around. In Siberia such mystical experiences are not confined to history. They are living.

 

Bells from the Deep was a revelation.

 

I had always thought of Herzog as quite mad - now I felt a deeper connection to which hitherto I had been quite blind.

 

[Flex Mentallo]

I’ve always been fascinated by water as a medium, and by myths about water.

 

 

My two favourite ACG covers:

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

And a few magazines:

 

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

 

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

 

 

 

If anyone has any comic, pulp, book or magazine covers on underwater themes I’d be grateful to see them posted here!

Edited January 4, 2013 by alanna

[Flex Mentallo]

I share this fascination with many artists, writers, filmmakers and composers. [Again, if anyone knows of any, please post them here!]

 

Here is Peter Weir for instance:

 

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Wave

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

And worth reposting Ilya Repin:

 

"Sadko" (again), a Russian fairy tale that was also the subject of an opera by Rimsky Korsakov

 

 

 

Sadko, a poor but spirited minstrel, wagers his head against the wealth of the Novgorod merchants that he will catch golden fish in the neighbouring Lake Ilmen. Aided by the Sea-King's daughter he wins, and embarks upon a voyage on one of the fleet of ships that have become his. Overtaken by storm, it is decided by the ship's company that one of their number must be offered as a sacrifice to the Sea-King. Lots are drawn, with the result that Sadko finds himself on a plank in mid-ocean.

Entering the Sea-King's domain, he plays upon his gusli with such goodwill that the monarch and his court are soon engaged in a frenzied dance. A fierce gale ensues. St. Nicholas, intervening on behalf of seafarers above, dashes the gusli to the ground, orders Sadko home, and transforms the Sea-King's daughter, who has offered herself to the already married minstrel, into the river Volkhov, on which Novgorod now stands.

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

As I watched Bells from the Deep, the story of the drowned city of Kitezh reminded me of another miracle.

 

St. Clement was the fourth bishop of Rome. In the traditional story, he was exiled to the Crimea, where he converted thousands, and then was martyred. His bones were cast into the Sea of Azov, where pilgrims later came to worship, and so God created a shrine, which only emerged from the waves on the anniversary of his death.

 

On one occasion, a woman lost her child at the shrine, which sank beneath the waves with the child in it.

 

When she returned the following year, she found the child, alive and well, “miraculously preserved in the sea of Azov”

 

 

 

[Flex Mentallo]

In its many architectural layers, Rome has often been compared to a palimpsest and the church of San Clemente is often quoted to illustrate this.

 

 

 

 

The church was built in the 12th century on top of a church from the 4th century, which, in turn, was built on top of a house and a mithraeum from the first and second centuries AD, which were constructed on buildings from the first century BC.

 

 

A total of at least five layers of architectural history, going back over two thousand years.

 

[Flex Mentallo]

A local family named De Rapiza commissioned the fresco of the miracle at the end of the 11th century. As with the majority of Romanesque artists, the painter is unknown. I came across the picture in a thick book on Romanesque painting many years ago, and along with the striking composition, the title leapt out at me.

 

 

 

“The child miraculously preserved in the Sea of Azov.”

[Flex Mentallo]

It fascinated me to wonder in what state of being was the child, lost below the waves for an entire year. It was only when watching Bells fron the Deep that I recalled this picture, buried in a folder for the past 20 years...

 

 

 

 

[Larryw7]

In its many architectural layers, Rome has often been compared to a palimpsest and the church of San Clemente is often quoted to illustrate this.

 

 

 

 

The church was built in the 12th century on top of a church from the 4th century, which, in turn, was built on top of a house and a mithraeum from the first and second centuries AD, which were constructed on buildings from the first century BC.

 

 

A total of at least five layers of architectural history, going back over two thousand years.

 

This is an amazing thread.

[Flex Mentallo]

 

 

 

 

This is an amazing thread.

 

 

Many thanks Larry - that is warmly received and very encouraging!

 

I had not expected to keep this thread alive more than a few days, regarding it as overly self indulgent, but as one story ends it seems to leave several others waiting to be told.

 

And people seem to keep reading, and so...

 

Actually, it would be great if other boardies would share their stories and interests here.

 

Mentioning no names, I've had various p.m.'s from boardies who are either artists, or indophiles like myself. There are certainly some intriguing personal histories to be told - but they are not mine!

 

Also, just to underscore that I'd love it if people posted images I dont know about.

 

Underwater covers for instance!

 

 

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

I think you should come to Comic Con and do this as a panel. The panels there could use something a little more indepently minded.

[Cat-Man_America]

 

This is an amazing thread.

 

 

[font:Times New Roman]Absolutely!

 

Alanna always intended us to share our own experiences, influences and interests in this thread, something much clearer to me now than when I read his initial post.

 

In the spirit of expanding the discussion to include our personal journeys, I'll try to illuminate the artists and writers whose work has inspired me in one capacity or another, enclosing the more familiar comic related material in spoiler tags.

 

Education and development-wise, a passion for art and writing have always been driving forces in my life.

 

Early on I was impressed by B&W line illustration art techniques, especially fine fine detail renderings of:

 

Virgil Finley, ...

 

 

 

 

Reed Crandall, ...

 

 

 

 

Graham Ingles (represented by familiar EC comic illustration), ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Berni Wrightson, ...

 

 

 

 

& Al Williamson (also represented by familiar comic illustration)...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although never having had the fortune of meeting Virgil Finley, I did meet Reed Crandall, and got to know Berni Wrightson and Al Williamson (he's holding one of my early acrylic paintings, while I proudly display an original Secret Agent X-9 strip page he gifted me that still hangs on my office wall)...

 

 

 

 

 

Some of my own early B&W illustration trending toward dragons, demons and a man eating daffodil (titled Humanitarian)...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll save chroma influences for another post.[/font]

[mrmyst]

I agree that this is a wonderful thread but I feel all culturally inept now! But seriously Michael thank you for sharing your amazing experiences and the gorgeous images...