The Square Halo and Other Mysteries of Western Art: Images and the Stories That Inspired Them

by Sally Fisher

Through the centuries, artists have relied on symbols, gestures and stories - which often make no sense today - to convey complex meanings. This book is a key to the iconography of Western art,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810944634
• ISBN13: 9780810944633
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: ABRAMS
• Length: 175 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding & Unique ArtHistory Book!

First, this book is chock full of some fine color pics of European art mainly from about 1300-1600. The text descibes unusual, hidden, and symbolic aspects of the paintings, and a few sculptures. Artists like Raphael, Corregio, ElGreco,Titian, Bosch, are given the master's treatment, and less known artists also get their due. From Biblical tales to Greek and Roman myth, we are given a special look at clothing, religious symbols, haloes, snakes and dragons, and about every theme and motif of the times. And the author has a nice sense of humor which makes the book not only visually brilliant,and serious, but fun at the same time!

Symbols and their meanings...

Sally Fisher's book, 'The Square Halo', is a small but great book on some of the mysterious, often overlooked, symbols in Western art. The idea of art for art's sake is a relatively new one -- the idea of using art solely for aesthetic reasons is largely one of the modern age. Art was, in fact, an important medium of communication when the majority or at least a significant minority of the populace was illiterate. Paintings and works of art that we see today as mysterious, or sometimes without mystery and think are fairly straight-forward presentations, are in fact hiding meanings that we, because we have not generally been taught to look for meanings in these places, easily overlook. 'To many educated persons, a museum visit is mystifying. There is Aristotle--we know who he is--but why is he crawling on all fours with a woman named Phyllis on his back? There is a group of gorgeously dressed persons. Each holds an object: keys, a sword, a small dragon on a leash, a little tower, a pair of eyes on a plate. They gaze into space. No one says a word. The title is Sacred Conversation. What can it mean?'Some symbols, however, we take for granted that we do know. For instance, the halo -- a common symbol. But is it?'Now and then a person simply glows. We have all seen it, or perhaps more accurately, felt it. In the Mediterranean world this experience found pictorial expression. It began, as we might expect, with the sun. The fan of beams splaying from the edge of a cloud became the rays that emanated from the garland on the head of the Greek sun god Helios.'The Christian adaptation brought about an outward expression of an inward light (much in the way Christian sacraments were considered outward expressions of inward grace). Halos come in many forms, hollow or full, head-only or bodily encompassing, and, of course, square.Square??Of course (the title of the book had to have derived from something, after all). One image that is used is that of Pope John VII, who is portrayed in a mosaic in the Vatican Museums. A square halo is a symbol. It tells us that the wearer was still living at the time of the art work. A circle is perfect; so is Heaven. Earth is imperfect; so is the square.Thus, the person was considered blessed and saintly, but, as official sainthood cannot be conveyed until after the death of the person, an 'official' round halo would be inappropriate. Often a person will be holding an object (like a church, a house, etc.). These objects are in fact things that they built, or caused to be built (the same mosaic shows Pope John VII holding a model chapel which he had built).Biblical stories are played out in art work, often the entire story (or a significant portion) portrayed by the symbols on one canvas or panel, which would have triggered memories of the complete story in the viewer, and which we, in our modern 'literate' phase have forgotten.We also learn of some of the quirkiness of art -- the apostle Paul, for instance, is sometimes portra

Insightful, appreciative, and humorous

This is a marvelous overview of western religious art of the late medieval period through the rennaisance. Ms. Fisher uses familiar examples of painting and sculpture, and explains painting traditions and conventions, and does so frequently through the use of subtle humor. This is a pleasurable books for the student of art history, the lover of western religious art, and anyone who enjoys expanding their horizons! A great read, which lifts the veil on many of our current religious and artistic traditions.

Don't read fairy tales to your kids....

This book is great, if you can still find it. I've purchased 6 copies to give as gifts and my friends loved it! This is perfect as a coffee table book, or one that may inspire you! I highly recommend it! The pictures are beautiful and the stories complement. Don't read fairy tales to your kids, this is what they can inspire with and question.