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A seated man is flanked by sirens, creatures part bird and part woman, in this nearly life-size terracotta group. In Greek mythology, the singing of the sirens lured sailors to their deaths; thus the creatures have general funerary connotations. The seated man is also a singer, as shown by his open mouth and his now-missing lyre, which he once cradled in his left arm.
Learn more about this sculpture which inspired Dine.
In 2008, artist Jim Dine created an installation for the Museum at the Getty Villa. The first contemporary art project at the Villa, the work presents new sculpture and poetry by Dine inspired by ancient objects in the Museum's collection. Two ancient Greek statuettes of dancing women, are magnified in Dine's four eight-foot-high painted wood female figures. Their arrangement around a seven-foot-high self-portrait head echoes the sculptural group Poet as Orpheus with Two Sirens. The artist's highly personal vision finds further expression in a poem drawn on the walls, with its Orphic themes of travel, loss, and the possibilities of art. Dine describes his creative process in this documentary.
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