Customer Reviews

Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I particularly enjoyed GREEN MAN because the author William Anderson brings together and explores many subjects of interest to me -- the natural world, mythology and archtypes, Gothic church architecture, Wordsworth, and the concept of Gaia. GREEN MAN has been described by it's critics as a book about Mythology and Ecology, but I think Anderson has also written a very fine art history.

Anderson suggests most art historians and critics have overlooked the Green Man as an archetypal element and artifact. And, although I've taken several art history classes on the topic of Western church architecture, I can't recall a single instructor discussing the foliate masks, vine disgorging heads, or human fruiting vegetation Anderson clearly describes. The photographs in his book show they can be found in many places in churches including on rood screens, columns, capitals, corbels, tympani, stringcourses, pediments, flying buttressses, with the Holy Virgin and child, and weeping over Christ.

Anderson suggests the Green Man (or our need for him) has morphed into variation after variation over the millenia. The Green Man probably began life as a Celtic mythical figure, but by the 20th Century he had become a hidden Art Deco element. His most amazing incarnation occurred in the Middle Ages in the Gothic cathedrals, especially very sacred spots like Chartres in France. Chartres was one of Joseph Campbell's favorite haunts, and he has shared many of his insights about the cathedral, as has the art historian Panofsky. Anderson shares a few more ideas involving the Green Man.

If you plan to visit churches or cathedrals in Britain, Ireland, or Europe, I think you'll find this book a good resource. You can also learn more about the Green Man and his link to the Earth Mother and the natural order.

Very good variety of photos of Green Man sculptures. Poses interesting theories as to the disappearance and reappearance of the Green Man in art and sculpture.

This book was an interesting read. It contained a great many theories about the Green man as well as on location photography. However, the author was somewhat prone to reciting his poetry and making theories without clearly stating they were simply his ideas. A very informative source on the Green man. I bought this book as I wanted to discover who and what the Greenman is.

Beautifully illustrated compilation of research and mythology pertaining to Europe's ubiquitous Green Man image. Though no one knows for certain what, if anything, he signifies, the theories are numerous and fascinating. Once you know where to look, you'll find that this intriguing face is carved in all sorts of places, all over Europe, in wood and stone. He pops up just about everywhere there's medieval art - churches, cathedrals, palaces, public buildings. The varieties are endless, although all Green Men must have foliage incorporated in their visage. This little book is part of my permanent collection.

Very detailed book founded on a lot of excellent research. I didn't expect so much information in such a small book but it's really packed (the type is small too). I was looking for a book that was pretty complete and this certainly gave me what I needed. It has color and black and white photographs of architecture and sculpture showing green man images through history which really puts this into context and brings it alive. Through the text, the author gives explanation as to why Green Man shows up in the sculptures, stories that would have surrounded the building/design of the structures containing the green man images, poetry, and history of the times.

This book purports to trace the image of the Green Man back to antiquity. On the positive side, it provides a great deal of raw information which anyone who studies the topic may find useful. This information could be quite helpful in further studies in this area.

However, I felt that the analysis provided in the book was somewhat lackluster. In addition to misusing terms like "archetype" I thought the mythological analysis left a lot to be desired. I thought that there was more solid and useful information in Mircea Eliade's "Myth and Reality" than there was here on the subject of a vegetation god.

All in all, I think the book is helpful to those who are studying the subject, but I believe the analysis in the book needs to be redone.

I discovered this book in a small bookstore several years ago, and have thoroughly enjoyed reading it several times. Having ten years of training in art and art history, many books on art frustrate me, because many people don't know how to write about it. I found Anderson's book an absolute delight. He cites his sources, and it was always clear (to me, at least) when he was speculating, and when he was using references to support his statements. Discussing art and art history can all too often lead to muddy logic and subjectivity, which means that good art historians must meet a very high standard of proof. Anderson satisfied me on that count. Mind you, this is largely a work undertaken for his own curiousity and pleasure, so perhaps I wasn't as rigourous as I might have been with a work that claimed to be authoritative. But I know trash when I read it, and this is emphatically not trash. He's done his homework, and he knows his stuff. He states his case very well.

My own research into the Green Man and into the interface between Christianity and paganism in the Dark Ages and Middle Ages have led me to disagree with Anderson on a few points. But that doesn't diminish for me the pleasure of reading his book again.

I also enjoyed the many photographs. There's nothing worse than a book about art that doesn't illustrate the points made! And this book satisfied me there. I've used the illustrations as inspiration for my own artwork many times.

I count this as one of my favourite books of all time.

William Anderson and Clive Hicks have produced a work of art. Beautifully photographed, it tells the whole story of the Green Man, from its European background back in the Gothic period, to the meaning it holds today. Check it out, you'd be mad to miss it!