Mammon – Posted by mammon TheFormOfMoney, San Francisco, California.
This is one of a series of paintings in which Watts questioned the purpose of modern commerce and its dehumanizing effects on the nation. Mammon, the God of money, is represented as a tyrant on a throne, nursing money bags on his lap. Two naked youths are crushed by the power of this monster. Watts subtitled the picture „Dedicated to his Worshippers“. No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. [Matthew 6:24] Those who set out to serve both God and Mammon soon discover that there is no God. [Logan P. Smith] Mammon – – god of the world’s leading religion. [Ambrose Bierce] Let us be frank in acknowledgement of the truth that many amongst us have made obeisance to Mammon, that the profits of speculation, the easy road without toil, have lured us from the old barricades. To return to higher standard of living we must abandon the false prophets and seek new leaders of our own choosing. [Franklin Roosevelt] And the devil of Avarice and Riches is called Mammon [Malleus Maleficarum – The Witches Hammer – by Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, 1489]
And so here we are, the richest of the rich, all sub-species of American Mammon, each one, no doubt, wondering from time to time, how to become great – since we are already rich. [The Devil Tree by Jerzy Kosinski, 1973]
Peasants accused one another of accepting help from various demons, such as Lucifer, Cadaver,Mammon, Exterminator, and many others. The Evil Ones surely picked only those who had already displayed a sufficient supply of inner hatred and maliciousness. [The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski, 1965]
