Washington Post
makes a tribute to Ancient Greece and the latest exhibition in the The
National Gallery of Art’s with an article entitled “Face-to-face with
ancient Greece: The National Gallery of Art’s ‘Power and Pathos’”.
More than 2,000 years ago, Greek artists
created bronze sculptures that are as beautiful and expressive as
anything made before or since.
And they were prolific, molding tens of
thousands of gleaming likenesses of civic leaders, poets, gods and
heroes. Only about 200 remain today, which makes the latest exhibit at
the National Gallery of Art all the more odds-defying.
One quarter of
the survivors are on view as part of “Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture
of the Hellenistic World,” through March 20.
“We’ve brought together as many
large-scale bronze sculptures as have ever been brought together before,
and the ones we’ve chosen are of the highest order,” says Jens M.
Daehner, an antiquities curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in LA, who
co-curated the exhibit with the Getty’s Kenneth Lapatin. The exhibit
arrives in D.C. after stops in Florence, Italy, and Los Angeles.
“Power and Pathos” includes two nearly
identical pieces never before seen side by side, the so-called Herms of
Dionysos. One of the sculptures was salvaged from the wreckage of an
ancient ship near Tunisia in 1907.
The other appeared in a Swiss art
market in 1971 with no indication as to where it had been discovered.
The herms consist of long rectangular
columns topped with renderings of the head of Dionysos, the god of wine.
Statues of this type — named after the messenger god Hermes — were
placed around borders of cities as protection.
“Their similarity to Pez dispensers is, I think, coincidental,” Lapatin says.
A chemical analysis of the two herms
concluded that they originate from the same workshop, perhaps even from
the same batch of metal. Though few duplicates like these remain today,
ancient Greek artisans frequently reused molds and made multiple copies
of the same sculpture, Lapatin says. Eagle-eyed visitors can play “spot
the difference” with the herms.
“The one from Tunisia has more detail in
it, and it’s signed by the artist,” Lapatin says. “Maybe that’s the
more expensive version — like when you see two models of the same car,
but one is upgraded with leather seats and a sunroof.”
In ancient Greece, a life-size bronze sculpture would have cost about
3,000 drachmas — the equivalent of two years’ salary for a rich citizen.
These likenesses were often erected by cities to honor civic leaders
and rulers, though poets and athletes were also commonly depicted.
“These images we have are pretty much of the ancient Greek’s 1 percent,” Lapatin says.
None of the bronze works on display
capture a person smiling, unless you count the satyr with a creepy grin.
Rather, the sculptures tend to portray people in a moment of quiet
reflection.
One of the most famous Greek sculptures is colloquially
known as “Worried Man From Delos” because of the subject’s rather
anxious look. The sculptor, however, probably just meant to portray the
man’s civic devotion.
“The face is showing what he’s being
honored for — the zeal, attention, care and energy he’s expended on
behalf of his fellow citizens,” Daehner says.
Even if we don’t interpret the Delos
man’s emotions as his fellow citizens would have, the sculpture’s
expressive face exemplifies why we find these masterpieces so arresting.
“The vivid way they portrayed emotions
collapses time,” Lapatin says. “These are not only exquisite works of
art, they are almost alive.”
When you look at an ancient Greek
sculpture, remember that it’s probably been through a lot.
These
artifacts were damaged in shipwrecks, buried by volcanic ash or even
marred by art lovers from eras past.
As you imagine what these bronzes
might have looked like 2,000 years ago, don’t forget:
They used to be shiny. Centuries of
tarnish have given these sculptures a dark, mottled finish.
When they
were first minted, they approximated the color of tan Mediterranean
skin. To heighten realism, sculptors used copper inlays to create
nipples and lips.
The faces had eyes. Over time, most of
the sculptures lost their lifelike eyes, which were made of glass and
colored stone and fringed with delicate bronze eyelashes.
The heads had bodies. For ancient
Greeks, a portrait wouldn’t have been complete unless it included your
torso and toes. (Head-topped columns known as herms were a notable
exception.)
“They didn’t have feel the same kind of mind-body separation
we have in the Judeo-Christian tradition,” co-curator Kenneth Lapatin
says.
(source:Ellines.com)
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