Joy

 

 

The achieving of the treasure,

and the pleasure that brings, the moment of delight,

is also a favourite topic of popular art.

 

     

 

Joys can be pride in achievement,

joy in courting, discovering, or just simply enjoying.

So long as the image is evident, socially acceptable, and infectious,

popular art embodying it works.

 

      

 

Joy is perhaps the category most portrayed

in Hummel figurines – the simple pleasures of life,

discovered and enjoyed by small children.

 Again, their joy creates a sense of

delight in us.

 

Delight is denoted as before,

by defiance

of gravity

by a smile, dancing, leaping, or arms upraised.

With the three more contemplative images,

where the girl is observing a flower or a bird, the character

is ambiguously between joy and dreaming. Notice the floating hands,

floating drapery, floating flower basket, floating headdress,

floating parasol,

and birds – symbols

of flight. The role

of the character

is usually

denoted by the

sentic signal

we met for Joy in

the beginning of this exploration

of communication

and emotion.

 

      

 

Note also the attenuation

of the vase held by the nun, and the feminine curves

(least present in the nun)…

 

      

 

 

In the image below, parasols and glances

guide the eyes to the small cat, focus of the ladies attention,

 and towards which the leading lady reaches down. The billowing crinolines

give the characters a different semantic. They float still,

but instead of being attenuated, they billow and

curve, creating less reverence,

more sensuality.

 

 

If upward curves and defiance of gravity mark the

triumphant hero, the enjoyment of the Treasure

then what kind of character do we get

when we mark it with the Fang?