Babylon

Irving Amen

In this color-saturated, fractal image Irving Amen depicts the recurring Assyrian (modern day Iraq, Syria, and much of Iran) icon known contemporarily as the winged Genii, in particular the version found in artifacts of the mid 700s BC. The winged genii are closely associated with the Sumerian god Enki (later known in as the Babylonian god Ea), god of water, knowledge, mischief, crafts, and creation. There were several iterations of the winged genii motif and the one Amen has portrayed is of the Bucket and Cone. A popular interpretation of this icon, in which he holds a pinecone in one hand and a handled vessel in the other, makes him the steward of the Tree of Life and supernatural protector of the Assyrian Empire.

Amen’s woodcuts, with their thick, angular lines and clearly delineated blocks of color, are precursors to his work in stained glass, including the twelve 16’ high windows commissioned for the Agudas Achim synagogue in Columbus, Ohio.