Giacobbe Giusti: Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

Giacobbe Giusti: Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

Rare Bronze Sculptures from Hellenistic Period on View at National Gallery of Art, Washington, December 13, 2015–March 20, 2016

Unknown Artist (Hellenistic Bronze)
Athlete “Ephesian Apoxyomenos”, AD 1- 90
bronze and copper
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Antikensammlung, Vienna

Washington, DC—An unprecedented exhibition of some 50 rare bronze sculptures and related works from the Hellenistic period will be on view at the National Gallery of Art from December 13, 2015, through March 20, 2016. Previously at the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World showcases bronze sculptures that are remarkably lifelike, often enhanced by copper eyelashes and lips and colored glass or stone eyes. Of the many thousands of bronze statues created in the Hellenistic period, only a small fraction is preserved. This exhibition is the first to gather together so many of the finest surviving bronzes from museums in Europe, North Africa, and the United States.

“We are delighted to present visitors with this rare opportunity to see these dazzling works up close,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington. “We are grateful to the lenders—museums in Austria, Denmark, France, Georgia, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia, the United States, and the Vatican—as well as Bank of America for their generous support.”

During the Hellenistic period—generally from the late fourth century BC to the first century AD—the art and culture of Greece spread throughout the Mediterranean and lands once conquered by Alexander the Great. Through the medium of bronze, artists were able to capture the dynamic realism, expression, and detail that characterize the new artistic goals of the era.

“The works from the Power and Pathos exhibition represent a turning point in artistic innovation during one of the most culturally vibrant periods in world history,” said Rena De Sisto, global arts and culture executive, Bank of America. “We’re thrilled to be the National Tour Sponsor and to help bring this important collection to D.C. in hopes to inspire curiosity and wonder.”

Exhibition Organization and Support

The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, in collaboration with the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana.

Bank of America is the national sponsor of this touring exhibition.

The exhibition is also made possible through a generous gift from an anonymous donor. The Marshall B. Coyne Foundation has provided additional support through the Fund for the International Exchange of Art. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Exhibition Highlights

Power and Pathos brings together the most significant examples of Hellenistic bronze sculpture to highlight their varying styles, techniques, contexts, functions, and histories. The conquests of Alexander the Great (ruled 336–323 BC) created one of the largest empires in history and ushered in the Hellenistic period, which ended with the rise of the Roman Empire. For some 300 years after Alexander’s death, the medium of bronze drove artistic experimentation and innovation. Bronze—surpassing marble with its tensile strength, reflective surface, and ability to hold the finest detail—was used for dynamic poses, dazzling displays of the nude body, and vivid expressions of age and character.

“Realistic portraiture as we know it today, with an emphasis on individuality and expression, originated in the Hellenistic period,” said exhibition curator Kenneth Lapatin. Jens M. Daehner, co-curator, added, “Along with images of gods, heroes, and athletes, sculptors introduced new subjects and portrayed people at all stages of life, from infancy to old age.” Both Daehner and Lapatin are associate curators in the department of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

A widespread ancient phenomenon, Hellenistic art is found not only throughout the Mediterranean, but also in regions far away, such as Thrace in the Balkans, ancient Colchis (in the Republic of Georgia), and the southern Arabian Peninsula. Through several thematic sections, the exhibition emphasizes the unique role of bronze both as a medium of prestige and artistic innovation and as a material exceptionally suited for reproduction. The exhibition is divided into sections as follows:

Introduction: The Rarity of Bronzes: Large-scale bronze statues have rarely survived from antiquity, as most were melted down so that their valuable metal could be reused. Rows of empty stone pedestals can still be seen at ancient sites. Lysippos of Sikyon (c. 390–305 BC), the favorite sculptor of Alexander the Great, created 1,500 works in bronze, according to Pliny the Elder. None survive; their existence is known partly from later copies and statue bases inscribed with the artist’s name, such as the one on view at the beginning of the exhibition. Many bronzes known today have been preserved only because they were accidentally buried or lost at sea, then recovered centuries later by archaeologists, divers, and fishermen.

Alexander and His Successors: Lysippos is credited with creating the image of Alexander the Great that artists have perpetuated through the centuries: a man of vigor, fit and lithe, clean-shaven, with long, windswept hair. The statuette Alexander the Great on Horseback, in bronze with silver and copper inlays, may be a small-scale version of a lost monumental sculpture that Lysippos created to commemorate Alexander’s victory over the Persians in 334 BC. Portraits of Alexander provided the models that his successors would emulate, resulting in the distinctive genre of ruler portraiture that emerged in the Hellenistic period.

Rulers and Citizens/Likeness and Expression: Realistic features and depictions of emotional states are hallmarks of Hellenistic sculpture. Individualized portraits superseded the largely idealized types of earlier periods. Hellenistic portraits emphasize pathos—lived experience—appealing to viewers’ emotions by conveying an individual’s state of mind or experience of life through facial expression or gestures. Citizens and benefactors honored with statues were shown clothed, while rulers were portrayed nude or in armor, sometimes on horseback. Nudity, traditionally reserved for images of athletes, heroes, and gods, became an artistic attribute of Hellenistic rulers or military leaders.

Bodies Real and Ideal: Hellenistic sculptors continued to create idealized figures, but with a new interest in realistic detail and movement, as seen in the Boy Runner, a statue of a boy athlete shown only at the National Gallery of Art. Many artists took inspiration from Lysippos, often considered the most important artist of the Hellenistic period. He specialized in athletic figures in their prime, emphasizing their muscles and rendering their hair disheveled from sweat and exercise. Lysippos also introduced new, elongated proportions and smaller heads, making his figures appear taller and more graceful than those of the Classical period.

Apoxyomenos and the Art of Replication: The process of casting bronze statues in reusable molds encouraged the production of multiple copies of the same statue. The image of an athlete known as an Apoxyomenos (“scraper”) appears in two bronze versions: a full-length statue excavated at Ephesos in present-day Turkey (on loan from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria) and a bronze head known since the 16th century (now in Fort Worth, Texas), which once formed part of a comparable statue. Athletes competed nude, their bodies coated in oil; after exercising, they scraped themselves clean with a strigil, a curved implement that removed the oil and accumulated dust and grime.

Images of the Divine: The expressive capabilities of bronze and the dynamic styles of Hellenistic sculpture were adapted to representations of divine beings. Their images became less ideal and more realistic or “human.” The statuette Weary Herakles, for example, shows the hero fatigued rather than triumphant after completing the labors that earned him immortality. The love-god Eros, formerly shown as an elegant adolescent, is transformed into a pudgy baby, inspiring Roman images of the god Cupid and putti of the Italian Renaissance. In the Hellenistic era, deities became more accessible, now thought of as living beings with changing physical and emotional states.

Styles of the Past/Roman Collectors and Greek Art: A high regard for history characterizes the Hellenistic period. Artists created statues and statuettes in styles from both the recent and distant past. Statues of Apollo on view echo the stiff frontal figures of youths known as kouroi that were dedicated in Greek sanctuaries and cemeteries throughout the sixth century BC. In contrast, a bust of the Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) copies a work by Polykleitos, one of the most famous classical sculptors of the fifth century BC. Most of the sculptures in this section adorned the villas and gardens of prominent Romans who eagerly collected Greek works of art, including the famouse statuette known as the Dancing Faun (Pan), found in the atrium of the House of the Faun in Pompeii, another work shown only in Washington.

From the Hellenistic to the Augustan Era: The Augustan era saw a renewed interest in the idealized styles of Classical Greece. Augustus, the first Roman emperor (ruled 27 BC–AD 14), favored the Classical style for much of his official art to associate his reign with the golden age of fifth-century Athens under Pericles. The sculpture of a boy wearing a himation, a large rectangle of cloth wrapped around the waist, and the nude statue of a youth known as the Idolino (“little idol”), exemplify this trend.

Film and Audio Tour

A film produced by the Gallery in conjunction with the exhibition and made possible by the HRH Foundation provides an overview of art of the Hellenistic period. Narrated by actor Liev Schreiber, the film includes new footage of the ancient sites of Delphi, Corinth, and Olympia, which once were crowded with bronze statues.

For the first time, the Gallery is offering a free audio tour that visitors can download to their mobile devices. Narrated by Earl A. Powell III, the tour includes commentary from exhibition curators Jens M. Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin, and bronze specialist Carol C. Mattusch of George Mason University.

Curators and Catalog

The exhibition curators are Jens M. Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin, both associate curators in the department of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Susan M. Arensberg, head of the department of exhibition programs, is the coordinating curator for the National Gallery of Art.

Published by the J. Paul Getty Museum, the fully illustrated scholarly catalog is the first comprehensive volume on Hellenistic bronze statuary. It includes groundbreaking archaeological, art-historical, and scientific essays offering new approaches to understanding ancient production of these remarkable works of art. The 368-page hardcover catalog is currently available. To order, please visit http://shop.nga.gov/; call (800) 697-9350 or (202) 842-6002; fax (202) 789-3047; or e-mail mailorder@nga.gov.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. With the exception of the atrium and library, the galleries in the East Building will remain closed until late fall 2016 for Master Facilities Plan and renovations. For information call (202) 737-4215 or visit the Gallery’s Web site at www.nga.gov. Follow the Gallery on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NationalGalleryofArt, Twitter at www.twitter.com/ngadc, and Instagram at http://instagram.com/ngadc.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor’s back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 by 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:
Department of Communications
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353
e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Anabeth Guthrie
Chief of Communications – Converged Media
(202) 842-6804
a-guthrie@nga.gov

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/press/exh/3633.html

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Giacobbe Giusti, Greek antiquities

29 June 2015 by GIACOBBE GIUSTI in a new word giacobbe giusti, and National Gallery of Art, Archaeological Museum, Archéologie grecque, Art, art museum, artist, Athènes., Athens, ational Archaeological Museum, best of art, British Museum, bronze sculpture, d’Agamemnon à Alexandre le Grand, Delphi Museum.Delphi Museum., Department of Greek, giacobbe giusti, Giacobbe Giusti, Greek and Roman Art, Italy, Le Louvre, london, louvre paris, Musée archéologique national, Musée canadien des civilisations, Musée des Tombes Royales d’Aigai, Musée du Louvre, Musée national archéologique d'Athènes, musee louvre, national gallery, national gallery london, National Gallery of Art di Washington DC, paris louvre museum, peggy guggenheim, power and pathos, Puissance et de pathos. Bronzes du monde hellénistique, PUISSANCE ET PATHOS. Bronzes du Monde Hellénistique, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, uffizi museum and tagged art museum, best of art, Chicago’s Field Museum, Education and Religious Affairs), Getty Museum, giacobbe giusti, giacobbegiusti.com, J. Paul Getty Museum, Montreal’s Pointe-à-Callière archaeology museum, Musée du Louvre, National Gallery, national gallery london, The Canadian Museum of History, The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Geographic Museum in Washington., This gold headdress of a Bottiaean woman, uffizi, was found in the necropolis of Archontiko in the ancient city of Pella. It dates from 540 to 530 BCE. (Hellenic Ministry of Culture, which identified her as a high priestess | Leave a comment

Giacobbe Giusti, Greek antiquities

Gaze upon the eyes of ancient Greece

The Canadian Museum of History debuts a huge exhibit exposing the lives behind the ancients who have held our imaginations in thrall

Greek antiquities

This gold headdress of a Bottiaean woman, which identified her as a high priestess, was found in the necropolis of Archontiko in the ancient city of Pella. It dates from 540 to 530 BCE. (Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs)

There is a turning point early in The Greeks: Agamemnon to Alexander the Great, the big summer show at the Canadian Museum of History, in Gatineau, Que., across the Ottawa River from the Parliament Buildings. The exhibition starts quietly, with some small objects from Stone Age hunter-gatherers, including carved fertility figurines, followed by early Minoan artifacts, notably, an impressive bronze double axe. But then, the visitor enters the section devoted to Mycenaean civilization—the period remembered in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey—to be greeted by a gleaming, circular, gold death mask.

Here is one of the most storied objects of world archaeological lore, never before allowed to leave Greece. The 19th-century German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann famously set out to locate the Iliad’s main cities and, having discovered and excavated Troy, moved on to searching for Mycenae, home city of Agamemnon, commander of the Greeks in the Trojan war. Schliemann found it, too, uncovering fabulous burial objects. On this historic dig in 1876, he unearthed the mask, declaring, “I have gazed upon the eyes of Agamemnon.” Later scholarship, alas, showed the object is perhaps 300 years too old to be from the era historians believe was reimagined centuries later in Homer’s epic.

But that hardly matters. Even if it doesn’t depict Agamemnon, the Mycenaean mask dazzles. And, as a potent symbol of Greek civilization’s long hold on our imaginations, it serves notice of this show’s ambition. Covering 5,000 years of history, the exhibition sets out to tell a triumphant story—nothing less than how the glory that was Greece remains the foundation of what many museum visitors will still recognize, even in the age of multiculturalism, as shared cultural values. “I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say this is where our civilization is coming from,” says curator Terence Clark.

With the Greek government’s full backing, 21 Greek museums loaned the more than 500 artifacts on display. The Canadian Museum of History led the organization of the show, but it was first uncrated this past winter at Montreal’s Pointe-à-Callière archaeology museum, where it proved enormously popular. After a planned run until Oct. 12 in Gatineau—timed to draw in Ottawa’s summer tourist throngs—the show moves on to Chicago’s Field Museum and, finally, to the National Geographic Museum in Washington.

After the Mycenaean mask, there’s no letdown, as the exhibition strides through the rise of classical Greece. A circle of bronze helmets, decorated with gold, from sometime after 530 BCE, conveys the muscle of a warrior culture. An elegant marble bas-relief from around 460 BCE shows a victorious young athlete crowning himself with an olive wreath, a gesture Clark interprets as signifying the emergence of the Greek sense of the individual. Athenian democracy is fully explored. Marble heads of Plato and Aristotle, along with one of the orator Demosthenes, celebrate the city state as the birthplace of European philosophy and politics. The final section on Alexander the Great features a famous bust of the youthful Macedonian conqueror, along with troves of spectacular gold and bronze items from Macedonian tombs.

The show’s creators strive to avoid overloading visitors with chronology. The strategy, Clark says, includes offering plenty of “little snapshots that tell an individual’s story.” Thus, instead of just displaying the burial bling of the queen called “the Lady of Archontiko” under glass, her gold is arranged on a mannequin. “You can see who this person was,” Clark says. The ancient bronze swords inside a display case can’t be touched, but a replica is there to be gripped. Press a button in front of Plato, Aristotle or Demosthenes to hear their words while looking into their time-worn marble faces.

The exceptional quality of the artifacts assembled in this show is undeniable. The only question is whether the ideas associated with the ancient Greeks can—as they have so often throughout history—again outshine even the amazing objects they left behind.

Gaze upon the eyes of ancient Greece

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Giacobbe Giusti, Classical Sculpture

26 June 2015 by GIACOBBE GIUSTI in a new word giacobbe giusti, Alexander the Great, Alexander the Great and Augustus, apollo and dafne, Apollonius, Archaeological Museum, Archéologie grecque, Art, art museum, artist, Athènes., Athens, best of art, British Museum, bronze, bronze sculpture, bronzi ellenistici, Defining beauty: the body in ancient Greek art’ is at the British Museum, Delphi Museum.Delphi Museum., Department of Greek, florence, florenz, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Getty Bronze, giacobbe giusti, Giacobbe Giusti, Greek and Roman Art, Hellenistic Period (Palazzo Massimo, italian art, Italy, J. Paul Getty Museum, J. Paul Getty Museum di Los Angeles, la National Gallery of Art de Washington et de la Surintendance aux Biens Archéologiques de Toscane, Les Grecs, louvre, louvre paris, Musée archéologique national, Musei Capitolini, Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia, museum of art louvre, national gallery, National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art di Washington DC, peggy guggenheim, Rome, the guggenheim museums and fondation, uffizi museum and tagged and a 19th-century plaster cast from the Museum of Classical Art at the Sapienza University of Rome, art museum, Belvedere Torso: a 16th- century bronze just 20cm tall from the Bargello Museum, best of art, century-old distillery in Milan’s Largo Isarco — with Serial Classic (9 May–24 August). The show, Classical sculpture is the focus of a series of exhibitions this spring, curated by the distinguished archaeologist Salvatore Settis, director of the British Museum, explores ideas of imitation, Getty Museum, giacobbe giusti, Giacobbe Giusti: Power and Pathos in Florence, giacobbegiusti.com, J. Paul Getty Museum, Michelangelo based his depiction of Adam on the Sistine Chapel, Miuccia Prada’s decision to open the new Fondazione Prada — Rem Koolhaas’s radical reinvention of a derelict, multiples and editioning in Greek and Roman sculpture, Neil MacGregor, of the Belvedere Torso, one of them at the new Rem Koolhaas-designed Fondazione Prada in Milan. Claire Wrathall, Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, the powerfully muscled trunk and thighs carved from marble during the first century B.C. and signed by the Athenian sculptor Apollonios. He was speaking at the launch of Defining Beauty: The Body in A, uffizi | Leave a comment

Giacobbe Giusti, Classical Sculpture

ENGLISH

Classical Sculpture: The body beautiful

Classical sculpture is the focus of a series of exhibitions this spring, one of them at the new Rem Koolhaas-designed Fondazione Prada in Milan. Claire Wrathall reports

‘This is the body people want to have,’ said Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, of the Belvedere Torso, the powerfully muscled trunk and thighs carved from marble during the first century B.C. and signed by the Athenian sculptor Apollonios. He was speaking at the launch of Defining Beauty: The Body in Ancient Greek Art (26 March– 5 July), one of several major surveys of classical sculpture opening this spring. This, the work on which Michelangelo based his depiction of Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling and which usually resides in the Vatican, will be a highlight.

Ilissos. Marble statue from the West pediment of the Parthenon. Designed by Phidias, Athens, Greece, 438BC-432BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

In these body-conscious times, perhaps it’s not so surprising that a fashion brand would want to launch the new HQ of its arts foundation with a celebration of classical statuary. Hence Miuccia Prada’s decision to open the new Fondazione Prada — Rem Koolhaas’s radical reinvention of a derelict, century-old distillery in Milan’s Largo Isarco — with Serial Classic (9 May–24 August). The show, curated by the distinguished archaeologist Salvatore Settis, explores ideas of imitation, multiples and editioning in Greek and Roman sculpture.

So committed to the idea of celebrating antiquity is Prada that it is staging a second, concurrent show, Portable Classic (9 May–13 September), at Ca’ Corner della Regina in Venice, which will explore miniaturisation and portability through 90 artworks. It, too, will feature versions of the Belvedere Torso: a 16th- century bronze just 20cm tall from the Bargello Museum, and a 19th-century plaster cast from the Museum of Classical Art at the Sapienza University of Rome, which is approximately the size of the original, a monumental 1.59m high.

A figure of a naked man, possibly Dionysos. Marble statue from the East pediment of the Parthenon. Designed by Phidias, Athens, Greece, 438BC-432BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Left:The bronze statuette of Ajax. Greece, 720BC-700BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum Right:Bronze vessel in the form of the head of a young African woman. Hellenistic, 2nd century BC-1st century BC. Funded by The Art Fund. © The Trustees of the British Museum

As the Vatican’s catalogue points out, the work — currently thought to depict Ajax as he contemplates suicide — was probably inspired by a bronze from the first half of the second century B.C. According to Jens Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin of the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the curators of Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence (Until 21 June), this medium ‘allowed artists to impart an unprecedented level of dynamism to their full-figure statues and of naturalism to their portraits, where psychological expression became a hallmark of the style’.

Left: Marble statue of a discus-thrower (discobolus) by Myron. Roman copy of a bronze Greek original of the 5th century BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum Right: Marble statue of a naked Aphrodite crouching at her bath, also known as Lely’s Venus. Roman copy of a Greek original, 2nd century AD. Lent by Her Majesty the Queen

Left: Pottery: black-figured amphora: the death of Priam. Greek, 550BC-540BC (circa). Vulci, Lazio, Italy. © The Trustees of the British Museum Right:Marble statuette of Socrates. A Hellenistic original of the 2nd century BC, or a Roman copy, Alexandria, Egypt. © The Trustees of the British Museum

One can only wonder at how expressive the original bronze sculpture might have been, although even in marble and without its head, the Vatican Torso communicates extraordinary tension and strength, even anguish. As Michelangelo wrote of it: ‘This is the work of a man who knew more than nature.’

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Classical Sculpture: The body beautiful

Classical sculpture is the focus of a series of exhibitions this spring, one of them at the new Rem Koolhaas-designed Fondazione Prada in Milan. Claire Wrathall reports

Ilissos. Marble statue from the West pediment of the Parthenon. Designed by Phidias, Athens, Greece, 438BC-432BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

A figure of a naked man, possibly Dionysos. Marble statue from the East pediment of the Parthenon. Designed by Phidias, Athens, Greece, 438BC-432BC. © The Trustees of the British Museum.