Leda2.0100_Brancusi

Leda2.0100_Brancusi

Art Institute of Chicago
OGCMA s.v. "Leda"
Classical Sources:
Homer, Od. 11.298-304
Homeric Hymns to The Dioscuri, 17 and 33
Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis 46ff.
Euripides Helen 17-21, 214-57, 1149
Strabo Geog. 10.2.24
Apollodorus Libr. 1.7.10, 3.10.5-7
Hyginus Fab. 77
Pausanias, 3.1.4, 3.13.8, 3.161.

Constantin Brâncusi, "Leda", marble on concrete sculpture, c. 1920, Art Institute of Chicago

In the story of Zeus and Leda, Zeus transforms himself into a swan to seduce Leda, the wife of Tyndareus.

The offspring of this union are the Dioscuri (Castor and Polydeuces/Pollux), Clytemenestra, and Helen of Trojan fame.

Brancusi's version transforms the transformation — Leda here is the swan, not Zeus. Zeus is left out of the picture. In the artist's own words, "I never could imagine a male being turned into a swan, impossible, but a woman, yes, quite easily." The simple lines and use of concrete exemplify the Art Deco aesthetic of the 1920's.

A stylized bird sculpture crafted from light-colored stone, resting on a round, rough concrete pedestal.

This slide created by C.Monson.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.