Title

Thirsty one.

Author

Author not identified

Source

[Not applicable]

Type

About the work

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Thirsty one.

Thirsty one is Griffin’s most obviously spiritual after-war print. A naked man, or giant, crouches in an intimate, enclosed landscape, cupping his hands to capture the flowing water of the waterfall. His gaze is directed at his hands but his eyes are not focused, as though he thirsts for something other than the liquid. The figure is unconcerned by his nakedness, although the stray branch of foliage seems to offer itself as a substitute fig leaf. Like the Adam of Creation, he is representative of all men, requiring no identity but bearing the obligation to symbolise and epitomise his species. For this, Griffin has stylized his perfect physique, excluding irrelevant details like the definition of the toes. Unlike most works produced in the classical monumental style of the 1930s, this figure is not presenting or advertising his athlete prowess, his superiority or his nobility. He is, instead, totally self absorbed, as though in his own spiritual world.

© Alisa Bunbury, 1998.