The Swan Maidens by Dagfin Wereskiold (1892-1977)
Oslo City Hall, Norway
Photo: George Rex
Photo: George Rex
Who doesn't love swan maidens? Those beautiful creatures belonging to the mytho-pornographic imagination who shapeshift from human form to bird form and back again.
Tales of young girls bathing in a pool of water are already sexually charged; but that these nymphs might also slip in and out of a skin (or magical robe) of pure white feathers only intensifies the erotic element and it's no wonder many a man has lost his heart to a swan maiden (though it should be noted that forced marriages rarely end well).
As might be expected, variants of the swan maiden myth can be found all over the world. But whilst I don't deny the universality of the this tale - where there is woman there is swan - I do tend to think of it as having special significance within Nordic culture. Thus it is, for example, that we find the colourful relief wood carving pictured at the top of this post in the entrance courtyard of the City Hall in Oslo.
The work, by Norwegian artist Dagfin Wereskiold, depicts three valkyries (Alrund, Svankvit and Alvit) who, when not flying above the battlefields and deciding the fate of fallen warriors, had a penchant for appearing in swan form. I think what I like most about the piece is the fact that the figures seem to be wearing 1950s style full circle skirts and getting ready to dance, rather than go for a swim.
Still, maybe we shouldn't be surprised that swan maidens love to dance as their story is almost certainly the basis for the ballet Swan Lake (1876).
Interestingly, whilst the revised 1895 version of Tchaikovsky's ballet depicted the maidens as mortal women who had been transformed into swans via the curse of an evil sorcerer, the original libretto of 1877 depicted them as actual swan maidens who could transform from human to bird and back again at will and were not the victims of magic needing to be rescued.
As I think it important - from a feminist perspective - that a swan maiden is not denied her autonomy or in any way disempowered, then if we are to imagine her today it's best she keep her feathers on and look tough enough to survive within the contemporary world; look rather like the way that Alexander McQueen imagined her in his Fall 2009 ready to wear collection (The Horn of Plenty):
Model: Sigrid Agren
Note: for an earlier post related to this one, click here.
