Thursday, March 18, 2010

Same as It Ever Was

. . . in the immortal words of 80s icons the Talking Heads.

Went to the Getty Villa a few weeks ago. You probably know this already, but it's all antiquities now--the paintings were trucked over to the Getty Center. I am a philistine, I know, but one floor of antiquities is pretty much my limit, then they all start to look the same, so much so that my friend had to call my attention to the paintings of drunks on the wine vessels. The drunks were doing what drunks do everywhere (click on these to see the vessels): singing; singing while urinating (a servant holds a pitcher for his master's eliminations); dancing; flirting and frolicking; making unwelcome advances; having a sexual encounter; staggering home with the help of one's friends; and, of course, the classic: vomiting.

1 comment:

Nancy Ewart said...

I've always found it funny that the ancient artists and potters were far more earthy about human behavior than we would think. They looked at men with an amused, if sometimes cynical, eye.