Medium: Etching and aquatint on copper plate in 5 sections

Size: top plate: 53 X 25.7 cm
middle plate: 51.8 X 89.5 cm
side plates: 17.7 X 74.5 cm
bottom plate: 73.7 X 52 cm

Edition: A.P. X 3; 10

Artist: JUDY WOODBORNE
Completed and presented for an MFA Degree, awarded with distinction 1993.
                    
A brief background to the imagery and symbolism taken from my thesis Moria, a Eulogy of Folly. A graphic interpretation of aspect of the nature of Folly, and it's ritualized form represented by Carnival. 1993.

The Wheel of Fortune represents the incarnation of humanity in Folly, that moment of being a complete fool before falling again into the realm of humanity.  The Goddess of Fortune remains a constant to the Wheel of Fortune.  The Wheel moves counter-clockwise, symbolically in the direction of the unconscious.  The ever-turning wheel also symbolizes the rejuvenating nature of spring. The principle figure is humanity seen as a natural being delivered over to the forces of fate.

 The following extracts are from the libretto of the Carmina Burana (with the music composed by Carl Orff) and are examples of goliardic poetry from 1250 A.D.

Fortune Empress of the World
O Fortune!
Like the Moon
Ever-changing
Rising first
Then declining
Hateful life
Treats us badly
Then with kindness
Making sport with our desires,
Causing power
And poverty alike
To melt like ice.

Dread Destiny
And empty fate,
An ever turning wheel,
Who make adversity
And fickle health
Alike burn to nothing,
In the dark
And secretly
You work against me;
How through your trickery
My naked back
Is turned to you unarmed.
I lament the Wounds that
Fortune Deals.

I lament the wounds that
Fortune deals
With tear-filled eyes
For returning the attack
She takes her gifts from me
It is true
As they say
The well- thatched pate
May soonest lose its hair.

Once on Fortune's throne
I sat exalted
Crowned with a wreath
Of Prosperity's flowers.
But from my happy
Flower-decked paradise
I was struck down
and stripped of all my glory,
The Wheel of Fortune turns
Dishonoured I fall from grace
And another is raised on high
Raised to over dizzy
heights of power.

Good Fortune
And strength
Now are turned from me.
Affection
And defeat
Are always on duty,
Come now
Pluck the strings
Without delay;
And since by fate
The strong are overthrown
Weep ye all with me.

The King sits in majesty
But let him beware his
downfall!
For 'neath the axle of
Fortune's Wheel
Behold Queen Hecuba.

The poem suggests that people are not in control of their destiny and that they are merely puppets in the hands of an unknown goddess, Fortune.  This metaphor was extended by the actors of the Commedie Dell'Arte, and other carnival rituals of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, where puppets replaced people in the festivities. A good example of this is the portrayal of the geek, Manducus, represented by a puppet operated by strings to allow his eyes and mouth to move.  The goddess of Fortune is depicted as a fickle deity: chance plays the greater part in predicting one's future. The cyclical nature of the wheel refers to the seasons - Fortune smiles (summer; Once on Fortune's throne/I sat exalted/Crowned with a wreath/Of Prosperity's flowers) and Fortune frowns (winter; But from my happy/Flower decked paradise/I was struck down/and stripped of all my glory).  Yet the wheel, bound by its momentum to turn a full cycle, will return (Like the Moon/Ever-changing/Rising first/Then declining) with a reversal of fortune.  I have used the structure of a penny arcade and a side-show (the fair and the vaudeville) in the form of the etching, using the pitched tent roof and side curtains.

I have also considered the layout of the stage in morality plays of the Middle Ages.  The stage was divided by means of scaffolding into three distinct areas:

1.         The upper area, elevated by scaffolding which referred to heaven.
2.         The proscenium, represented by earth.
3.         The pit, below the proscenium, depicting hell.

The idea has been adapted in the layout of the plates:

1.         The deity, the Empress occupies the uppermost region.
2.         The enactment of Folly occurs in the middle plate.
3.         Humanity in its lowest form, as foolish mortal, occupies the lowest region, and the lowest point of the turning circle.

The division of the plate into distinct levels: a head, a torso and lower region embodies the idea of the grotesque body - that hybrid form which is composed not of one single form, but of a multiplicity of forms.  The inversion of top and bottom (a central theme of carnival) occurs by placing the fool's heads in the lower plate and reducing the scale of the Empress' head in the top etching.

The top plate:
The Empress is dressed in the traditional Fool's cap with baubles and balls (with eyes). 

The left-hand plate:
The two side-panels bear standards - the hybrid bird on the left-hand side and the double portrait on the right-hand side.The bird is a combination of the Bird of Wisdom and a set of bagpipes with double chanter. The bird is an old image derived from German engravings of a long-necked bird, whose thoughts, rising from heart to head, have become distorted.

           The long path of reflection {of knowledge} becomes in the image [of the Bird of Wisdom} the alembic [obsolete retort or alchemists vessel, used to distill fluid] of a subtle learning, an instrument which distills quintessences.  The neck of the Bird is endlessly elongated, the better to illustrate beyond wisdom, all the real mediations of knowledge; and the symbolic man becomes a fantastic bird whose disproportionate neck folds upon itself - an insane being, halfway between animal and thing.
            (Foucault 1985:19)

            My version of the bird is adapted from an ancient set of bagpipes, which is apt as the Latin Follis (fool) is derived from flare (to blow), thus the Fool is synonymous with windbag.  The image is also a pun on the phrase "to blow ones own trumpet", as is the use of a hand as a wing, punning on the phrase "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush".  The text blowing in the breeze er hat einen Vogel literally translated as "he has a bird", means that he is mad, further strengthening the pun of the bird in the hand and the folly of knowledge.

            The Right-hand plate:
The other standard, an egg-shaped head or an irregular ball, refers both to the Fool's sceptre and the glass ball (which is filled with knowledge according to the Fool).  The Fool's desire to posses this elusive ball of Wisdom sets the Wheel of Fortune in motion. In this case the desire is futile, as the ball of Wisdom is out of the Fool's reach (placed in the folds of the tent).  The ball is double headed to show the Fool and the inverse reflection of the Fool, or his alter ego - Wisdom and Folly, forming another hybrid inversion and image.

The central panel:
The central panel reveals the motion of Folly.  The hybrid animals are half-dog, half-human
re-inforcing the notion of the Fool's attempts to become all-powerful through knowledge.  The combination of parts also alludes to the Fool's magical protean ability.  One grotesque has two heads and the other is in the process of losing its animal head.  Both scrabble around the female torso in an attempt to reach the apex, where Fortune and thus Wisdom are supposed to reside.  Various symbols of Folly: the multi-faceted die, the laughing dog's head, bladders and sceptres make up the Fool's accoutrement.  The central Fool is wearing the traditional cock's comb and is presented as a slap-stick (a short staff topped with a head and inflated bladder with which the Fool beats his victims).The female torso refers to the cage (in female form) used in ancient pagan festivals, which was filled with criminals to be sacrificed.  The torso is a dual symbol of birth and death.  The falling forms in the middle refer to the Fools falling from fortune and re-assuming their mortal shape.  The hand is the symbolic hand that holds the strings (i.e. the fortunes) of humanity.  The faces of the children and a baby symbolize rejuvenation. The use of water is reference to the rituals of purification and the continuum of time.

The lower plate:
The lower plate refers to that area inhabited by mortals clothed in Fools' apparel.  The drum shape is suggestive of Medieval stocks, which is further emphasized by the protruding hands from either side.  When a Fool became too unruly in the Middle Ages, he/she was placed in a confining box (narrenshaus or doljshius).  The motion of the hands also implies that the Fools are paddling and that the drum is actually a vessel floating on an imaginary sea (i.e. the Ship of Fools).  The idea is further suggested by use of ocean and water above and below the drum.  The multi-headed cube again refers to games of chance and vice. The two Fools are wearing Fool's caps: one wears the traditional cock's comb, the other an entire Ship of Fools.

Man turns the Wheel of sorrow, burns in the fire of craving, travels through
a vale of tears, leads a life that is no better than a tale told by an idiot
signifying nothing.
(Huxley 1943:13)