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The human skull is an obvious and frequent symbol of death, found in many cultures and religious traditions. [1] Human skeletons and sometimes non-human animal skeletons and skulls can also be used as blunt images of death; the traditional figures of the Grim Reaper – a black-hooded skeleton with a scythe – is one use of such symbolism. [2]
Totenkopf (German: [ˈtoːtn̩ˌkɔpf], i.e. skull, literally "dead person's head") is the German word for skull. The word is often used to denote a figurative, graphic or sculptural symbol, common in Western culture, consisting of the representation of a human skull – usually frontal, more rarely in profile with or without the mandible .
Date/Time Thumbnail Dimensions User Comment; current: 13:00, 20 May 2007: 1,928 × 3,512 (1.3 MB): Hopepark {{Information |Description=Plate VI Human Skull, engraving by William Miller after drawing by W Miller, published in Engravings of the Skeleton of the Human Body.
Skull symbolism is the attachment of symbolic meaning to the human skull. The most common symbolic use of the skull is as a representation of death . Humans can often recognize the buried fragments of an only partially revealed cranium even when other bones may look like shards of stone.
When it was purchased some months later, the word "Skull" was added to the title and has accompanied the painting ever since, through numerous exhibitions. Hoffman suggests the change in title was "the result of confusing the work with the more traditional iconography of the memento mori, in which a skull implies death." [2]
Skull art is found in various cultures of the world. Indigenous Mexican art celebrates the skeleton and uses it as a regular motif. The use of skulls and skeletons in art originated before the Conquest : The Aztecs excelled in stone sculptures and created striking carvings of their Gods. [ 1 ]
In 1887–88, van Gogh painted two more paintings with skulls, the only other works of his (besides a drawing from the same period) to use skulls as a motif. [2] The work measures 32 by 24.5 centimetres (12.6 in × 9.6 in). It is considered a vanitas or memento mori, at a time when van Gogh himself was in poor health.
The skulls allude to Haitian Vodou, which is filled with skull symbolism; the paintings Red Skull (1982) and Untitled (1982) can be seen as primary examples. [150] In reference to the potent image depicted in Untitled (Skull) (1981 ) , art historian Fred Hoffman writes that Basquiat was likely "caught off guard, possibly even frightened, by the ...