A selection of photos from photographer Charles Fréger’s “Wilder Mann”, a visual catalog of the “savage” archetype as it exists in European folk traditions.
“These images, like archetypes, half-man half-beast, animal or vegetable, resurface from the
depths of time on the occasion of ritualistic, pagan or religious festivals, celebrating the cycle of the seasons, the fat days, carnival or the eve of Easter. In the common fund of the European rural societies, these characters or emblematic animals represented protective figures or symbols of fertility. Today they evoke an imaginary, impulsive and physical world where everyone perceives an ancestral relationship with nature where the springs of our animality and sometimes the regressive desire inherent in some of our behaviors emerge.”
I love the depth and breathe of the characters and the materials used to create them. Fur, straw, seeds, leaves and a host of other natural materials evoke the distinctly natural (some would say, primal) role these creatures play in European folk mythology. Many of these characters and the traditions they’re part of are explicitly pagan, still evolving personages dating back to a pre-Christian Europe.
You can also see the way these folkloric costumes influence character design across every single narrative genre from films to video games. If you’re a costume designer, concept artist, or animator attempting to create something dramatically primal, I can think of a few better places to start for visual inspiration than Fréger’s book.
Photos + copyright belongs to Charles Fréger in their entirety. Quoted section from the website of Charles Fréger.
I could keep going, but this post might go on forever. I highly recommend checking out the rest of the photos!!
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