Friday, 2 November 2012

=I= see

I am almost done with the paintjob of the Imperial Navigator himself and will continue with the small servant. I will share the first series of pictures in my next post. Before I do that I thought I would let you in on some more of the inspiration for the project.

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818, Hamburg Kunsthalle) by Casper David Friedrich. 

A wonderful piece of art, which illustrates how the mysticism practised by the poets and painters of the time, the like of Friedrich, is closely linked to melancholy and the paradoxical sensation of being alone, lost, surrounded by weather in a dim lit world and at the same time seeing everything more clear.

Is the wanderer above the sea of fog in control of the landscape unfolding beneath him? Or is he rather truly lost in the fog?

Questions which are relevant for the Navigator as well, as he - gazing over the swirling and foggy warp sea - may loose himself on his stra=I=ght path using the warp as his medium (see Rogue Trader, 162).


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5 comments:

  1. Fulgrim2 November 2012 at 14:09

    Nice piece of text - I love C.D Friedrich. You've reminded me of something that you may well be interested in which relates directly to Melancholia and posits it as a specifically northern European trait (a position I particularly agree with): it's a two-part series by an English writer called Jonathan Meades. He's produced several incredible series for the BBC; the one in question is called Magnetic North (which is available in full on a YouTube Channel called MeadesShrine). I really recommend it.

    I like your analogy of the Astropath. They're fertile ground for investigation, and I'm particularly fascinated by the problematic dynamics (as I see them) between Astropaths and Navigators. I was hoping for some further exposition on both/either in FFG's Navis Primer book, but sadly it falls a bit flat for me.

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  2. Peter2 November 2012 at 23:19

    Magnetic North by Coil
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ncqf8s__UZY
    from the fantastic Moon's Milk (In Four Phases)

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    Replies
    1. Fulgrim2 November 2012 at 23:35

      Or Are You Being Served by Coil!
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN4zRjx0kLg
      (no really!)

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  3. F P O A4 November 2012 at 20:16

    Wonderful reference to the Magnetic North series. I have enjoyed the first part and look forward to see the rest. Thanks :)

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  4. F P O A5 November 2012 at 23:40

    Another take on the relation between melancholy and 'the ragged north':

    ’Tis a childish humour to hone after home, to be discontent at that which others seek; to prefer, as base Icelanders and Norwegians do, their own ragged island before Italy or Greece, the gardens of the world,”

    Robert Burton noted in his early 17th-century 'The Anatomy of Melancholy'.

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