Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Love thy Barber


Painting in progress for an upcoming show called Love thy Barber at Scissors and Sinners barbershop. The show is on Saturday Jan. 30.
112 East Laurel.
I would love to see you there. You can see this painting in it's final stage and other artwork by
Lou DeAngelis, Mike Gallegos, Gus Espinoza, Ben Merrell, Zeke Derderian, Erick Erickson, Diego Griego, Curtis Burgess, Phil Guzy, Tattoo John, Ken Burgess, and George Menning.


I was given this history of the barber and based this painting on the following:
The barbers of former times were also surgeons and dentists. In addition to hair cutting, hairdressing, and shaving, barbers performed surgery, bloodletting and leeching, fire cupping, enemas, and the extraction of teeth. Thus they were called barber surgeons, and they formed their first organization in 1094. The barber pole red and white in spiral indicated the two crafts, surgery in red and barbering in white. The barber was paid higher than the surgeon until surgeons were entered into British war ships during its many naval wars. Some of the duties of the barber included neck manipulation, cleaning of ears and scalp, draining of boils, fistula and lancing of cysts with wicks.

History of the Barber Pole

The modern barber pole originated in the days when bloodletting was one of the principal duties of the barber. The two spiral ribbons painted around the pole represent the two long bandages, one twisted around the arm before bleeding and the other used to bind is afterward. Originally, when not in use, the pole with a bandage wound around it, so that both might be together when needed, was hung at the door as a sign. But later, for convenience, instead of hanging out the original pole, another one was painted in imitation of it and given a permanent place on the outside of the shop. This was the beginning of the modern barber pole.