Off The Page~ a multimedia exploration of painting, poetry, storytelling and music
Aschenputtel is the German name of the cruelly treated "ash" girl, the one who clean the fireplace. The Aschenputtel tale compiled by the Brothers Grimm is of a young woman's coming of age story. This painting was influenced by Bruno Bettelheim’s seminal work The Uses of Enchantment, a psychoanalytic interpretation and also, Carl Jung's theory of self-actualization.
As a child of the 1950's and 60's, I grew up with the more commonly known Disney/ French Charles Perrault version of Cinderella and remember delighting in the high keyed colors and magical music of the production.
In all versions Aschenputtel is helped by birds, although my birds are crows. Here, I envision her clinging onto the hazel tree Aschenputtel planted in her mother's grave. Her slipper, a female sexual symbol is swooped up by the fierce eagle, our national symbol.