JCC A Thread For Artwork Ver 2 (See first post rules before posting)

Florilegium Stellarum, by CyberSuturer, on DeviantArt


Say don't go, by fdasuarez, on DeviantArt


Victoria - Halloween party, by Razaras, on DeviantArt

 

Jef Bourgeau



Clara Beckmann



Missy Wiggins

 

Titled "Work for my newest game, about Galaxy Theme 2" by Keyi Li

 

via Marvel unveils Chinese New Year connecting variant covers — Major Spoilers — Comic Book News

 

Jessie Rasberry: Mako Moments (Final Fantasy VII Remake) by NeuralEnigma



Aerith Gainsborough by NeuralEnigma



Cyberpunk 2077 MWP2 by yogiboy01

 

You may remember when I was doing a project going through the Guardian's 1000 Artworks You Must See Before You Die. Well, I let it go for a while, but I'm going to hopefully be getting back into it now.

The Guardian’s 1000 Artworks You Must See Before You Die



Oba Sacrificing Leopards (16th Century) – The Edo
Media: Brass, Iron
Location: British Museum

With this post, we begin a series focusing on the work of the Benin Empire, one of the most artistically significant civilizations of pre-colonial Africa. This list has a lot of stuff from the Benin Empire and I’m really fascinated by it because it’s an entire culture I’d never heard of before discovering it here on this list. I’ll share some details about the Empire as we go.

The Empire arose out of the Ogiso Empire in the late 12th Century when the Edo people established a new ruler instead of allowing the son of the final Ogiso ruler to ascend to the throne. At that time, the Empire, located in what is now Nigeria, was known as the Igodomigodo Empire. The capital was then known as Edo. The name Benin would not arise until much later. In the mid-fifteenth century one particularly disgruntled ruler of the Empire used the Yoruba word “ubini,” meaning “vexation,” to refer to his duties as the Oba, the divinely appointed ruler, and the word was soon corrupted to “bini” and then “benin,” to refer to both the capital city and the empire as a whole.

We’ll get into how this brass plaque (along with a whole lot of other things) ended up in the British Museum, though you probably have a reasonably good guess already. This plaque was originally displayed in the Oba’s palace in Benin City. It depicts part of the coronation ceremony when the new Oba would sacrifice two leopards.

I’m not super crazy about the figures here, but if you go to the British Museum page, you can zoom way in and it’s all the crazy filigree and detail on this one that kind of knocks me out.

Next time, more work in brass as the African empire of Benin begins to experience pre-Colonial contact with Europe and depict that contact in their art.

 

Zsa Zsa Gabor, by daekazu, on DeviantArt


Ice, Ice, Baby!, by KejaBlank, on DeviantArt


Golden Throne, by Enamorte, on DeviantArt

 

via Into the 80s: A Look at Some of the Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery films of the Decade – Black Gate

 

Rabbit story by Marcin Rubinkowski

 

Harley Quinn by KhaoticCartoons

 

Audrey, by daekazu, on DeviantArt


Mermaid, by bluerainCZ, on DeviantArt


Zelda Princess, by Axsens, on DeviantArt

 

Goddess of Truth: Portrait of Wonder Woman by Heath Jett

 

From https://www.warhammer-community.com...he-right-headspace-for-morale-and-psychology/

 

https://www.deviantart.com/88grzes/art/Battlefield-428275372
Battlefield
88grzes


https://www.deviantart.com/pendrayk/art/The-feast-of-Odin-997464751
The feast of Odin
Pendrayk


https://www.deviantart.com/fetishverse/art/Moonfall-Majora-s-Mask-996043014
Moonfall / Majora's Mask
Fetishverse

 

Smile, by Axsens, on DeviantArt


Selesius, by dleoblack, on DeviantArt


Sri Asih, by mangamie, on DeviantArt

 

Out of the Forest by Sekiq

 

The Guardian’s 1000 Artworks You Must See Before You Die



Brass Figure of a Portuguese Soldier Holding a Musket (16th Century) – The Edo
Media: Brass
Location: British Museum

As we talked about last time, the Benin Empire seriously established itself in the 12th Century. It grew and expanded to cover a large portion of territory in modern day Nigeria. The capital city was situated on the coast and the Empire quickly gained control of the coast as an avenue of trade. The first European contact was in 1485 when Portuguese explorers reached Benin. They were more interested in trade than conquering and colonization, so the Edo and the Portuguese formed a surprisingly long-lasting relationship of friendly commerce. The English would not arrive in Benin until after 1550, so for a while relationships were good. The Edo actually sent an ambassador to Lisbon, Portugal, in the early 1500s and welcomed Christian missionaries from Portugal into Benin City. As late as the 1800s, many residents of Benin could speak a rough dialect of Portuguese. This friendly relationship was, of course, destined to end in tragedy, but more on that later.

Right now, here’s an example of the Edo depicting the Portuguese and it’s kind of fascinating to see an indigenous population producing images of the Europeans who would soon enough create havoc. Figures like this were common and were often kept on altars or as decorations in the king’s palace. At this time, the Portuguese were probably seen in a very positive light since they were bringing luxury goods from Europe to the Edo.

I think this is really fascinating. The level of detail, again, is what’s really striking about this. This is apparently incredibly historically accurate, right down to the patterns on the armor. It’s not super-clear from the pictures what the scale of this thing is, so I was initially thinking these were sort of action figure sizes, but, no, this piece is over a foot tall, so these were hefty little statues. I really like this one.

Next time, a look at the dark side of Benin and another brass plaque.

 

Wolf Mage, by dleoblack, on DeviantArt


Patricia, by daekazu, on DeviantArt


Moonlight, by CyberSuturer, on DeviantArt

 

The Puppeteer of the Damned by Aria Safarzadegan

 

ArtStation - Lo-Fantasy Characters




ArtStation - Officer in Palace Colors

 

Summertime Sadness, by daekazu, on DeviantArt


Cinderella, by serafleur, on DeviantArt


Red Hood, by sakimichan, on DeviantArt

 

ArtStation - X-men Forge, Kenneth Solis


ArtStation - X-Men Marrow, Kenneth Solis


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Spoiler: extra pic

 

Lemegeton: No 45 Vine by OTL Miu

 

The Guardian’s 1000 Artworks You Must See Before You Die



Two Chiefs in Pangolin Costumes (16th Century) – The Edo
Media: Brass
Location: British Museum

We’re about to enter a dark period of the history of the Empire of Benin, so it’s probably appropriate to briefly consider the dark side of Benin itself. Benin, after all, was an empire and, if history has taught us anything, it’s that empires are not kind. Like the indigenous empires of South America, the Empire of Benin practiced human sacrifice as part of its religion. It was a violent and warlike empire. Benin maintained good trade relations with the Portuguese and the British for decades and it’s worth remembering that a good portion of that trade was in slaves. It strikes us as hard to believe these days, but the fact that African tribes and civilizations were active participants in the sale of their own countrymen as slaves can’t be denied and the Edo were part of that. None of this is intended to paint the Edo as worse than any other given empire of the time; every slave they sold, of course, a European bought. Nor is this intended to justify the fall of Benin. Whatever evils lurked within the Empire, the story of its fall is tinged with tragedy and inextricably bound up with the Benin Bronzes and the British Museum’s current “ownership” of those bronzes. More on that later.

For now, here’s another bronze from the collection. Like many indigenous cultures, the culture of the Edo revolved around animals. The leaders of the Edo were often identified with leopards and snakes, but here we see two chiefs dressed as a somewhat more adorable animal, the humble pangolin. I do love pangolins. Though I suspect that these costumes were made using actual pangolin scales and the pangolin is currently today the most trafficked mammal in the world, specifically because of its scales. So, not cool. And since a female pangolin tends to only have one to two offspring a year, while a pangolin dies every ten minutes, the clock is quickly running out on these strange & beautiful creatures. Save the pangolins.





Next time I may skip the history lesson, because the artwork itself is somewhat complicated. Anyway, it’s another bronze plaque.