Lot Essay
Clemente specially created this collection of eight pastels in response to an invitation from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to exhibit in Belfast in 1984. The Celtic Bestiary was featured in the exhibition 'Francesco Clemente in Belfast,' which included examples of his work to date in a variety of media (Druick, op. cit., p. 198).
This collection of drawings "is one of many discreet cycles that Francesco Clemente has made in different media since the late 1970's. [Clemente] views each medium as a 'conventional frame' within which to 'try out all of its possibilities and even go beyond' (Auping, op. cit., p. 173).
Clemente succeeds in this cycle of drawings to juxtapose reality with the imaginary and to move seamlessly between polarities.
His nomadic personal life echoes his desire as artist to 'move all the time,' to 'travel through mythology,' and through cultures and to create works that, 'run through iconography' and in which 'images...are moving.' [Clemente] believes he must 'invent a territory in between'...The Celtic Bestiary represents this 'in between' territory...The thematic structure (as the title implies), is that of the bestiary, the medieval illustrated treatise on animals, their powers and human traits, that depended as heavily on fiction and folklore as on fact. The tradition of the bestiary can be traced back to the second century. The form achieved full development only in the twelfth century, and thereafter enjoyed great popularity for two hundred years. But while the temporal distance separating the present from both Celtic culture and the tradition of the bestiary would seem to lend plausibility to the concept of a Celtic bestiary, it is in fact oxymoronic: the two traditions did not overlap and while illuminated manuscripts are filled with animals, they include no bestiaries. Thus Clemente's Celtic Bestiary can be seen to fall 'in between' and to bridge--these two historically exclusive traditions. Influenced by each but fixed by neither, it creates a new territory. The Celts regarded the human head as the seat of the soul and supreme source of spiritual power. They also believed in both the sacred nature and the power of animals; they identified them with the ancestral spirit and their shamans used them in rituals of a psycho-sexual nature. There are correspondences between the mystical Celtic Druidism and Hindu Brahmanism. Given Clemente's long-standing interest in the mystical tradition of India, his attraction to that of the Celts is not surprising. Some of the broad themes evident in his prior work anticipate those of The Celtic Bestiary: his interest in the human head and body, in exploring man's basic biologic and sexual impulses, in identifying man with his animal nature, and in seeking to restore man's primal integration with nature (Druick, op. cit., pp. 198-201).
This collection of drawings "is one of many discreet cycles that Francesco Clemente has made in different media since the late 1970's. [Clemente] views each medium as a 'conventional frame' within which to 'try out all of its possibilities and even go beyond' (Auping, op. cit., p. 173).
Clemente succeeds in this cycle of drawings to juxtapose reality with the imaginary and to move seamlessly between polarities.
His nomadic personal life echoes his desire as artist to 'move all the time,' to 'travel through mythology,' and through cultures and to create works that, 'run through iconography' and in which 'images...are moving.' [Clemente] believes he must 'invent a territory in between'...The Celtic Bestiary represents this 'in between' territory...The thematic structure (as the title implies), is that of the bestiary, the medieval illustrated treatise on animals, their powers and human traits, that depended as heavily on fiction and folklore as on fact. The tradition of the bestiary can be traced back to the second century. The form achieved full development only in the twelfth century, and thereafter enjoyed great popularity for two hundred years. But while the temporal distance separating the present from both Celtic culture and the tradition of the bestiary would seem to lend plausibility to the concept of a Celtic bestiary, it is in fact oxymoronic: the two traditions did not overlap and while illuminated manuscripts are filled with animals, they include no bestiaries. Thus Clemente's Celtic Bestiary can be seen to fall 'in between' and to bridge--these two historically exclusive traditions. Influenced by each but fixed by neither, it creates a new territory. The Celts regarded the human head as the seat of the soul and supreme source of spiritual power. They also believed in both the sacred nature and the power of animals; they identified them with the ancestral spirit and their shamans used them in rituals of a psycho-sexual nature. There are correspondences between the mystical Celtic Druidism and Hindu Brahmanism. Given Clemente's long-standing interest in the mystical tradition of India, his attraction to that of the Celts is not surprising. Some of the broad themes evident in his prior work anticipate those of The Celtic Bestiary: his interest in the human head and body, in exploring man's basic biologic and sexual impulses, in identifying man with his animal nature, and in seeking to restore man's primal integration with nature (Druick, op. cit., pp. 198-201).