The myth of Pygmalion and his sculpture has appealed to many artists over the centuries, perhaps because the myth speaks directly to the act of artistic creation. Artist Jean-Leon Gerome created an astounding pair of paintings, both titled Pygmalion and Galatea, depicting similar scenes of sculptor and sculpture from two different angles. Images of Pygmalion and his creation have also been captured by modern artists, such as Boris Vallejo.
The myth was the subject of two operas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as a humorous play by W. S. Gilbert (later of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) in 1871 titled Pygmalion and Galatea. The writer George Bernard Shaw took the name Pygmalion as the title of his play about an English professor who turns a poor girl from the streets
Pygmalion fell in love with a statue he had carved. Aphrodite answered his prayers by bringing the statue to life. SCALA/ ART RESOURCE, NY.
Into a fashionable society woman, which touches upon some of the same themes as the original myth. In the play, the professor “creates” a beautiful woman out of a poor wretch, just as Pygmalion creates a flawless beauty out of a chunk of ivory. Shaw’s story was the basis of the later Broadway musical and movie My Fair Lady. Another updated version of the myth of Pygmalion can be found in the 1987 comedy film Mannequin, where the object of the artist’s affection is a department store mannequin rather than a statue.
The Fat Girl by Marilyn Sachs (1984) is a novel that updates the myth of Galatea and Pygmalion to include modern issues that many
Adolescents face. The narrator, Jeff, is a popular boy with a beautiful girlfriend. When he makes a remark about an overweight girl named Ellen in his ceramics class and she overhears, he feels bad and becomes friendly with her to make up for his cruel act. He helps her gain selfconfidence and blossom into a successful young woman, though his motives may not be entirely charitable, and the result may not be what he expects.
World History
