今月の『花椿』は遠く西方の昔話、ギリシア神話の女神たちにみる永遠の女性像を再考します。美しさと醜さとを秘めた女神たちは今見ても魅力的な女性たちばかり。清純な女神たちの人間的な生々しい欲深さを口紅にたくし、女優の二階堂ふみさんが7人の女神に七変化します。女性の美しさと強さ、儚さ、そして恐ろしさ。ながく女性を見つめてきた写真家・沢渡朔さんが二階堂さんの女神的の魅力を引き出します。こちらではその中から3人の女神をフューチャーし、女神にまつわるエピソードとメーキャップをご紹介します。

Come to the land of classical beauty.
This month, Hanatsubaki looks at the eternal image of the woman as portrayed by the goddesses in Greek mythology. The goddesses who have elements of both beauty and ugliness within are still regarded today as attractive women. Female actor, Fumi Nikaido is transformed into seven goddesses using lipstick to embody the raw human emotions of desire within the pure and innocent goddesses. She represents the beauty, strength, vanity and horribleness of the woman. Photographer Hajime Sawatari uses his long years of experience studying women to draw out the attractive elements of the goddess within Nikaido. Here, we feature three of the seven goddesses and introduce episodes and the makeup techniques associated with each of them.

ヘラは最高神ゼウスの正妻で、それゆえ「神々の中の女王」とよばれています。へラが象徴するのは結婚や母性。貞淑そのものでゼウスに愛を尽くしますが、ゼウスは方々でニンフや人間と戯れてしまう好色家。ヘラは容赦なくその愛人たちを牛や熊に変えて罪を罰すため嫉妬深い女神とも言われています。しかし芸術作品にみるヘラは、復讐に燃える激しさよりもその貞淑な面が強調され、神々しい女王の威厳に満ちた姿が描かれています。ちなみに、ヘラの母乳には神秘的な力が宿っていたそうで、夜空にきらめく天の川は彼女の母乳が飛び散ったものといわれています。

Hera, wife of the supreme god Zeus, is known as the queen of the gods. She presides over marriage and motherhood. Though she is a virtuous and loving wife to her husband Zeus, he engages in lascivious behavior with nymphs and mortal women. Hera was known as a deeply jealous goddess who was relentless and punished her husband’s lovers by turning them into cows and bears. In artwork however, emphasis is placed not on Hera’s vengeful nature, but her virtuousness. She is depicted as a divine and respected queen. Incidentally, it appears that Hera’s breast milk held mystical powers and the stars that form the Milky Way are believed to have been created from the milk that spurted from Hera’s breasts.

愛をうたった詩の元祖といえばサッフォー。そんな彼女が心から慕っていたのが愛と美の女神、アフロディテです。海の泡から生まれたといわれるアフロディテは多くの芸術家から愛され、彼女を描いた芸術作品は数知れず。クロスジェンダーな時代で、美の価値観も大きく変わってきた今でも、アフロディテは女性らしさとは何かを考えさせる大切な存在です。最高美神と崇められる存在なのに、自分より美しい人間や息子の嫁に嫉妬していじめたり、すぐ恋に落ちてしまったりと、ときたま人間らしい表情をのぞかせるアフロディテ。そこがまた、魅力的ですよね。

Sappho is regarded as the creator of poems about love. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was an object of her deep affection. Believed to be born from sea foam, Aphrodite is a source of inspiration for many artists who have produced works of art depicting this goddess. In today’s cross-gender generation in which values and perceptions of beauty are changing, Aphrodite is an important icon in encouraging us to think about femininity. Even though she is revered as the most beautiful goddess, she still succumbs to jealous behavior and bullies her son’s wife and mortal women who exceed her in beauty. She also falls in love easily. In this way, Aphrodite occasionally shows her human-like nature. This is another one of her charming qualities.

エジプトのスフィンクスはピラミッドの守護神ですが、ギリシアのスピンクスは上半身が美しい女性で、下半身が獅子の怪物です。怪物ではありますが高い智慧も持っていたといわれています。峠の上に座って通りかかる人間になぞかけをし、問題が解けない人間を殺してしまうとして恐れられていましたが、英雄オイディプスがその謎をするっと解いてしまったとき、悔しさのあまり峠の上から海に身を投げて死んでしまったといいます。

In Egypt, the Sphinx is the guardian of the pyramids, but in Greek mythology, she is represented as a monster with the upper body of a beautiful woman and the lower body of a lion. Although she is a monster, she is believed to have been highly intelligent. The fearful Sphinx sat atop a ridge where she asked a riddle to anyone who passed by, and travelers who failed to solve the riddle were killed. One day when Oedipus solved the riddle with ease, the Sphinx became so frustrated that she jumped into the ocean from the ridge and committed suicide.