{"id":2335,"date":"2017-05-11T10:34:54","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T08:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doloresherrero.com\/english-expressiveness-in-images-of-gargoyles.html"},"modified":"2026-03-14T11:47:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T10:47:47","slug":"expressiveness-in-images-of-gargoyles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doloresherrero.com\/en\/expressiveness-in-images-of-gargoyles\/","title":{"rendered":"Gargoyles and Expressiveness. A Look at Their Visual Power in Sculptural Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Expressive Dimension of the Gargoyle<\/h2>\n

Gargoyles<\/a> provoke all sorts of reactions and feelings when we look at them, and not just because of the figures they depict, but also because most of them are strikingly expressive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Functionality<\/a> aside, gargoyles are pure image.<\/p>\n

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\"gargolas<\/p>\n

Bordeaux Cathedral (France)<\/p>\n

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Ugliness and Dissonance in the Gargoyle\u2019s Face<\/h2>\n

Ugliness is one of the characteristics associated with images of gargoyles with terrible, disturbing expressions, something that\u2019s normally seen in all kinds of demons<\/a> and monsters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Philosophical Reflections on Ugliness<\/h3>\n

There are a quite few literary references to ugliness. For example, Saint Agustine (4th-5th century) says that the body’s beauty comes from the harmony of its parts. For him, the lack of that harmony offends and this deformity will be corrected by the Creator, using ways that only He knows. \u201cIn the resurrection all ugliness will be made beauty\u201d, he says.<\/p>\n

Plotinus (3rd century) in his Enneads<\/em> (I, 6) also states: \u201cSince everything void of form is by nature fitted for its reception, as far as it is destitute of reason and form it is base and separate from the divine reason. And this is absolute baseness\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to John Ruskin (1819-1900), beautiful shapes are taken from Nature, so things not taken directly from it \u201care necessarily ugly\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Threatening Gargoyles: The Power of Fear<\/h2>\n

Regarding the symbolic meaning<\/a> or function of gargoyles, some authors speak\u2014among others\u2014of an intimidating function. This function aims to provoke fear. The idea of inducing fear may also explain why certain gargoyles display highly expressive and threatening gestures; as Janetta Rebold Benton states, they act as a kind of scarecrow that frightens the devil and keeps the interior of the building safe.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, gargoyles do not only exhibit terrifying and disturbing expressions. We can also find gestures that reveal a wide range of emotions: compassion, anger, suffering, laughter, and more.<\/p>\n

Through their expressions and postures, gargoyles become true bearers of emotion carved in stone\u2014ready to engage in silent dialogue with those who contemplate them.<\/p>\n

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Communicative Gargoyles: A Gallery of Gazes and Emotions in Stone<\/h2>\n\n\t\t