{"id":3244,"date":"2013-08-22T14:31:18","date_gmt":"2013-08-22T13:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2017-10-09T14:05:56","modified_gmt":"2017-10-09T13:05:56","slug":"the-dark-arts-celebrated-in-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/2013\/08\/the-dark-arts-celebrated-in-edinburgh\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dark Arts Celebrated in Edinburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Anyone with an interest in the forbidden and arcane arts, who find themselves in Edinburgh this autumn, would be well advised to check out the current special exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Entitled Witches and Wicked Bodies, it features a wide selection of art depicting witchcraft, ranging from classic works by established masters like Goya and D\u00fcrer, to more contemporary artworks, alongside historical documents on the subject. \u201cFrom the late 15th century onwards, artists focused on the most sensational aspects of witches\u2019 activities, such as their supposed attendance at sabbaths and their engagement in \u2018diabolical pacts\u2019, both of which were thought to have involved lascivious sexual practices,\u201d explained the Gallery\u2019s deputy director Patricia Allerston of the wide range of striking imagery on display, that ranges from the frightening and eerie to the feverishly erotic.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But the show also has a more serious, less sensationalist side, according to the artist Deanna Petherbridge who curated the exhibition, which she believes is a UK first. \u201cThere have been some exhibitions looking at witchcraft in Italy and France in the past, but there has been nothing which has specifically looked at how women have been portrayed, like this exhibition does, and certainly nothing like this at all in Britain,\u201d she explains. \u201cIn a way, it is really an exhibition on the suppressed history of how women have been represented by artists throughout European history. There have been a huge number of historians looking at witchcraft over the years, but not that many people have looked at how it has been represented by artists. I think it\u2019s an incredibly relevant exhibition, with men\u2019s representation of women.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Whether you choose to see the exhibition as a thoughtful examination of superstition and misogyny, or just a world-class display of enchanting and spooky paintings, Witches and Wicked Bodies offers a rewarding experience for fans of the macabre and fantastic. It runs until 3rd November, plus there are a number of special events, most notably a free lecture on the 30th of August on \u2018Haunted and Fairy-Taken Witches: The Place of the Restless Dead in Scottish Witchtrials\u2019. For further details, check out http:\/\/www.nationalgalleries.org\/whatson\/exhibitions\/witches-wicked-bodies<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\nMeanwhile, we have numerous witchy items in out catalogues here at Alchemy. Anyone wanting to look the part for the exhibition might like to consider our Poison Ivy Charm Bracelet (A94) \u2013 guaranteed to bewitch all who behold it!\u2026<\/p>\n

The Alchemy Editorial Team
\nwww.AlchemyEngland.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone with an interest in the forbidden and arcane arts, who find themselves in Edinburgh this autumn, would be well advised to check out the current special exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[413,410,412,414,411],"class_list":["post-3244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dark-arts","tag-franz-franken","tag-scottish-national-gallery","tag-witchcraft","tag-witches-sabbath"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3244"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8516,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions\/8516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alchemyengland.com\/site\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}