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December 27, 2014 by tomdalzell

Gabby’s Mermaid Postcards

 

Gabby sent my friend photos of his mermaid postcard collection.  He was not yet ready to let it go, but was happy to share the images with us for the post “Of the sea…” and the images of mermaids in Berkeley yards.

Before getting to the mermaids, my friend got a short lecture from Gabby about mermaids.

Many people think that the sirens in the Odyssey were mermaids.  In fact, there are some paintings that depict them as mermaids.

OdysseusSirens2 M5006173836e96b15e532227e82f626b2 Gustave Moreau Herbert James Draper 1909

More often, they are shown as voluptuous, anthropomorphic women.  

Edward Armitage, 1888

Edward Armitage, 1888

Otto Greiner

Otto Greiner

Unknown

Victor Mottez

Victor Mottez

Marie-François_Firmin-Girard, 1868

Marie-François_Firmin-Girard, 1868

 

This is curious.  In the text, they don’t tempt with sex, they tempt with knowledge: “Come this way, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaians, and stay your ship, so that you can listen here to our singing; for no one else has ever sailed past this place in his black ship until he has listened to the honey-sweet voice that issues from our lips; then goes on, well-pleased, knowing more than ever he did; for we know everything that the Argives and Trojans did and suffered in wide Troy through the gods’ despite. Over all the generous earth we know everything that happens.”

And, the early depictions of them show wings, not fish bodies.  So – I’d say that the sirens were not mermaids.

With that off his chest, he sent these photos of his postcards:

C:Documents and SettingsCIUSAMy DocumentsDropboxPOSPhotosChildMermaid.jpg edlaynemermaid tumblr_mzzno8i13d1qa70eyo1_500 il_570xN.244990215 tumblr_m54r787LQZ1qzx4bjo1_400 Socrates.ImpersonateImage.axd.html 2673860289_d9583b20b2 8d2eeaaed3a19f1519803379f2800279 3274298927_e848ce8caa 3453055190_65732ffcee 6472932225_1eb74a4989_z tumblr_llooy0TdVZ1qcwhbgo1_500WeekiWachee_25disneyland mermaid 3 6402013-0823-WeekiWacheepark-000346e9_1mermaidsDENMARK sept20010 DSCN3590e-1 Tiki-Postcard009 3499706776_cf3aeb5a5d_o il_570xN.220098912 tumblr_maqha5qszr1qldhy8o1_400 mermaid Socrates.ImpersonateImage.axd.html red haired mermaid by Yuki Koi LoungingMermaid copy 5126638322_a96cfd0f25_o il_570xN.412560830_joox mermaids-graphicsfairy006bFor good measure, he threw in a photo of a record album – the first in what I am sure will be a series of many.

article-2281613-17F81DB0000005DC-303_634x598

My friend was happy with these photos.  And, I think he was frankly mostly happy that Gabby hadn’t sent him the collection, just these photos.  He is running out of room, and unlike Gabby he is not good at passing things on.

What, I asked, was his reaction to these mermaid photos, including Gabby’s lecture on sirens?

IMG_3677

 

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