![]() ![]() I have noticed that there is, sometimes, occasional dumbing-down, but this programme wasn't guilty of it. I didn't see the Anglo-Saxon programme to which you refer, so I can't comment. The entire discussion about society and allowing representation of the male (and female) genitalia was amusing, educational and enjoyable. (I've had as my pc and phone wallpaper for some time now - and was feeling rather smug about my taste in statuary.) There's absolutely nothing - repeat nothing vulgar or banal about it. (My one and only nit-pick was the equation of 'priapic' with 'phallic' - the former expressing an innate enthusiasm not necessarily carried in the latter.)Īnd I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion of Bernini, and it was a pleasure to hear the curator of the Galleria Borghese. So as well as being entertaining, it was certainly educational. I studied Classics at college, and yet I didn't know the reasons for the representation of the phallus on ancient statues was to reflect the virtuosity of reasonable restraint (a value reflected in the laws, aimed at protecting the solidity of the household unit). ![]() Maybe the presentation was a little too light-hearted at times for your taste, but it was neither too earnest nor too 'carry on'. I can only assume it was the subject matter to which you refer as being banal or vulgar so perhaps you shouldn't have watched it. It was fairly clear what the programme here was going to be about. Stephen Smith is the presenter of Fig Leaf: The Biggest Cover-Up In History.įig Leaf: The Biggest Cover-Up In History is on BBC Four at 9pm on Thursday, 10 February, and is part of Focus On Sculpture, a season of programmes on BBC Four.Ĭomments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.ĭebrant, if you go to see a movie called Snakes on a 'Plane, there's a good chance you'll see some snakes and a fair chance they'll be on a 'plane. And it's not stretching things too far to say that it can still be a snug fit for 21st century sculpture. Nature's jockstrap remains an impressively elastic device, two millennia after it was first twanged into place. If only he'd clothed him in a fig leaf instead, I couldn't help thinking. ![]() Yes, contemporary artists can - and do - present sculptures of naked figures in exhibitions now if they wish.īut, as Sandy told me, he could face prosecution if he left Priapus as he'd intended, fully endowed and ready for action. That lies 350 miles away, in a drawer in Paisley, where it was reluctantly stashed by its creator, the sculptor Sandy Stoddart.Īs Sandy showed me around his studio, the manhood of Priapus was the elephant in the room, if that's the phrase I want. In a square elsewhere in the capital, a statue of Priapus, the god of fertility, is complete in every detail - apart from the all-important one of his defining feature. Not for the royal person herself, you understand, but to shield her eyes from the full glory of a replica of Michelangelo's David, which she used to inspect in the galleries above. In a little-visited vault under the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, I gazed agog at an outsize fig leaf made especially for the monarch. In fact, historians now think she was much more amused in that department than we give her credit for. You might imagine that Queen Victoria took a similar line on the naked form. On the carved façade of Orvieto Cathedral, for example, the lost and the damned writhe in hell, without so much as a stitch on. ![]() The only time the Church encouraged bare flesh was to reinforce the eternal message that the wages of sin are death. This may just be the proper temp they feel beer should be served at and I am wrong.In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Its still kind of bitter for my milk-toast tastes, but, everytime it seems to be served too warm for my liking. Not complaining just letting you know the layout.įinally, I have been here a few times before and get the wimpiest most American-style beer they offer. The inside has a shop like atmosphere somits not a sports bar/tavern/pub decor. But really, the pizza is just a way to keep you here longer, spend money inside the shop and probably buy more beer. They would be better of serving DiGorno frozzen pizzas than they frozen pizza they throw out. If you are, this might be a wonderful place for you. I am not into the pricey, bitter, snobbery that is the current microwbrew fad. The Figleaf just recently started offering pizza, I assume to capture some of the cash that was going to the food trucks they allowed to park in front. ![]()
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