Today Phil Are GO! Is proud to bring you a shining example of the taxedermic work of Peter Carl Faberge': The Billiard Frogs Tableau.
Produced years after his more pedestrian egg-themed works, The Billiard Frogs Tableau represents Faberge' at the height of his creative powers during his climactic "insane" period in the spring of 1919.
It is believed that Faberge' created this object de faintasie as a reaction to the upheaval of the Russian Revolution and the seizure of House Faberge' by the Bolsheviks. Fleeing St. Petersburg for Wiesbaden, Germany, Faberge' rode a sleigh through the snow-blanketed forests of Finland. It was on this journey that he picked the last of the Finnish winter frogs to create this, his masterwork.
Having suffered the loss of his livelihood to political chaos, Faberge' seems to rail against the Bolsheviks and their rejection of the Romanov dynasty by saying "Yes, in this madness, even frogs will walk on two legs and play the billiards!" His rebellion of traditional taxidemic practices is obvious in the clarity with which we can see the wire armature in the subjects' legs. In this, the observer can feel the urgency with which Carl created the piece. His passion for the lost Russia and his rage at the rise of the Soviets radiates from the artwork.
Faberge chose to nail the frogs in place, as if to say "The Bolsheviks can make these frogs play billiards, but you can never make them pay attention to the game." The frogs' eyes are ever skyward, thinking of all the frogs that gave their lives fighting for old Russia. Surely, this work towers over his other "mad" creation, "The Second Cheese Glove".
This piece, in the hands of a private collector who chooses not to be named, or to finish his pudding, has never been on display. We at Phil Are GO! were allowed to photograph it through special arrangement with the Wiesbaden Galerie von Bedauerlichen Kunst (Gallery of Unfortunate Art), which holds it in trust for the owner. The gallery made us promise not to display these images, and so we must ask our readers not to tell anyone where they saw them.
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Faberge chose to nail the frogs in place, as if to say "The Bolsheviks can make these frogs play billiards, but you can never make them pay attention to the game." The frogs' eyes are ever skyward, thinking of all the frogs that gave their lives fighting for old Russia. Surely, this work towers over his other "mad" creation, "The Second Cheese Glove".
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4 comments:
Phil, your art gallery must have used Google translate to pick its names. That should be: "Galerie der Bedauerlichen Kunst" (unfortunate) or "Galerie der Schauerlichen Kunst" (gruesome).
Sir, I think the good people of Wiesbaden know how to use Google translate perfectly well. Besides, we carefully typed the gallery's name exactly as it appears on the cease and desist letter they sent us. Still, if an unnamed German speaker says he or she knows better, who are we to argue? We'll later the post this time, but your comments have been forwarded to the curators of the Galerie for review. Just don't expect us to jump at every questioning of our Languages and Googling team in the future. Thanks for commenting, secretive Germanophile!
[-Mgmt.]
Thank you, sir. My antiquing habit has faded over the years, but, inspired by this post, I'll be scouring yard sales this weekend, in search of the perfect taxidermied exotherm.
Best of luck on your Ugly Crap Safari. May you bring home an abomination worthy of a blog! Who knows? You may find a diamond in the rough, or, more likely, a piece of crap in the rough, which is even better.
Thanks for reading, Jim!
[-Mgmt.]
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