"ANTHEM"
BRONZE SCULPTURE
"ANTHEM"
Bronze Sculpture
Limited Edition of 7
54"L x 30"W x 16" H
Original Edition Sold Out
Artist's Copy available
Scroll down to read the story of Anthem and view the slide show.
"ANTHEM" STORY
Songs of the Sea took many voices, some of them in languages that no man has yet spoken or understood. "Anthem" is one thin strain of an old, often repeated story of singers, whose voices mixed but never blended. It is a song of praise to all who sang, the whales as well as the men who went out to meet them. Before sonar tracking, explosive harpoons, high-powered killing boats and impregnable factory ships, the hunt for the great whale was more truly a hunt. The odds were not yet entirely out of balance, and the chase still held, for yet a little while, more purpose than the rape of the sea. In 1850 the crew of a Yankee whale boat went out to meet a Humpback whale. A double strategy had grown out of the close knit family nature of the whale, but the outcome was not sure. If the men had the opportunity the calf was struck first. Though the least marketable, if they had the calf, the cow would stay close for his defense, helping him to breathe and keep his strength. This would give the men a chance to harpoon the cow. Should they succeed, the bull could be found close in defense of his mate. If all followed the strategic plot, the whalers would take the whole "pod". However, sometimes the whales were not cued into the script, and the table turned with lightning swift accuracy. This is the moment of "Anthem"
When a whale was struck he either "sounded" (dove deep) at which the crew just kept letting out line, sometimes all of it; or as in this case, he "ran" shallow and with all speed. The crew wet the line as it burned through their hands and passed the chalks till it slowed enough to give more turns around the loggerhead in the stern. with the line brought tight they just held on--thus began a "Nantucket sleigh-ride".
The line is taught. The skipper has moved to the bow and taken up the lance. The harpooner has replaced him as "boat steerer". All eyes are on the whale, all minds are committed to the hunt, and their wake has turned to froth.
Suddenly and precisely the advantage turns, the sea erupts, water cascades from forty feet of Humpback bull as he breaches, heaving his massive body across the line. In seconds, line, harpoon and boat will give way as he crashes back into the sea. The calf is rescued. The men soon will be. The Anthem to the Creator of that First Song whistles in the foam on the crest of every wave.
Bronze Sculpture
Limited Edition of 7
54"L x 30"W x 16" H
Original Edition Sold Out
Artist's Copy available
Scroll down to read the story of Anthem and view the slide show.
"ANTHEM" STORY
Songs of the Sea took many voices, some of them in languages that no man has yet spoken or understood. "Anthem" is one thin strain of an old, often repeated story of singers, whose voices mixed but never blended. It is a song of praise to all who sang, the whales as well as the men who went out to meet them. Before sonar tracking, explosive harpoons, high-powered killing boats and impregnable factory ships, the hunt for the great whale was more truly a hunt. The odds were not yet entirely out of balance, and the chase still held, for yet a little while, more purpose than the rape of the sea. In 1850 the crew of a Yankee whale boat went out to meet a Humpback whale. A double strategy had grown out of the close knit family nature of the whale, but the outcome was not sure. If the men had the opportunity the calf was struck first. Though the least marketable, if they had the calf, the cow would stay close for his defense, helping him to breathe and keep his strength. This would give the men a chance to harpoon the cow. Should they succeed, the bull could be found close in defense of his mate. If all followed the strategic plot, the whalers would take the whole "pod". However, sometimes the whales were not cued into the script, and the table turned with lightning swift accuracy. This is the moment of "Anthem"
When a whale was struck he either "sounded" (dove deep) at which the crew just kept letting out line, sometimes all of it; or as in this case, he "ran" shallow and with all speed. The crew wet the line as it burned through their hands and passed the chalks till it slowed enough to give more turns around the loggerhead in the stern. with the line brought tight they just held on--thus began a "Nantucket sleigh-ride".
The line is taught. The skipper has moved to the bow and taken up the lance. The harpooner has replaced him as "boat steerer". All eyes are on the whale, all minds are committed to the hunt, and their wake has turned to froth.
Suddenly and precisely the advantage turns, the sea erupts, water cascades from forty feet of Humpback bull as he breaches, heaving his massive body across the line. In seconds, line, harpoon and boat will give way as he crashes back into the sea. The calf is rescued. The men soon will be. The Anthem to the Creator of that First Song whistles in the foam on the crest of every wave.
"Anthem" Slide Show
