Hocus Pocus

Curious Matter

March 30 – May 4, 2008

AMONG THE THEORIES to the origin of the rhyme Hocus Pocus, it is either a true incantation in ancient ritual magic, or a pseudo-Latin phrase used by medieval sleight-of-hand performers to parody the Church and the idea of transubstantiation, while distracting the audience from the sham being perpetrated on stage.

Rebecca Sittler Schrock, The Flood, from “Still Life Series: 2001–2004”. Chromogenic print, 24 X 20 inches.

Therein lie the two branches of Hocus Pocus in our exhibition: the genuine search for magic and meaning and the subsequent deceptions and trickery. In ritual magic, the hope is to somehow get the attention of the forces that control nature and convince them to enhance your life. This is done in various ways: symbols, offerings, incantations, mimicking nature; the list is long and varied. Vincent Como reimagines the powerful symbol of the pentagram, which has connotations of both darkness and light, depending on whether one is reaching for the stars or hiding in the night. Yuko Kobayashi tries to show us the hidden power of words with her video. Written or spoken words become magic spells which manifest the reality of their content. Anthony Santella seduces a nature spirit from hiding by exposing the hidden soul within a tree. Personal energy is another way to encourage magic, as Brea Souders shows us with her image of hair clippings. Guard your shorn locks; they could be used to sap your strength. And mirrors hold many secrets which, it is supposed, they reflect back; as Suejin Youn reminds us.

Brea Souders, Clippings, 2008. C print, 16 X 16 inches.

But, when the gods ignore us and luck is elusive often we try to create our own magic. Amiée Burg’s box alludes to the classic disappearing act of magicians. Rebecca Sittler Schrock gives us the illusion of the transmutation of matter. Jennie Thwing’s gestures look mysterious, but what exactly is she up to?

In many cultures, the artists were considered magicians who could channel the forces of nature to their own ends. Michelangelo insisted that the sculpture was trapped in the stone. All he did was free it, like a magician frees the hidden dove from the empty-looking box. Here we present evidence of the power of art. Is it real, or, are they just too quick for you to see how they do it?

THE ARTISTS

Arthur Bruso, Aimée Burg, Vincent Como, Tara Giannini, Yuko Kobayashi,

Bryan Lauch & Petra Pokos, Ross Bennett Lewis, Marianne McCarthy,

Michael Nathaniel Meyer, Raymond E. Mingst, Carol Petino, Zach Rockhill, Anthony Santella, Rachael Serbinski, Laurie Sheridan, Rebecca Sittler Schrock, Brea Souders, P. Teramode, Jennie Thwing, Kelly Vetter, Alyssa Taylor Wendt, Jenn Wong, Suejin Youn,

John J. Zirkelbach

Arthur Bruso and Raymond E. Mingst

© 2008 Curious Matter used with permission

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A Near Failure of Eternity

Relief of Montuhotep III, ca. 1957–1945 B.C.E. Limestone, 31" x 51 1/2" x 4 1/2", 470 lb. Location: Brooklyn Museum (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

“Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias

Head of a King, Seankhkare Mentuhotep III, ca. 2000–1988 B.C., Limestone, H. 7 3/16".; W. 8 7/16"; D. 7 3/16". Metropolitan Museum of Art collection.

Seankhare Mentuhotep III had an identity problem. His father through his will, might and cunning reunited the fractured kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt and formed a new centralized ruling city at Thebes, initiating a Middle Kingdom of peace in Egyptian history. Egypt was flourishing once again after an era of disunity and anarchy. When Mentuhotep III’s father died, and he inherited the throne, he was a little too old to stand as the powerful and virile king of a newly united Egypt. His father Mentuhotep II had built great temples and monuments to honor his own reign. As the founder of the new unified Middle Kingdom of Egypt and the cultivator of a golden age of art and culture, his legacy and the glorification of his name was secure to future generations. Seankhare Mentuhotep III could not equal, let alone surpass his father’s accomplishments. What could he do? Were the administrative duties he had been working at as the heir apparent his entire life enough? He could continue to execute the political aspects of his kingdom and complete his father’s building programs to ensure that Egypt would be remembered and renowned for the ages. But what about himself? Like every Egyptian ruler before him, Seankhare Mentuhotep III wanted his reign to outlast his lifetime and be remembered and worshiped through eternity. How could such a king who was already past his prime when he ascended the throne and would only sit as a ruler for 12 years proclaim his power and birthright for all time? Would he merely maintain what his more illustrious father had put in place?

Like all Egyptian rulers, Seankhare Mentuhotep III was extremely concerned with his name and the accomplishments of his reign outlasting his corporal life to become eternal. One of Mentuhotep III’s plans for assuring his eternal life, was to add a chapel onto the holy temple dedicated to Montu the greatest of Egyptian gods, that his father had been rebuilding. This new renovation was replacing the old mud brick temple that had been destroyed through time and conflicts, with a grander limestone edifice. It’s important location at Armat just outside of the new capital of the reunited Egypt at Thebes would add to his influence. The chapel would be dedicated to his own reign and would illustrate his rightful place in the order of the universe and proclaim his own right as a divine ruler.

19th century image of the ruins of the Temple of Montu at Armat, Egypt.

Osiride Statue of King Mentuhotep III, re-inscribed for King Merenptah, 2010–1998 B.C., Sandstone, 83 7/8" x 14 1/2" x 57 1/2 ," (photo, Boston Museum of Fine Arts) One of 6 similar statues that honored Mentuhotep III at the Temple of Montu at Armat.

The temple dedicated to the god Montu at Armat is located just outside of Thebes on a mound that had been considered a sacred site for centuries. Thebes had been established as the capitol by Seankhare Mentuhotep II for the newly united Egypt and as the capital was the seat of government and its religious center. At the time of Seankhare Mentuhotep III’s reign in 2009 – 1997 BC, Montu was still the greatest of all Egyptian gods. Originally a manifestation of the scorching effect of the sun, Montu‘s destructiveness in this role was gradually magnified into giving him the characteristics of a warrior. His warrior status eventually morphed into his being the most revered of Egyptian gods because of Egypt’s necessity for defense and expansion to other territories. The name Mentuhotep itself translates to “Montu is satisfied,” so both rulers, the father and the son believed they held obligations to honor and venerate the god Montu. The temple whose modification and enlargement were begun by Seankhare Mentuhotep II would eventually consist of a tribune platform (an elevated flat space for the delivery of speeches and formal announcements), a main gate, portico, worship hall, sanctuary, a hall which held the images of Montu, separate quarters for the priests a sacred lake and a large courtyard surrounded by columns which housed the sacred bull. The bull, because of its strength, power, and aggressive temper, was considered the incarnate of Montu on Earth. Nearby would have been a holy necropolis where the bulls representing Montu would be mummified and buried with ceremony and grandeur. By 379 – 361 BC, the Middle Kingdom temple to Montu at Armat (which continued to be remodeled and enlarged during the centuries after the two Mentuhoteps), was extensively damaged during conflicts with the Persians and yet another replacement temple was in the process of being built. The constant rebuilding and remodeling of this temple attest to the importance of this sacred site. This final incarnation of the temple was dismantled in the 19th century and the stone repurposed to build a sugar factory. Not much of the Montu temple at Armat remains, but it is still a live archeological site.

The ruins of the Temple of Montu at Armat today.

Photograph of Fernand Bisson de la Roque in his tent on site.

The Relief of Seankhkare Mentuhotep III and the Goddess Iunyt, now in the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, was collected before 1852 during excavations at Armat by a French archeologist Fernand Bisson de La Roque. The Relief was part of the chapel dedicated to Seankhkare Mentuhotep III. It depicts two scenes of the Egyptian king. On the right, Seankhkare Mentuhotep III faces the goddess Iunyt in unmediated conversation – an immediate indication of the king’s royal and God-like status. Iunyt was a consort of Montu and within her powers of goddess, she is reiterating and conferring upon Seankhkare Mentuhotep III his right to be king by bestowing on him: life, dominion over Upper and Lower Egypt, joy, and his right to sit on the Egyptian throne. She is wearing the vulture headdress traditionally worn by female goddesses and women of royal lineage. It represents the power of the mother goddess to transmute life and death. Seankhkare Mentuhotep III is dressed in the Nemes headdress, which symbolizes his spiritual ascendancy as a god/king and his authority to meet and converse with the gods as near equals. It is an abstract representation of the lion’s mane, meant to confer authority and respect. It is banded across the forehead with a diadem in the form of an uraeus, which is a representation of the cobra goddess Wadjet. Wadjet was created by the primordial god Atum to be his eyes in the search for his lost sons. Her success in her task ensured that Wadjet, in the form of the spitting cobra, would rise to become the protector of the Egyptian gods and the god/kings of Egypt. It was said that when worn on the forehead of the king, she would spit her venom on the king’s enemies. The uraeus became closely associated with the kings of Egypt and was respected as a sure sign of sovereignty. The goddess Wadjet herself in the form of a cobra sits on a papyrus plant above King Seankhkare Mentuhotep III. She offers symbols of protection and power to his name and title.

The Goddess Iunyt wearing the vulture headdress.

The Goddess Wadjet sitting on a papyrus plant offering symbols of protection and power to the name of Seankhkare Mentuhotep III.

A uraeus head ornament crafted in gold and semi precious stones.

On the left-hand side of the relief, is another representation of Seankhkare Mentuhotep III in his jubilee year participating in the Sed festival running toward the god Montu (the portion depicting Montu is now missing). The Sed festival was a huge ceremony held after a ruler sat on the throne for 30 years. The object was to test the king’s physical ability to continue as the leader of his people. In ancient times, the festival was to insure the continued prowess of the leader. If the leader was found to be physically unable to continue his rule, he would have been executed. Aside from pictorial depictions, there is not much evidence that many Egyptian kings actually participated in their Sed festivals.

Mentuhotep III is wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt which proclaims his rule over a united Egypt. He is holding the flail in one hand, a symbol of his authority to punish adversaries and usurpers, and a mekes object in his other. The mekes object has inscribed on it a divine decree believed to be written by Thoth, the god of magic. Holding the holy mekes, would provide the king with the power to complete with ease the rigors of the Sed festival. Mentuhotep III is depicted running toward the god Montu because the temple is dedicated to him and as the titulary, Montu would grant favors of success to the king in his Sed endeavors. Flying over the king’s head is a depiction of the falcon god Horus in his role of adjudicator. Horus’ presence ensures that the contests of strength and endurance are fair and true despite the intersession of Montu. Mentuhotep III, dressed in his regalia denoting his supreme authority over Upper and Lower Egypt participates with youthful prowess in his Sed contest even though in life the king only ruled for 12 years. For kings who did not last on the throne for 30 years, the depiction of them triumphant in completion of their Sed challenges, would be assured of millions of Sed festivals in the afterlife.

The god Horus as adjudicator for the Sed festival. (photo Brooklyn Museum cropped)

The Relief of Seankhkare Mentuhotep III and the Goddess Iunyt was found at the site of the Temple of Montu at Armat. Because of the temple’s ruined state at the time of excavations, and it many renovations and rebuilds it can only be speculated that Mentuhotep III ordered its creation. Given the precarious nature of life in ancient Egypt, and the time it took to build and decorate a building in pre industrialized times, the completion of a project by future generations was common. The Relief was certainly part of the Middle Kingdom building expansions and not part of the 19th century ruin. It stands as an emotional testimony of a minor king’s quest for immortality and recognition. The entire relief proclaims the king’s importance and legitimacy. The symbols and inscriptions are all a testament to Mentuhotep III’s reign and God-like status. The carving is some of the most delicate and moving in Middle Kingdom Egyptian art. The depiction of the king conversing with the Goddess shows an unsurpassed connection of intimacy and equality between the spiritual divine and the corporal divine on earth. Their looks of mutual admiration and respect have been sensitively rendered through the remarkable skill of the sculptor. The carving shows a proficiency of technique through not only the subtle modeling of the faces, but also through the delicate details of the clothing and jewelry worn by the figures. That this emotion in the faces and the exquisite rendering of the texture of the various clothing elements could be achieved in such a shallow relief deserves its place as a masterpiece of art from Egypt’s golden age in the Middle Kingdom. Seankhare Mentuhotep III through this nearly lost, fractured, and partial carving, may have achieved the desire for his legacy to outlast the 12 years of his rule until the stone itself crumbles. This remarkable work is a statement of Mentuhotep III’s place on earth which has endured through the centuries. It immeasurably adds to the glory of the exquisite achievements of Egyptian culture and art.

Arthur Bruso © 2023

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A Special Place in the Air

Constantin Astori Pterosaur mural at the American Museum of Natural History, 1945

The most enduring trope of science fiction movies – when the subject is dinosaurs surviving into modern times – is the gliding into view of a Pterodactyl onto the scene of a lush and steamy jungle. It flies into mid-screen so the audience can get a good look at it, then turns and flaps away into the distance. This immediately indicates that the story will be taking place in a Lost World where dinosaurs have survived into modern day in some remote, uncharted place. Pterosaurs are the family of flying prehistoric animals, of which Pterodactyls are one species. They are so ubiquitous as a device to indicate prehistoric life; they are practically the standard symbol for anything prehistoric. Their look is distinctive, like no other animal now alive. With their distinctive head crests; almost beak shaped mouths; small bodies with what is imagined to be bare lizard-like skin; and generally large, back curving, pointed wings; they have a modern aerodynamic feel. Yet given a body shaped and designed for flight, it is not a design that is readily identifiable with any living animal such as bats or birds. Some Pterosaurs often have sharp teeth protruding from their beaked mouths, which project an ancient presence since no beaked animal now alive has teeth. Unfortunately, as every article on Pterosaurs pedantically points out, Pterosaurs are not dinosaurs. These flying prehistoric creatures, although often associated with dinosaurs, actually branched off early from the dinosaur family tree and followed their own distinct evolutionary path. While this independent evolutionary path is important to paleontologists, in the mind of the layman, they will always be grouped with dinosaurs. Reptilian + prehistoric + cool fossils = dinosaur. Let the scientists declare the difference.

The popular appeal of Pterosaurs is widespread and enduring. The Japanese made a film whose main star was a Pteranodon, a toothed version of a Pterosaur. Since 1956, Rodan remains the classic flying dinosaur movie. This irradiated and mutated flying monster became an apocalyptic horror in the aftermath of the nuclear bombs dropped during WWII. It fed into the mid-twentieth century society’s dread with radiation and its potential for creating mutants. Rodan transcended his own radioactive mutant character to become the uber Pterosaur of a generation of mid-century children raised on duck-and-cover drills, radioactive fallout, and bomb shelters.

Sometime, just before middle school and after third grade, a dinosaur mania creeps into children. Is it some vague connection to fairy tale dragons that have just been outgrown, or a new awareness that life existed on Earth long before people even existed that comes upon the child? Whatever the cause, inordinate amounts of time are spent by pre-adolescents studying the canonical illustrations of dinosaurs by Charles Knight in Natural History books and in articles immersing themselves in prehistoric life. The animatronic and digitized creatures of Jurassic Park are scrutinized over and over again. Some even allocate their meager allowances to purchase bags of dime store plastic dinosaurs. For those fortunate enough to live near a natural history museum, entire afternoons can be spent prowling the dramatically lit collections of fossil bones and Fiberglas reconstructions of prehistoric life. Of course, one of the all-time favorites is the flying Pterosaur. The vicious Tyrannosaurus rex and the ponderous Brontosaur have their fans, but pterosaurs have that special place in the air.

Charles Knight illustration of Tyrannosaurus rex. 1897

Charles Knight illustration of Brontosaurus and Diplodocus. 1897

Climbing to the fourth floor of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and commanding the entrance to the Hall of Dinosaurs, painted in an arched niche is a 20-foot-tall mural that is an homage to the flying pterosaurs. Completed in 1945, this mural is a panegyric to the enduring admiration and delight that Pterosaurs have on devotees of prehistoric life. It was painted by Constantin Astori, a Russian immigrant who first escaped the Russian revolution by fleeing to Turkey. Finding the art community in Istanbul limiting and without opportunity, he then moved to New York. Astori was awarded the Natural History Museum mural commission in 1940 and though he did not intend this, his mural of Pterosaurs has become his enduring legacy, and his most recognizable work. Astori, with the help of the museum’s paleontologists did much research on how the flying pterosaurs looked and behaved as was assumed by what was known about them in 1940. His assistant, A. Brown is also prominently named on the mural under Astori. Unfortunately, further details of Brown’s identity seem to be lost. Astori made the most recognizable Pterosaur, the Pteranodon the focus of the mural. It occupies the center of the arch and dominates the composition. It appears to be flying straight at the viewer through a cloud strewn sunset sky. The Pteranodon is counter balanced by a Pterodactylus further in the distance and flying in the opposite direction. Below the flying pterosaurs is a rocky shore, lined with cliffs. On the cliffs, other species of pterosaurs are cavorting in an imagined Pterosaur rookery.

Curiously, there is no vegetation in this depiction of the prehistoric past. This may have been an artistic decision by Astori or decided from information provided by the Museum staff. At the time of the mural’s creation, paleontologists believed that the pterosaurs could not take off from the ground or water. Instead, they assumed they needed to launch themselves off a cliff or tree to take to the air. Now it is known that flying pterosaurs were able to launch themselves from the ground and some from the surface of the water. Most of the fossils that have been found have Pterosaurs living near an inland sea. Even so, not all of them hunted their prey from the nearby seas.

Sixty-six million years ago during the late Cretaceous, the Pteranodon flew in the skies over a great inland sea that covered the central portion of present-day North America from Canada to Mexico. Pteranodon lived in the areas now called Kansas, Wyoming, and South Dakota. Their environment was close to the depiction as presented by Astori in his mural. Their hunting habits were diving or skimming for fish in the water. Since their beaks were toothless this would make diving and swimming for prey in the water more likely. It was assumed when the fossils were first found, that Pteranodon would be unable to return to the air after diving for fish. Now, after finding new fossil evidence of fish in their stomachs, paleontologists have rethought this idea. Pteranodons were very large at 18 feet long from the tip of their beak to the tip of their tail. They were also the model for Rodan and have become the standard for Pterosaurs. This makes their presence as the primary image of the mural logical.

Pteranodon and Pterodactylus as depicted by Astori and as depicted now. Pteranodon (top). Pterodactylus (bottom).

Behind the Pteranodon in Astori’s mural, is Pterodactylus. Their habitat was like Pteranodon, but they lived 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic, by the sea that covered present day Germany. It was a general carnivore with teeth in its beak. It was smaller than Pteranodon, being only 3’5”. Its diet consisted of small marine invertebrates and fish. They lived a lifestyle similar to modern day marine birds. Given that it lived 150 million years ago (84 million years before Pteranodon), it would be impossible for Pterodactylus to share the skies with Pteranodon as depicted by Astori in his mural.

Dimorphodon as depicted by Astori (left) and now (right).

Dimorphodon is pictured as a secondary figure in Astori’s mural. It can be seen flying in the center bottom of the mural as it heads to the left-hand cliff. It was a smallish Pterosaur at 3 feet long with a wingspan of 4 1/2 feet. They lived during the mid-to-late Jurassic which makes their existence overlap with that of Pterodactylus. Their small wing size in proportion to their bodies made them poor fliers. They are thought to have foraged on the forest floor for prey, making short swooping flights to aid in hunting, or scampered up the trunks of trees. Astori does not picture his Dimorphodon in a forest floor environment in his attempt to depict all the Pterosaurs that were known in the 1940’s.

Rhamphorhynchs as depicted by Astori (left) and now (right).

Rhamphorhynchus is the final species of Pterosaur Astori has included. Rhamphorhynchus doesn’t have a distinctive crest as the other Pterosaurs have. It had instead, a long tail that ended in a small fan. Other Pterosaurs had tails, but they did not end in the distinctive Rhamphorhynchus fan. Rhamphorhynchus lived during the late Jurassic, which means that they lived at the same time as most of the other Pterosaurs Astori included in the mural. At 4 feet long with a wingspan of 6 feet, they were medium size compared to the others. Rhamphorhynchus preyed on fish foraged by swimming under water or caught while Rhamphorhynchus was floating on the surface.

The two pterosaurs - Pteranodon, and Pterodactyls - dominate the composition in Astori’s mural. The mural is mainly about these two creatures dramatically flying toward the viewer. The dynamic seashore landscape has a naturalistic sense of perspective that helps to draw the eye deep into the scene. The half-light of the sunset/sunrise sets the mood of other worldliness to the scene. The bat-like creatures that are populating the landscape cliffs mostly on the right do not differentiate themselves enough into the various other known species of pterosaur. The species that I have picked out are from approximations of their details that match their descriptions. They read simply as black shapes that are similar to the forms of Pterosaurs and create the visual noise of a rookery that the bottom of the mural needs for visual balance with the centerpiece of the larger, flying Pterosaurs at the top of the mural. It is the twilight sky and the large Pteranodon swooping toward the viewer that creates the unforgettable impression of a prehistoric reality.

As a child growing up in Albany, NY, I spent many afternoons in the New York State Museum that was only a few blocks from my house. Taking the elevator up to the floor of the museum exhibition space did not prepare you for the door opening onto the theatrical scene of a prehistoric forest, complete with the real trickling water of a modest waterfall. Suddenly, you were thrust into the far distant past which prepared the visitor for the experience to come. While not as immersive and wondrous as the display that the New York Museum had on my child’s imagination, the two flying Pterosaurs of Astori’s mural serve the same gateway to visiting the prehistoric past. These flying creatures hold their special place in our vision where they dominate our imagination and prepare us for the wonders ahead. The images put flesh onto the fossil bones we are about to see and show us how and where these strange and amazing creatures lived. For this experience alone Astori’s work is rightly preserved and lauded.

Arthur Bruso © 2023

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