Astrological Aesthetics #2 - Virgoan Textures
Last week we laid the foundations for our investigation into astrological aesthetics. We defined the criteria by which we tie any given artwork to a given Sign and described the simplest manifestation of Virgo: The discrete, tactile point.
Yoshioka Toshi*, Venus Virgo (1). Bunched closely enough, Virgo’s discrete points sublime into fields of texture, like braille; the flanneline undersides of the cranes’ wings in his Dance of Eternal Love (1994).
John Koch, Venus Virgo (1) square Pluto Gemini (5); Venus ruled by Mercury Virgo (3). In Father and Son (1955), the floor has the texture of brushed concrete, curtains the texture of leather, clay, canvas; the boy’s shirt seems sculpted.
Above and below, the small highlights result from Koch’s Gemini influence - light through the window, the hint of a bedside lamp. Virgo favours mundane subjects, all else being equal.
Caravaggio*, Venus Virgo (1) ruled by Mercury Libra (3). ‘Claylike’ is simply the best word for how Virgo depicts flesh. Compare the texture of the swaddling fabrics here in Caravaggio’s Bacchus (1596) to the undersides of the cranes’ wings in Toshi’s work above. (We’ll see next week how many of the old masters have Virgoan aesthetics.)
Wilhelm Leibl, Venus Virgo (1) ruled by Mercury Libra (3); 5th House Aries ruled by Mars Libra (4). More brushed cotton, visually tactile fabrics in his Peasant Girl with a White Headscarf (1876). The smooth sweep of her headscarf’s hem is Libran.
Beard of cotton in Leibl’s Study of the Head of a White-Bearded Old Man (1866); one could run his hands through it.
David Burliuk*, Venus Virgo (1) ruled by Mercury sextile Venus Virgo (7); Mercury square Moon Libra (7). Virgo’s tactility comes through in the presence of thick gobs of paint, visible brushstrokes, and other Post-Impressionistic touches; the materiality of the canvas itself. See Autumn Forest (1941) and Landscape (1921).
Lovis Corinth, Venus Virgo (1) square Uranus Gemini (5); Venus ruled by Mercury Leo sextile Jupiter Gemini (7). The Youth of Zeus (1905) retains the claylike textures of a pure Virgo, but 5th House Pisces’ influence arranges them in a disorienting way; Gemini adds more flicked strokes.
Corinth’s Self-Portrait with Glass (1907) below offers more typically grainy textures. Notice splotches of light on the torso, similar to Koch’s work above - this is Gemini’s influence.
Jean-Louis Forain, Venus Virgo (1) opposite Moon Pisces (3) produces a similar effect to The Youth of Zeus: Virgoan specificities hovering in a Piscean void, textured gases. See this in both his works After the Ball, the Reveler (1881) and At the Theatre (1882).
This is the second in a weekly series examining how aesthetics and astrology interface. See you next week.