Helping

 

 

      

 

The creature or entity is reaching down or towards something or someone

to help it or to give it some sustenance.

A parent reaching down to a child, a child feeding a pet,

a willow tree’s trailing fronds,

the cat slide roof in Hersey’s ‘The Blacksmith’.

 

 

 

 

The character of the relation is refined by the type of juxtaposition: above/below; large/small; or same size, same height. The small helping the big is not the same as the big helping the small. Big sister is helping little sister. Little sister is helping the horse.

 

Kindnesses involve giving, showing, caring, as before. Their size and togetherness puts us in parental mode, and creates a sense of charm for us, and a sense of approval for what they are doing.

 

        

 

Lladró provides another highly successful genre of figurines, and this time most of the situations fall into the categories of the Kindness, The Joy, and the Dream. Since the core emotion associated with Lladró is that of tranquillity and gracefulness, there are few challenges or surprises.

 

These figurines celebrate everyday delights, and raise them to the level of an art form. The colours are restrained, greyed, with accents of white; the adults are slender and attenuated; things seem to float effortlessly. Time passes in pleasure, dreams, and kindnesses.

 

      

 

Kindnesses often work best when depicting children, and with children, attenuation is a difficult way to convey a sense of grace. They tend to be more solid and rounder than adults. But the sensation of floating is not an impossible one – note the effortless grace of the little girl’s leg as she tries on a shoe, and the fingers, not firmly gripping the bench, but floating out behind. With the adults it is easier still – note the way the arms are held out from the body of the young lady watering the flowers. But the basic message here is one of helping someone – giving food or water, or entertaining. Gracefulness is really an addition to that, not the main message in itself

 

 

In this charming Japanese scene, though, gracefulness is the main message, and the giving an addition. Note the slender pole of the parasol, suggesting how light it is, the floating waterbird, and the floating hands and arms. The bridge too is a very significant feature – see the section on portals.