The Apes must be Crazy

After 2 weeks university totally got me back and I have to held my first presentation on wednesday together with a friend. The seminar we have to do this for is actually kinda strange at first-sight, but totally worth going to! It's named "Art the Ape of Nature" and is about how apes and monkeys were illustrated throughout the centuries up to contemporary art. I've never give a thought about something like this before and never had an idea that so much space could be given to the apes... I am actually surprised! 

It is so interesting to see and hear how the apes and monkeys were seen throughout the years and how their reputation changed. In ancient years up to the 18th century they were seen as the stupidity of humans and their standing changed not before Darwin came up with his Origin of Species. After this happening apes and monkeys were slowely seen as our relatives and moreover as a purer and more natural form!

The painting that you can see below absolutely haunted me!

It is painted by Gabriel von Max in 1889 and shows apes regarding and judging art!

Gabriel von Max
Austrian, 1840 - 1915
The Jury of Apes, 1889
Oil on Canvas
84,5 x 107.5 cm
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Munich
(picture taken from: Louise Lippincott and Andreas Blühm; Fierce Friends. Artists and Animals, 1750 - 1900. Exhibition catalogue. Amsterdam and Pittsburgh 2006. Page 137)

My topic for the presentation is actually a bronze statue from Hugo Rheinhold. What do you think about it? Doesn't he look like a professor regarding a human skull? This is also from the 19th century and you can really see the changes the apes were going through at that time. I don't see any stupidity at all. Moreover, I see a predominance, don't you agree? What other motives come into your mind while regarding the little statue? Maybe Hamlet?

Hugo Rheinhold
German, 1853 -  1900
Monkey regarding a Skull (Darwin's Monkey), 1892
Bronze
Height 18.5 cm
Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London
(picture taken from: Louise Lippincott and Andreas Blühm; Fierce Friends. Artists and Animals, 1750 - 1900. Exhibition catalogue. Amsterdam and Pittsburgh 2006. Page 143)