Bluebeard and the Wife
Earthenware, Glaze, Enamel & Lustre 2012
Blue Beard: H72 x W30 x D25cm; The Wife: H66 x W34 x D34
A pair of figures based on the Breton story of Bluebeard, first documented by Charles Perrault in 1659. In the tale, Bluebeard is a wealthy merchant whose wives mysteriously keep disappearing. Here we see him with one of his young wives who he had left alone in his mansion, and told that she could enter any room apart from this one – showing her the key. Naturally, she could not resist. On entering the forbidden room, she found his previous wives hanging from meat hooks. In a fright, she dropped the key on the bloody floor, and was unable to wash it completely clean.
In this pair of figures, Bluebeard has just arrived home. Notice the knife in the wife’s hand hidden behind her back, and the Love and Hate on his knuckles.
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