Abstract Ideas

One of the ideas I recently had was to have different images of Richard, showing a different perception, surrounding the man. I was very inspired by the work of Swiss sculptor, Alberto Giacometti, as his sculptures weren't anatomically correct or naturalistic, but were instead, more representations of the subject matter. For example, Giacometti's "Dog" not only represents the physical form of the animal, but it also captures its soul. It creates a sense of movement despite its stillness to the point that it is creepy or perhaps even reminiscent of a childhood nightmare. Because I am no longer able to get footage that realistically represents the War of the Roses, I will instead approach it in a surrealist/expressionist way and Giacometti is an extremely good source of inspiration for that.

I decided to make a few drawings of how I thought Richard was perceived. I think the fact that Shakespeare wrote him as being, not only ugly as a person, but physically deformed, shows that the character of Richard III was probably a sort of warped caricature of the real man. I have tried to show this in my sketch by making his body and walking stick all part of the same form, instead of making distinguishable difference between the body, attire and other objects. As you can see I have exaggerated many features of the body, especially in the length of the limbs and shape of the joints. I gave him a crooked nose, long witch-like chin and hump back to show his deformity. On top of that I have made both his legs different sizes to show his imperfect physical shape. He is also holding a rose, which if coloured would be red, to show that although he is part of the house of York, the image is actually the way Lancastrians saw him and not necessarily how he truly was.