The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism

by Timothy B. Husband, Gloria Gilmore-House, Lauren Shakely

To trace the pattern of the wild man's evolution in art - from myth to symbol to complex variation of the two - Timothy Husband has selected sixty-two objects from collections throughout Europe and the US. The exhibition follows the iconographic history of the wild man from his Greek and Roman origins to his decline in the Renaissance. The objects in the exhibition are among the finest works of their kind, including prints, paintings, carvings, elaborate silverwork, and exquisite manuscript illuminations. 9x11", xi+220 pp., b&w photographs, 16 pp. color plates.

Genres: History, Medieval, Nonfiction, Art

220 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1980

About the author

Timothy B. Husband is a Curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has worked in the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters for over forty years.

He studied at the Fogg Museum as an undergraduate at Harvard, received his MA from the Institute of Fine Arts, and completed his doctoral coursework at Columbia. Focusing on the later Middle Ages, mostly in the German-speaking world, his interests include sculpture, tapestry, goldsmiths' work, ceramics, manuscripts, and stained glass in both the secular and ecclesiastical realms.

He has organized many exhibitions including The Treasury of Basel Cathedral (2001), The Medieval Housebook and the Art of Illumination (1999), The Luminous Image: Painted Glass Roundels in the Lowlands, 1480–1560 (1995), and The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism (1980). His most recent publication is The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry.

Reviews

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 4 stars for the collection itself, which features scads of color and B&W plates of an array of art centering around the idea of the 'wild man/woman'. Long a useful symbol amongst medieval Europeans as alternatively a symbol of barbarism, paganism, and, later, foolery, the 'wild folk' permeated European art. Much like its more pernicious counterpart, the witch, the 'wildpeople' served a severe, interpretive purpose in the European world-view. Unfortunately (and here's where I took off a star), the usual academic accompaniment to such exhibition values is too spare, giving the interested only a very slight history and interpretation of this curious phenomenon. The plates are often accompanied by copious captions, though, which somewhat makes up for this, but I feel it could've been better integrated.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was much more enjoyable (and accessible) than the last art history book I read! I learned a lot, and saw a very disturbing 16th-century woodcut of a werewolf. All in all, a rich and full reading experience.