submitted by Lafcadio Hearn Files on 11.04.2012
Sotiris Therianos was born on 16 November 1955 in Lefkada Island, Greece. He studied art, design and decoration at Sivitanidios School of Trades and Vocations in Athens (1975-1979). He was tutored in aquarelle techniques by Petros Panagos in Lefkada (1980-1985). In 1982 he met Theodoros Stamos (1922-1987) the American expressionist whom he considers his mentor. Since 1995 he has been discovering new relationships between painting and photography. Sotiris Therianos presented the following personal exhibitions: Cultural Center, Lefkas (1985); Epikentro Gallery, Patras (1992); Castle of Santa Maura, Lefkas (1995); and Sotiris Therianos Retrospective: Multimedia Works 1980-2007, Cultural Center, Lefkas (2007). He also participated in the following group exhibitions: The Stamos Group Exhibitions, Cultural Center, Lefkas (1975-1993); Straznitse, Czechoslovakia (1987); Aenaon Gallery, Athens (1993); Ekfrassi Gallery, Thessaloniki (1993); Old School Cultural Center, Tsoukalades, Lefkas (2000); Photographic Painters, Galerie Schneeschweinchen, Germany (2006); Member Artists, Eco Art Gallery, Athens (2007). The open mind of Lafcadio Hearn Exhibition The open mind of Lafcadio Hearn/ACGART 2009-2010 PRO-ART Gallery on spetses 2010 The open mind of Lafcadio Hearn/ACGART /LEFKADA/2010 Download a .pdf version of the Japanese "Open Mind" program here: The Open Mind of Laafcado Hearn Program.pdf Artworks by Therianos are kept at the following institutions: The American College of Greece, Athens and Cultural Center, Lefkas. Sotiris Therianos continues to live and work in Lefkada Island. “A Letter for Sotiris Therianos. Life and death are constant, the most extraordinary things we are certain of. Within those two forces there are human things at work on various levels to prolong life and oust death. There are men, creative ones, who work within the framework of life and death, who give you one way or another both sides and many more of the phenomena. One such man is Sotiris Therianos with the immediacy of his paintings. Most of his paintings ‘tachist’ in execusion refer to such phenomena as the sun’s cataclysm and the underworld of Persephone and Demetra. These are not easy paintings to take in all at once. They demand from the viewer a certain amount of humility and not a personal antagonism or egoism. They should be savored as a fine wine, and they will make you richer.” [Theodoros Stamos, Lefkada 02/09/1984] “…For Therianos, art originates from his own necessity; he has had the perception to reach within himself and find his own method and vocabulary of forms. In the works from a few years ago, sweeping allover gestures of dense paint create whirlwinds of activity. Often these pictures suggest a shadowy dark netherworld. The realm of nightmares in which demons take shape. The chasms of Hades come to mind, as do the ancient Homeric tales as well. But Hades has many names, and such correspondences are transformed in these pictures into a more personal myth that, though elusive, can be all too real. Therianos’ presences exist in the present, interiorized, changing, procceding through the act of painting. They are not pretty or soothig but tough and direct, very like Lackaday itself. The basic technique is that of Tachism, but the end result is uniquely Therianos, resembling the recording of some primeval dance in which the entire body is caught up in wild rapid gyrations. “O dark shivering in the roots and the leaves! / Come forth sleepless form in the gathering silence / raise your head from your cupped hands / so that your will be done and you tell me again [George Seferis, Stratis Thalassinos Among the Agapanthi] In the more recent works, the imagery is simplifying, even as it is coming forth from the earlier cavernous regions. Painterly blacks and whites accompanied by daubs of color form shapes implying hatching, breaking through, fertilization, flying, crawling. Insects, slugs, serpents, and other creatures of earlier evolutionary stages appear through the painted gestures. They compose mysterious tableaux, like pieces of mind engaged in an unknowable intercourse. They somehow appear both dangerous and inviting and hover precariously in between the two extremes of feeling. They personify both sensations of untouched nature and of raw emotion. The allusive forms in these pictures come into being through the artist’s personal experiences, yet they are capable of conversing with any viewer who approaches them with open eyes and spirit. “It is the real face, when people have no cover. You see the feeling; you are inside,” Therianos says of his work. As we approach another fin de siécle and look back at the recent century of artistic progress, it is refreshing to renew contact with the archetypal elements without the usual overlay of theory and psychological rhetoric. At a time when the art world has become dominated by methodology and academicizing trends, Therianos’ pictures touch base with the simple core of human emotions. When I asked him if he thought that abstract painting was exhausted, Therianos answered: “Abstract painting is only of the past hundred years. Now, with all the materialism and all the separation from simple life, we need more contact with the ‘inside’. Expressionism is not to be forced, but to be experienced. If expressionism happens naturally, then it produces something worthwhile”. [Barbara Cavaliere, New York City, February, 1992] http://www.sotiristherianos.gr/
submitted by Kytherian Cultural Exchange on 10.04.2012
Origami by Myrto Dimitriou. Curriculum Vitae, Myrto Dimitriou Επώνυμο: Δημητρίου Όνομα: Μυρτώ Ημερομηνία γέννησης: 02.08.1983 Τόπος γέννησης: Θεσσαλονίκη e-mail: Email, Myrto Dimitriou http://omadafantasia.blogspot.com http://origamiwithfantasygroup.blogspot.com www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVNx1Ld9GDw www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOgMQqY8o6A Myrto's appreciation of Japanese culture, and her endeavours to explain Japanese culture to Greeks in Greece, and teach Japanese arts such as origami, has inevitably led her to make contact with persons associated with Lafcadio Hearn, such as Takis Efstahiou and Lafcadio's grandson, Bon Koizumi. The Japanese-Greek cultural exchange through Lafcadio Hearn is fascinating.
submitted by Lafcadio Hearn Files on 10.04.2012
On the 29th March, 2102, in the City is Fukuyama, (which is near Hiroshima), adjacent to the major train station and transport interchange, Masaaki Noda's The Future is Now sculpture was dedicated and unveiled. Lafcadio Hearn's grandson, Bon Koizumi spoke as a special guest at this unveiling. In 2004, Masaaki Noda's stainless steel sculpture Apollo's Mirror was dedicated to the European Cultural Center, which is located in Delphi, Greece. In 2009, a monument produced by Masaaki Noda and titled the Open Mind Of Lafcadio Hearn, by Takis Efstathiou was installed on the campus of the American College of Greece in Athens in October 2009. An art exhibition under the same title, featuring works from all over the world, was subsequently held in the ACG Art Gallery. Then in 2010, the exhibition was held in the Lafcadio Hearn Memorial Museum of Matsue, Japan. Once again Masaaki Noda donated a monument, which was erected this time on the shore of Lake Shinji (the original stands at ACG Athens). This sculpture commemorated the 160th Anniversary of Lafcadio Hearn's birth. This sculpture was unveiled and dedicated on Oct. 10th, 2010. On Sept. 10, 2010, Masaaki Noda's brilliant Spirit of Mercury sculpture was unveiled in the city of Marathon, Greece. The monument commemorates the 2500th Anniversary of the Battle of Marathon.
MT: stainless steel (160x120x120 / D:150x80x80 / T:320x120x120) CT: PTE Fine Arts, New York - 2009 LC: Deree College Administrative Wing CM: The Open Mind of Lafcadio Hearn by Masaaki Noda represents the open double course of communication in the discourse between the West and the East. Having been born on Lefkada island of Greece to surgeon-major Charles Hearn from Ireland and Rosa Antoniou Kassimati from Kythera island, receiving the lessons of the Anglo-Saxon education, learning the work ethic of America, and choosing to adopt Japan as his country, Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) became the epitomy of a personality bridging complimentary cultures. Lafcadio is something like a cultural compass embodying the world's four cardinal points: the south with Greece; the north with the United Kingdom; the west with America; and the east with Japan. The Open Mind of Lafcadio Hearn reflects the idea of global communication throughout space and time. The hollow of a 'fiery' metallic duct that is reminiscent of the Möbius Strip, seamless through its reflective surfaces, represents the open mind that is required of the human to arrive at a state of good health, balance, harmony, love, and euphoria. Lafcadio is the supreme embodiment of the achievement of the Open Mind. His example teaches the fact there is no higher calling than tolerating 'otherness', and no richer way of life than one spent pursuing the creative truth, no greater responsibility than holding a mirror up to society, no greater challenge or mystery than marrying our dream life to our waking life. In opening his mind Lafcadio found peace in himself and opened his heart to humanity. Noda's The Open Mind of Lafcadio Hearn was unveiled at The American College of Greece in 2009 on the occasion of celebrating the 110th Anniversary of Friendship between Greece and Japan in honor of a man the West and the East join to commemorate. http://www.acgart.gr/acg-collection/ARTISTS/N/NodM/NodM2009mind.htm
submitted by Kytherian Cultural Exchange on 04.04.2012
...created by Japanese Artist, Masaaki Noda. At the European Cultural Center located at Delphi, Greece. [[picture:"Apollo's Mirror Delphi Greece.jpg" ID:20119]] Mr. Noda makes his home in New York City's Soho. His works are found in museums world-wide. Mr. Noda first came to Delphi in 1995 with New York/Athens art dealer Takis Efstathiou. kythera-family knows Takis well through his obsession with Japanese - Irish - Hellenic - Lefkadian - Kytherian Lafacdio Hearn. A dream was launched then to place a sprititual sculpture overlooking the hills and valleys of Delphi. Messrs. Noda and Efstathiou returned to Delphi in 2004 and presented a stainless steel model to the European Cultural Center. Then, with the help of the Center and Mr. Noda's supporters in Japan, New York, and Greece, the result was the installation and dedication of the full scale work in Delphi on February 26, 2005. http://www.apollosmirror.com/
...of the stainless steel sculpture Apollo's Mirror created by Japanese Artist, Masaaki Noda. Mr. Noda makes his home in New York City's Soho. His works are found in museums world-wide. Mr. Noda first came to Delphi in 1995 with New York/Athens art dealer Takis Efstathiou. kythera-family knows Takis well through his obsession with Japanese - Irish - Hellenic - Lefkadian - Kytherian, Lafacdio Hearn. A dream was launched then to place a sprititual sculpture overlooking the hills and valleys of Delphi. Messrs. Noda and Efstathiou returned to Delphi in 2004 and presented a stainless steel model to the European Cultural Center. Then, with the help of the Center and Mr. Noda's supporters in Japan, New York, and Greece, the result was the installation and dedication of the full scale work in Delphi on February 26, 2005. http://www.apollosmirror.com/
submitted by Wentworth Courier on 01.04.2012
Greek art exhibition at Double Bay Exhibitions When: 21 Mar 12 - 3 Apr 12 Venue: Art2Muse Gallery Where: 357 New South Head Rd, Double Bay, NSW, 2028 Contact: Katrina Hampton on 0424 809 849 or Email, art2muse, here Web: www.art2muse.com.au Greek art exhibition featuring Felicia Aroney and Yanni Souvatzoglou at Art2Muse Gallery Felicia Aroney Time is an undercurrent which is felt, seen and heard in Felicia Aroney’s artwork, a reflection of memory, experiences and what she honours in the present. Felicia’s technique and approach to her work is richly layered using oils and acrylics to create depth and a sense of antiquity which evolves the onlooker’s curiosity as to what lies beneath the multi-faceted layers. Felicia’s latest work is influenced by her European heritage and numerous visits to Europe, where she studied aged and damaged walls. The layers of peeling paint fascinated Felicia’s perception of the layers of time, and at the same time each individual wall evoked its own interesting composition. The wonderfully organic shapes of still life, and the Australian Fairy wren bird are placed on these backgrounds, much like a `stamp’, representing Felicia’s Australian background. Bringing her two worlds together. Felicia was fine arts trained at Curtin University WA. She also graduated with an honours degree in graphic design. Felicia worked in design selecting fabrics and putting together story boards which gave her good grounding with colour, texture and design. She has won five art prizes and has held successful solo and group exhibitions. Yanni Souvatzoglou Greek from abroad (Constantinople) and son of a cotton merchant, Yanni Souvatzoglou inherited his talent from his mother, a portrait painter. Yanni experimented from a very young age on fabric paintings, moved into graphic design where he was introduced to industrial photographic reproductions developing almost three dimentional images. Yanni Souvatzoglou’s skill in graphic arts served as a platform for his sculptural structures. At the same time Yanni attends art studies in Athens under the supervision of Prof P. Tetsis. Influenced mainly from the Minoan and Cycladic era, he manages often to evoke those images in his concepts. Since 1980 he maintains an atelier for multiple techniques and art applications however he has not abandoned commercial design many corporation have trusted his creative imagination with various manifestation. His art is collected worldwide. He has enjoyed major shows and been awarded prizes for several pieces of his work and many galleries across the world sell his art. Felicia Aroney, in her own words My art is an amalgamation of my cultural backgrounds. My Greek heritage, and my Australian upbringing. Using layers of acrylics and oils, I build my backgrounds up to look much like damaged walls, ancient ruins and a representation of the process of history and passing of time in Greece. The foreground is the Australian Fairy Wren bird, often found in our back yards. I use its delicate and friendly silhouette as a symbol of my Australian culture. Together, I have found a way to mesh my Greek and Australian identity. In 2011, whilst in Athens Greece, I met the wonderfully talented sculptor Yanni Souvatzoglou. A chance encounter, I simply walked into his Athens store and of course was overwhelmed by his work. Whilst Yanni and I are a generation apart we shared the same enthusiasm for art and shared many conversations about our craft over a period of a week. Yanni handed my sons a gift; It was a sculpture of two birds made of bronze, both on separate wire stands, both flying in the same direction. Yanni said, “Boys, you are brothers. Try to fly together in life. Be sure to be by one another’s side. But as life has it, at times you will not fly together (Yanni turned one of the birds in the opposite direction as he continued to speak), You will find at times you disagree, grow apart, lose sight of one another, however, be sure to remember you are brothers. Correct your path, and continue to fly together” and once again Yanni made sure the birds flew in the same direction. Encounters like this don`t always happen. I will not forget it. Back in Australia, my next body of works were heavily influenced by this Greek trip. The colours I began using were more reminiscent of the penetrating pigments and light in Greece. Whilst painting, I thought of Yanni, and introduced Katrina, owner of Art2Muse gallery to the idea of the two of us merging our work together to create a “Greek” flavoured art exhibition. And hence, the rest is history........ Felicia Aroney Time is an undercurrent which is felt, seen and heard in Felicia Aroney`s artwork, a reflection of memory, experiences and what she honours in the present. Felicia`s technique and approach to her work is richly layered using oils and acrylics to create depth and a sense of antiquity which evolves the onlooker`s curiosity as to what lies beneath the multi faceted layers. Felicia`s latest work is influenced by her European heritage and numerous visits to Europe, where she studied aged and damaged walls. The layers of peeling paint fascinated Felicia`s perception of the layers of time, and at the same time each individual wall evoked it`s own interesting composition. Back home in Sydney, Felicia coupled the textured backgrounds with the “familiar”. She has added the wonderfully organic shapes and details of fruit, and the lovely silhouette of the Australian garden bird, the “Fairy Wren”, both familiar with her Australian background. Felicia`s work is rich with colour, layers and texture. Using a palette knife, She mixes her own colours and applies one coat of paint at a time. Each colour is left to dry before the next is applied. Felicia carefully layers, allowing some of the previous layers to reveal themselves. This technique is applied over and over, creating an aged damaged appearance, much like the ancient ruins in Greece; this being the soul influence of her work. The wonderfully organic shapes of still life, and the Australian Fairy wren bird are placed on these backgrounds, much like a `stamp`, representing Felicia`s Australian background. Bringing her two worlds together. Felicia Canvases are especially designed and made to support the weight of her thick textured work. Felicia`s `details (close –ups) `of her larger paintings are on her page, which demonstrates her timely and mystifying technique. Felicia was fine arts trained at Curtin University WA. She also graduated with an honours degree in Graphic Design. Felicia worked in “design” selecting fabrics and putting together story boards which gave her good grounding with colour, texture and design. She has won 5 art prizes and has held successful solo and group exhibitions. Upcoming Exhibition: Art Melbourne 2012 Selected Exhibitions Melville Art Awards , WA 2008 Melville Art Awards, WA 2009 Manyung Gallery, VIC 2009 Portsea Gallery, VIC 2009 Art Sydney, NSW 2009 Art Melbourne, VIC 2010 Art Sydney, NSW, 2010 Art Melbourne, VIC 2011 Tusk Gallery, VIC, 2011 Tanjent gallery, SA 2011 Art2Muse Gallery, NSW 2011 Brunswick Street Gallery, VIC 2012 Sydney Art month, Art2muse Gallery NSW 2012 Greek Art exhibition, Art2muse Gallery NSW 2012 Art Melbourne 2012 2012 Gallipoli Art Prize Exhibition Graphic impressions gallery VIC 2012
submitted by J. Paul Getty Museum on 27.03.2012
The original exhibition has now moved from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to the Getty Villa Editor's note: Kytherian's in Southern California have already arranged to undertake a group visit to the Exhibition Typically associated with love, beauty and sex, the Greek goddess Aphrodite was a much more complex figure. Not only could she be manipulative and destructive in matters of the heart, especially together with her companion Eros, but her domain extended far beyond desire and romance. Worshipped throughout the ancient Mediterranean by men and women, young and old, Aphrodite was connected with maritime affairs, civic harmony, and even warfare. This exhibition presents the goddess in her manifold aspects—exploring her precursors in the ancient Near East, her offspring, and her devotees—and culminates with her incorporation and adaptation in Roman religion as Venus. It features a stunning range of objects, from large-scale sculpture to delicate jewelry, drawn from the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the J. Paul Getty Museum, as well as major loans from Italian institutions. Aphrodite and the Gods of Love was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in association with the J. Paul Getty Museum. Banner image: Venus (The Venus of Capua) (detail), Roman, A.D. 117–138; found in Capua, Italy. Marble, 87 in. high. Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Image © www.pedicinimages.com Statue image: Aphrodite Spanking Eros, Greek, 200–1 B.C. Bronze, 11 5/16 in. high. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 57.AB.7 About the J. Paul Getty Museum Mission Statement The J. Paul Getty Museum seeks to further knowledge of the visual arts and to nurture critical seeing by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting works of art of the highest quality. To fulfill its mission, the Museum continues to develop its collection through purchase and gifts, complementing its impact through special exhibitions, publications, educational programs developed for a wide range of audiences, and a related performing arts program. The Museum strives to provide its visitors with access to the most innovative research in the visual arts while they enjoy a unique experience in viewing works of art at our Getty Center and Getty Villa sites. While benefiting from the broader context of the Getty Trust, the Museum also extends the reach of its mission via the internet and through the regular exchange of works of art, staff, and expertise. The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center in Los Angeles houses European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, and European and American photographs. The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu opened on January 28, 2006, after the completion of a major renovation project. As a museum and educational center dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria, the Getty Villa serves a varied audience through exhibitions, conservation, scholarship, research, and public programs. The Villa houses approximately 44,000 works of art from the Museum's extensive collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities, of which over 1,200 are on view. With two locations, the Getty Villa in Malibu and the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the J. Paul Getty Museum serves a wide variety of audiences through its expanded range of exhibitions and programming in the visual arts. Senior Staff Timothy Potts, Incoming Director Thomas Kren, Acting Associate Director for Collections John Giurini, Assistant Director for Public Affairs Quincy Houghton, Associate Director for Exhibitions and Public Programs Toby Tannenbaum, Assistant Director for Education Get information about visiting the Getty Villa The Getty Villa in Malibu is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria. Address 17985 Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Palisades, California 90272 Please note that access to the Getty Villa entrance is only from the northbound right-hand lane of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). Phone Number (310) 440-7300 See hours, directions, parking for directions. Admission is Free Admission to the Getty Villa is always FREE; an advance, timed-entry ticket is required. Parking is $15. For tips on receiving and printing tickets to the Getty Villa, see frequently asked questions. What to See • Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities arranged by themes including Gods and Goddesses, Dionysos and the Theater, and Stories of the Trojan War •Roman-inspired architecture and gardens History of the Getty Villa This film describes the history, collections, and setting of the Getty Villa. Public Transportation Get to the Getty Villa via public transport! The Getty Villa is served by Metro Bus 534, which stops at Coastline Drive and Pacific Coast Highway directly across from the Getty Villa entrance. To find the route that is best for you, call 323-GO-METRO (323-466-3876) or use the Trip Planner on www.metro.net, the Web site of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. (Please note that passengers riding the bus to visit the Getty Villa must have their Villa admission ticket hole-punched by the driver before exiting the bus.) See suggested bus and rail routes to the Getty Villa. L.A. Metro Bus and Metro Rail Map (874 KB): Metro_Bus_&_Metro_Rail_System_Map.pdf Parking On-site parking is available for all ticket holders and is $15 per car or motorcycle, but $10 per car or motorcycle after 5:00 p.m. for all evening public programming, including theater, music, film, lectures, and other special programs held after 5:00 p.m. Visitors to the Getty Villa are not permitted to park anywhere other than the Getty Villa as a condition of the Conditional Use Permit issued by the City of Los Angeles. No pedestrians may enter the Villa except for ticket holders arriving by public transportation. Passengers must have their Villa admission ticket hole-punched by the driver before exiting the bus in order to enter the Villa. For more parking information, see hours, directions, parking and frequently asked questions. Opening Hours Hours for the Getty Villa site and galleries: Monday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Tuesday CLOSED Wednesday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Thursday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Friday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Saturday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Sunday 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Closed Tuesdays and on January 1, July 4 (Independence Day), Thanksgiving, and December 25 (Christmas Day). Group Visits Groups are welcome! For information on reservations, parking, dining options, and free tours and activities, please see tips for groups Event Calendar For exhibitions and events including performances, lectures, and free family programs, check the event calendar Accessibility The Getty Villa is ADA accessible. See more in accessibility. En Español Información en español para planificar su visita.
submitted by National Archaeological Museum on 25.03.2012
[An artefact from the Antikythera shipwreck] Material: Parian marble Dimensions: H. 1.93 m. Provenance: Antikythera shipwreck. From the material retrieved in 1900-1901 (28.1.1901 [head], 30.1.1901 [torso]) Date: Early 1st c. BC Inv. no: 2774 The life-size statue of Hermes is fully restored with its inherent plinth. The surface of the statue, particularly its right side, is severely eroded by its having long been in the sea. A low, plain base with depression for the plinth has been considered to belong to the statue. Remains of the himation are preserved on the left shoulder; the part of the garment that covers the left forearm and falls vertically down to the ankle is preserved in better condition, making the two vertical parallel folds clearly recognizable. Despite its corrosion and the small difference in the right leg, which is set rather close to the left, the statue doubtless belongs among the Late Hellenistic variants of the Hermes Richelieu type. The rendering of the hair, which focuses on creating an impression rather than depicting detail, is characteristic for this period. The marble statues from the wreck may be divided into four categories in accordance with their stylistic characteristics: a) creations that copy or represent variants on famous works of Classical antiquity; b) classicizing creations that combine elements and compositions from the Classical period, enriched by features of Hellenistic art; c) works strongly recalling creations of the Early and Middle Hellenistic age, and d) original creations of the Late Hellenistic age. The statue of Hermes belongs to the first category. Its bronze prototype, the Hermes-Richelieu type, dates to ca. 360-350 BC. Its possible creators are believed to have been Argive-Sicyonian sculptors of the "third generation" of successors in the Polykleitan School such as Kleon, Alypos, and Polykleitos III, all of whom were stylistically "on the path to Lysippos". The Antikythera statue, together with the portrait statue from Messene and the variant from Melos now in Berlin, which is a work by the Parian sculptor Antiphanes, are ascribed to the very small group of Late Hellenistic variants of this type, the majority of which dates to the first two centuries after Christ. The underwater investigations carried out in the area of the Antikythera shipwreck have to date yielded a group of twenty glass vessels, wholly or fragmentarily preserved. This number, however, should not be considered the final count, since the ship's entire cargo has not been retrieved. Future excavation is sure to bring more objects to light, enriching our knowledge and illuminating previously unknown facets of research on glass and glass artifacts. Βibliography (with references to the previous one): C. Maderna-Lauter, Polyklet in hellenistischer und romischer Zeit, στον τόμο: H. Beck - P.C. Bol - M. Buckling (επιμ.), Polyklet. Der Bildhauer der griechischen Klassik, Exhibition Catalogue, Frankurt, Liebieghaus. Museum alter Plastik, Mainz am Rhein 1990, 305, fig. 182-183, and 307. C. Maderna, Die letzten Jahrzehnte der spatklassischen Plastik, in: P.C. Bol (ed.), Die Geschichte der antiken Bildhauerkunst II: Klassische Plastik, Mainz am Rhein 2004, 317, 320, 353, 364, fig. 290. B. Γκράτζιου, Αγαλματικοί τύποι του Ερμή στην πλαστική της Κλασικής Εποχής (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis), Ιoannina 2010, 171-172, no. 7.1, pl. 90α-δ. Ν. Kaltsas (ed.), The shipwreck off Antikythera. The Ship-The Treasures-The Mechanism, Catalogue of the Exhibition, National Archaeological Museum/Αthens, Αthens 2012 [E. Vlachogianni, in press].
submitted by Kytherian Cultural Exchange on 11.04.2012
by Zoe Savina Part 2 – μέρος 2 – Θα εκτίθεται μονίμως στο - on permanent exhibit at the “Art Center Library” of Matsue-Japan "Three separate pages - three languages" Printed on Japanese tissue http://www.zoesavina.com/ekdilwseis-lefkadios-hern.html First exhibited at: “THE OPEN MIND OF LAFCADIO HEARN” Events in his honor on the 120th anniversary of the arrival of Kozumi Yakuo in Japan International Art Exhibit dedicated to Lafcadios Hearn At the museum: “Lafcadios Hearn Memorial Museum” “Castel Mastue” October 10th – November 14th, 2010 Zoe Savina studied at The Professional School of Athens and Design and Decorative Arts in Italy. She writes poetry, haiku, tanka, minicuentos, essays, fairy tales, and critical presentations, which have been published in poetry journals, anthologies, newspapers, Who's Who, presented on the radio and television, in 19 countries. She has published 19 poetry collections and an international haiku anthology. Her haiku-tanka collection Enchantress was awarded The Poetry Prize by The Society of Greek Writers, and its third edition was translated into 6 languages. Savina is a member of The National Association of Greek Writers, founding member of The Coordinating Center of Hellenism, member of The World Haiku Association and an honorary member of The Yugoslav Haiku Association. Biography - Zoe Savina Zoe Savina was born in Athens, studied at the Professional School of Athens (as a tutor in Professional Schools), and later studied Design and Decorative Arts at the Scuola Delle Belli Arti -Firenze (Italy), Exhibited collage in Firenze and in Pistoia (Italy). She is married to sculpture Evangelos Moustakas. She has published 19 poetry collections, of her 7 smaller poetic compositions. Her haiku-tanka collection Enchantress was awarded the Poetry Prize of 1985 by the Society of Greek Writers. Its third edition was translated to 6 languages. In 2002 she published an international haiku anthology, The Leaves are Back on the Tree, featuring 186 poets from 50 countries. Her last haiku book “The House” 2008 was published in 2009 in Colombia (in Spanish). She is a member of the National Association of Greek Writers, founding member of the Coordinating Center of Hellenism, member of the World Haiku Association-Fujimi Saitama – Japan and an Honorary Member of the Yugoslav Haiku Association. Her poems have been awarded, prizes and have appeared in poetry journals, anthologies, newspapers, magazines, Who’s Who, radio, and television, in 19 countries. She write poetry, haiku, tanka, minicuentos, bonsai, essays, fairy tales, and critical presentations. She correspond with poets from many countries, university professors and philhellenes. Work in cooperation with literature periodicals, presenting poets from all over the world. The transference of their ideas and of the modern state of being throughout the world between their countries and Greece is of interest to she. Would call this exchange – cultural internationalization. She have taken part in and have given talks at Conferences and Symposiums in Greece and abroad. She presented 34 poets in Italy Nuovi Poeti Greeci (1982) for the Grafic Olimbia di Milano. They receive students, societies, artists and writers in their home-studio. Zoe Savina has traveled to the U.S., Europe, Cyprus, Japan, Turkey and Israel . Her Greek publications include: “Nuances” 1979, “Without Archangels” 1980, “Townships” 1981, “Acrobats”1983, “Enchantresses” haiku-tanka- (bilingual) awarded 1985, “Contact Lenses” – 1988, “20+ 20” (bilingual) 1989, “Enchantresses” 2nd Edition in six languages, 1994, “The Archon in the Crypt” (bilingual) awarded, 1994, “International Anthology of Haiku” – The leaves back on the trees – 2002 (50 countries – 186 poets in parallel translation), “I Touch” 2004, “The House” (bilingual) 2008, “The House -La Casa, 2009” in Spanish. Small Poetic Compositions: “Do You Know What I Will Give You?” 1992, “The Limit” 1993, “Mirror – Ripe Like Fruit” 1994, “The Chickpea” 1994, “The Vehicle – I Want” 1995, “The Vehicle for Courting” 1995, “The Vehicle of Delight” 1995. All her books are decorated with drawings by the sculptor Vangelis Moustakas and painter Alexander. http://www.zoesavina.com/
submitted by Kytherian Cultural Exchange on 25.03.2012
in dedication to Lafcadio Hearn, Koizumi Yakumo, - to the plum trees - the other Odysseus …and what will happen now? for years I have tightly embraced Basho! and just before, Issa, but the friend –stubborn, turned the page for me… and the goblins came, disaster, chrysanthemum shadows written by the child who drew cats afterwards he left beyond the cherry trees listening to the fluttering of the birds the little bells in the darkness of the souls words words words on the tips of his fingers dark boy from black to black not even if you were a cat he was born again looking at the blossoms of cherry trees there at Matsue the rocks in the blossom garden hold back the wind spring burst forth Setsu on his breast exotic flower! soft wing daughter of Samurai --sword cut earth - a ball you wound yourself around it like a little moon… -half Greek -his gaze half too -“whole” through the ages at Santa Black the bell tower - Hern at the cherry trees in the basement? what is that? his balance? -leaves falling they awaited him at every return the new walls Lafcadios what are you? the black, the mauve, the blue? traveler in the snow? land of chrysanthmums Lafcadios’ shelter -his snakes asleep? http://www.zoesavina.com/ekdilwseis-lefkadios-hern.html From: “THE OPEN MIND OF LAFCADIO HEARN” Events in his honor on the 120th anniversary of the arrival of Kozumi Yakuo in Japan International Art Exhibit dedicated to Lafcadios Hearn At the museum: “Lafcadios Hearn Memorial Museum” “Castel Mastue” October 10th – November 14th, 2010
submitted by Hellenic Museums & Galleries on 26.01.2012
By Chris Bergeron GateHouse News Service Patriotledger.com Posted Nov 19, 2011 Photograph: Aphrodite (Capitoline type), Roman, Imperial Period, 2nd century A.D. Marble probably from the Greek island of Paros. Throughout Greek antiquity, Aphrodite was worshiped as the goddess of love and beauty, pleasure and fertility. Sculptors immortalized her beguiling sensuality in marble statues found on Mount Olympus. Devotees journeyed to her birthplace in Cyprus to pray for her favors. Over time, a cult revering her flourished through other goddesses from Venus and the Virgin Mary to mock-divine contemporary exemplars. Once again, Aphrodite reigns supreme in an extraordinary exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts that showcases her mysterious fecundity through majestic sculptures, frescoes, pottery, jewelry and coins. The first major museum exhibit devoted solely to the goddess the Romans called Venus, “Aphrodite and the Gods of Love,” re-awakens an age of pagan belief through some of the finest Classical art in the world. Visitors will see stunning works depicting Aphrodite as the personification of idealized beauty, grace and feminine guile in a divinity whose image has fired Western culture like an acetylene flame. Organized by Christine Kondoleon, it features more than 160 works from the MFA’s Greek and Roman collection, complemented by 13 key loans that include several works never displayed before in the U.S. Kondoleon has used these rare works to transform the Lois and Michael Torf Gallery into a pan-Mediterranean temple that chronicles the ancestry, violent birth and evolution of the goddess whose many brilliant facets illuminated the era. The museum’s senior curator of Greek and Roman art, Kondoleon explained that Aphrodite was a primal goddess of manifold identities: She was seductress and the first woman portrayed naked. Believers prayed to her for success in marriage, war and lust. As recorded by the poet Hesiod in 800 B.C., Aphrodite emerged from the ancient mists of a Mesopotamian fertility cult. One of the earliest Greek gods, she was conceived in bloody strife when the god Kronos castrated his father with a sickle and threw his genitals into the sea. Carried by the waves, a white foam was created from which Aphrodite – whose name means “Born from the foam” – emerged from the sea, seeking refuge on the island of Cyprus. This deeply held myth was expressed in a highlight piece, a delicate ceramic figure from 400 B.C. of Aphrodite rising from the sea on a giant scallop shell, redolent of the sexual imagery Sandro Botticelli gave his Venus 18 centuries later. In statues, frescoes and reliefs, visitors will see stunning representations of a mature, beautiful woman, expressed through figurative art of the highest order. Visitors will see the famed 23-century-old Bartlett head in which Aphrodite gazes straight ahead with unblinking clarity. Crafted more than 30 centuries ago, a terracotta figurine from Mesopotamia covers her breasts with Bronze Age modesty. A half-draped goddess reaches out to celebrate a military victory. Aphrodite strides from the sea with the muscular determination of a farm girl mowing fields of wheat. Greeks and Romans portrayed Aphrodite on a scale befitting a goddess who started the Trojan War. The lifesize “Head of Aphrodite,” also called “the Bartlett Head,” fuses human beauty with a divine ideal in the 23-century old face that is as perfect and enigmatic as Venus de Milo. APHRODITE AND THE GODS OF LOVE At the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, through Feb. 20, $22 adults; $20 seniors and students 18 and older; free for youths 17 and younger during non-school hours; admission includes two visits in a 10-day period. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org.
Aphrodite and the Gods of Love October 26, 2011, to February 20, 2012 Museum of Fine Arts Boston Lois and Michael Torf Gallery Avenue of the Arts 465 Huntington Avenue 817-267-9300 Boston Photograph: Bathing vessel (loutrophoros) depicting a bridal procession, Greek, 450 -425 BC. Aphrodite and the Gods of Love aims to answer the questions, “Who was Aphrodite, and why was she so important to the Greeks and Romans?” In addition to celebrating the goddess’s legacy as an icon of romantic love and ideal beauty, the exhibition examines her more complicated nature as a powerful and sometimes capricious deity who influenced the daily lives of mortals, and explores the roles played by the other gods of love — Aphrodite’s children from her many love affairs — particularly the mischievous Eros. It also traces the first depiction of the female nude back to the Knidia, a life-size sculpture of Aphrodite made by the great 4th-century BC artist, Praxiteles, for her temple at Knidos, a Greek city in Asia Minor. This much-copied sculpture (the original has never been found) marked a turning point for the depiction of the female in western art. Aphrodite and the Gods of Love is the first museum exhibition of classical works devoted solely to Aphrodite (known as Venus to the Romans) and her realm — one that celebrates her likeness as the first female nude in western art history. It features some 160 extraordinary works from the MFA’s Greek and Roman collection, among the finest holdings in the United States, and includes 13 important loans — nine from Rome and Naples — including the spectacular Sleeping Hermaphrodite, which has left Italy only once. “I am excited to welcome visitors to the realm of the sexy goddess Aphrodite and hope that her powers are still potent and present, as well as her wise ancient ways,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. “The wonderful loans on view in the exhibition enhance the appreciation of Aphrodite and represent a continuation of the MFA’s longstanding relationship with Italy.” “We are exceptionally fortunate to have the quality and depth of collection to offer this first-ever survey of Aphrodite, which draws largely from our own holdings and is complemented by generous loans from Italy,” said Christine Kondoleon, the MFA’s George and Margo Behrakis Senior Curator of Greek and Roman Art, who organized the exhibition. “I am proud that the MFA will host the goddess’s US debut, and I fully expect she will attract many new devotees.” Divided into five main sections, Aphrodite and the Gods of Love begins with the deity’s birth in Cyprus and origins rooted in Near Eastern mythology, followed by an exploration of the cult of Aphrodite, the goddess’s myth and her influence over marriage, the concept of beauty — both ideal and in daily life, and the role Eros and other gods of love played in ancient Greek lore. Additionally, the exhibition assembles for the first time works given to the MFA by noted Boston art collector Edward Perry Warren (1860-1929). In fact, half of the objects in the exhibition can be traced to him (either as gifts from Warren or works he purchased on behalf of the Museum). These are among the 4,000 objects that form the core of the Museum’s holdings of Greek and Roman art, a premier world collection. Warren was responsible for the acquisition of the MFA’s most renowned classical work, Head of Aphrodite (Bartlett Head), (MFA, Greek, 330–300 BC), a sculpture of Aphrodite so admired that even Henry James wrote about her in his book of travel writing, The American Scene (Harper & Brothers Publishers, NY, 1907). The birth of the goddess reveals her roots in Cyprus, a cosmopolitan crossroads, and in the mythology of Near Eastern divinities who represented beauty, power, and fertility. The development of the most recognized imagery of the goddess, namely her rising from the sea out of a shell, can be found in the show. According to myth, the Titan Kronos castrated his father, the sky god Ouranos, and flung the genitals into the sea, where they were carried on the waves until the mixture created white foam from which Aphrodite (whose name means “born from foam”) was formed, already an irresistible woman. This remarkable birth is depicted in the marble Statuette of Aphrodite emerging from the sea (MFA, Greek or Roman, 1st century BC or 1st century AD) and Oil flask (lekythos) in the form of Aphrodite (MFA, Greek, mid-4th century BC), a richly painted and gilded ceramic container for perfumed oil, where the goddess is seen flanked by winged erotes. The Greeks believed that Aphrodite had control over many aspects of their lives. Women were among her cult followers because Aphrodite influenced love and marriage, and men because she was thought to oversee male potency and war. This is illustrated by Relief with Aphrodite and devotees (Greek, 4th century BC, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples), a marble votive that shows a family of worshipers bringing a ram for sacrifice before a seated, larger-than-life Aphrodite. Her devotees left pleasing offerings of all kinds in her sanctuaries and particularly popular were statuettes of doves, her favorite type of bird, a terracotta example of which is Statuette of a Dove (MFA, Etruscan, late 3rd–2nd century BC). As the goddess of love, Aphrodite had primary control over courtship and sexuality, as well as marriage and the creation of legitimate children, which promoted the continuity of Greek society. (Ironically, as the adulterous wife of Hephaistos, the god of the forge, Aphrodite herself was not the best role model for brides.) The importance of marriage can be seen in a variety of wedding- related objects in the exhibition, such as the rare Bathing vessel (loutrophoros) with a bridal procession (MFA, Greek, 450–425 BC). Aphrodite’s influence over love played an important role in one of the pivotal moments of Greek mythology, shown in The Judgment of Paris (Roman, AD 45-79, Museo Archeological Nazionale, Naples). This rare and beautiful fresco from Pompeii depicts the well-known myth in which Zeus asked the Trojan prince Paris to choose who among the goddesses — Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite — was the most beautiful. Paris selected Aphrodite and she rewarded him with Helen, the breathtaking wife of Menelaos of Sparta. So began the 10-year Trojan War, the subject of Homer’s Illiad. Documenting this is an important work from the MFA’s collection, Drinking cup (skyphos) with the departure and recovery of Helen (Greek, about 490–480 BC), by the vase painter Makron. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, Aphrodite/Venus represented idealized beauty. Prior to Praxiteles’s sculpture of Aphrodite in the 4th century BC, only males were depicted in the nude. Aphrodite and the Gods of Love includes a number of sculptural types that developed in response to the Knidia in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, including the marble Statue of Aphrodite or a Roman lady (MFA, Roman, Imperial Period, about mid-1st century AD), and the terracotta Statuette of Aphrodite untying a sandal (Sandalbinder) (MFA, Greek, 1st century BC). Also featured is the extraordinary Aphrodite of Capua (Roman, AD 117-38, Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli) a nearly seven foot tall marble statue of the half-draped goddess with military associations. The pursuit of beauty extended beyond Mount Olympus, preoccupying earth-bound females who wanted to emulate Aphrodite. A fresco from a villa in Pompei, Three Graces (Roman, 1st century BC–1st Century AD, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples), shows the lovely attendants who assisted Aphrodite with her beauty regimen. Mirrors, perfume, jewelry and cosmetics feature images of the goddess and reflect her influence in this arena. Among the objects on view are the gilt-bronze Mirror with women bathing before a statue of Aphrodite on a pillar (MFA, Roman, AD 110–117) and Mosaic panel (emblem) with cupid gathering roses in a garden (MFA, Roman, 2nd–3rd century AD), which attests to the erotic power and economic significance of the perfume industry in antiquity. Sharing dominion over love and sexuality with Aphrodite was the youthful Eros (son of the god of war, Ares), whose specialty was passionate desire and erotic love as experienced by members of the opposite or same sex. Equally complicated, albeit more playful than his mother, this challenging child is seen with wings, a bow, and a quiver of arrows in both the Greek depictions of the god, as in the terracotta Statuette of a Flying Eros (Greek, late 2nd century BC), and the Roman versions, where he is portrayed as Cupid, the son of Venus and Mars. An exquisite example is a fresco from the House of Terentius Neonis in Pompeii, Painting of Cupid and Psyche (Roman, AD 45–79, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples), which shows Cupid with the beautiful Psyche, with whom he has fallen in love, engaging in a romantic kiss hitherto rare in ancient art. Aphrodite’s other children have equally distinct characteristics, including Priapos (son of Dionysius), the well-endowed god of fertility; Aeneas (son of Prince Anchises), the Trojan hero who later is said to have founded Rome; and Hermaphrodite (son of Hermes), who is depicted in the languorous Statue of a sleeping Hermaphrodite (Roman, 2nd century AD, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome). This marble statue, which has left Italy only once before, is a surprising work: On one side it appears to be a voluptuous, sleeping female, but on the other, it is male. A smaller version of the exhibition Aphrodite and the Gods of Love, featuring 139 classical and post-classical works, previously was on view at the MFA’s sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, from July 18 to November 23, 2009. After the current version of the exhibition closes at the MFA on February 20, 2012, it will travel to three additional venues: J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, CA (March 28-July 9, 2012); San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX (September 15, 2012-February 17, 2013 ); Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK (March 3-May 26, 2013). Aphrodite and the Gods of Love is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation. The catalogue was made possible by the A.G. Leventis Foundation. This exhibition is organized under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Conservation support for objects in the exhibition was provided by the Leon Levy Foundation. Additional support provided by The Hellenic Women’s Club. The multimedia guide was made possible by the John and Sonia Lingos Family Foundation. Catalogue Complementing the exhibition is the catalogue •Aphrodite and the Gods of Love• (MFA Publications, 2011), which presents a comprehensive and scholarly appreciation of the goddess of love. It features more than 150 marble sculptures, painted vases, precious metals, mosaics, and gems, as well as contemporary depictions by artists such as Jim Dine and Fernando Botero. The 208-page book includes 200 color illustrations. It is edited by Christine Kondoleon, the MFA’s George D. and Margo Behrakis Senior Curator of Greek and Roman Art, with Phoebe C. Segal, the MFA’s Mary Bryce Comstock Assistant Curator of Greek and Roman Art. The book is available in hard cover for $50 and paperback for $35 in the MFA’s shops and on line at www.mfa.org/publications.
by Sean McLachlan Dec 29th 2011 Photograph: Statuette of Aphrodite untying a sandal (Sandalbinder), Greek, East Greek, Late Hellenistic Period, 1st century B.C., Terracotta. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Catharine Page Perkins Fund. The ancient goddess of love, sex, and beauty is making an appearance at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Aphrodite and the Gods of Love is a new exhibition examining one of the most popular ancient goddesses and her place in the Classical world. More than 150 ancient works of art are on display, including famous pieces such as the Knidia, a life-size sculpture of Aphrodite made by the 4th-century BC Greek artist, Praxiteles. Another interesting piece is the Sleeping Hermaphrodite, a reclining figure who from one side looks like a voluptuous woman, and from the other like a man. The exhibition traces Aphrodite's sexy origins in the Near East and the place of her cult in Greek and Roman society. Aphrodite was a Greek goddess who was adopted into the Roman pantheon as Venus. She was the symbol of romantic love and ideal beauty. She also oversaw marriage, an odd choice since many of the myths surrounding her involve her cheating on her husband, the blacksmith god Hephaistos (Vulcan). Men worshiped her because she aroused male virility. Being in charge of such important aspects of life made Aphrodite extremely popular. She was the patron goddess of Pompeii. Interestingly, Ramsay MacMullen in his Paganism in the Roman Empire points out that altars in private homes in Pompeii were more often dedicated to Foruna, Vesta, and Bacchus than Aphrodite. Perhaps because love received so much public worship, people felt they needed to give good luck, the home, and drinking some attention. They can be related, after all! McMullen's book (which I highly recommend) also touches on various ways the Romans worshipped Venus, including picnicking in the orchards around her sanctuary in Cnidus, and wild processions where a woman playing Venus led a string of dancing children playing Cupid. She and the other deities were very much part of daily life. The exhibition also looks at related figures of Classical mythology, such as Aphrodite's sons Eros (Cupid), the well-endowed Priapus, and Hermaphrodite. If you want to meet this lovely lady and her interesting offspring, you better hurry. Aphrodite and the Gods of Love is only on until February 20, 2012.
By Sebastian Smee Boston Globe October 30, 2011 The Judgment of Paris – Itallic, Etruscan, Hellenistic Period, late 3rd – 2nd century B.C. small MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS Greek myths give the sadly tarnished idea of received wisdom a much-needed boost. They elucidate truths we, today, can barely bring ourselves to acknowledge. Addressing not just pride and mortality but sex, violence, flux, and promiscuity, they provide a space for glimpsed but rarely addressed truths to gain traction in our lives. “Aphrodite and the Gods of Love’’ at the Museum of Fine Arts is a very beautiful, very smart, very orderly show that is also a kind of hymn to the Greeks’ apprehension of the power of promiscuity - of mixing things up. The exhibition is billed as the first museum show devoted to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was known to the Romans as Venus. Its pairing with the MFA’s concurrent “Degas and the Nude’’ is a rare instance of programming genius: Both shows stir up unsettling thoughts not just about female nudity and beauty, but about seduction, vulnerability, sexual power, and the sacred. The objects in “Aphrodite’’ are drawn mostly from the Greek and Roman holdings of the MFA, which are among the best in the country. But it also includes 13 loans, nine from Italy. The loans are the fruit of the MFA’s decision, in 2006, to return to Italy a number of disputed objects in its collection, and to set up procedures to ensure it doesn’t acquire stolen art in the future. That decision, and the Italian government’s promise of reciprocity, paid off for the MFA in 2009, helping to secure important loans for the exhibit “Renaissance Rivals: Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese.’’ Now, for the first time, it has led to significant loans of ancient art - including a large Roman marble statue of Aphrodite from the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples and - a real showstopper - a Roman statue of a sleeping Hermaphrodite, from the Museo Nazionale Romano. This sculpture has only once before traveled outside of Italy. The show was organized by Christine Kondoleon, the MFA’s senior curator of Greek and Roman Art, and Phoebe Segal, an assistant curator in the same department. Planning for it prompted a huge conservation effort - a welcome development at a time when MFA director Malcolm Rogers, preoccupied by building new wings, has left the museum’s Greek and Roman galleries looking hopelessly outdated. This show, by contrast, looks great. The layout must have presented huge challenges to the curators and to exhibition designer Virginia Durruty. Most of these objects - from vases and mirrors to marble sculptures - need to be seen in the round. Many, including cameos, coins, earrings, and, in shallow relief, an astonishing Roman gem showing a team of cupids making perfume, are tiny. And some - reflecting the interests of Edward Perry Warren (1860-1928), the Boston Brahmin responsible for half the works in the exhibition - are very sexually explicit. The overall result, centered on an oval-shaped core displaying large-scale marble sculptures of Aphrodite in all her glory - is lucid, coherent, and appropriately discreet without ever being apologetic. An early section of the show introduces us to some of Aphrodite’s forebears, as represented in Neolithic, Near-Eastern, and Egyptian art. All these figures represented not just fertility, but a feminine power that was explicitly bellicose. Aphrodite represents a more refined version of these bloodthirsty fertility goddesses, but she is still linked with war and destruction. The Greeks, that is to say, did not indulge the modern tendency to sentimentalize love. While they certainly celebrated love’s potential for good, they also saw violence as an inevitable outcome of Aphrodite’s first responsibility: to arouse desire. A small but startling object near the show’s entrance illustrates the story of Aphrodite’s origins. It’s an oil bottle, or lekythos. Grafted on to one side is a sculptural relief of the nude goddess emerging from a pink shell, assisted by flying cupids. One swoons and thinks of Botticelli. But the pink shell reminds us also of Aphrodite’s sensationally bloody birth, as recounted by Hesiod. The story goes like this: To avenge his mother Gaia, the Titan god Kronus used a curving sword, or sickle, to castrate his father, Uranus. Kronus then tossed the severed genitals into the sea. Aphrodite sprung forth from the foam churned up by the water (“aphros’’ is Ancient Greek for foam). Blown by the wind, she emerged near Kythera, and then came on land at Cyprus. Cyprus, which was later colonized by the Greeks, seems to have been the crucial link between the Near Eastern fertility goddesses and the Aegean world in which Aphrodite, always regarded as somehow a foreign god, came to play her leading role. Within art history, Aphrodite’s importance can hardly be overstated. Until her appearance as a nude, it was the male nude that predominated in Greek art. Women, when shown, were always to some degree concealed. The very first female nudes in the Western tradition were representations of Aphrodite, and almost every subsequent female nude in Greco-Roman art depicted this goddess. The first known example, now lost but known to us in copies, was Praxiteles’s Aphrodite of Knidos, a monumental sculpture of the nude goddess bathing, an urn for carrying water at her side. What a moment in human history! A whole tradition begun, a set of taboos cast off, a set of loaded assumptions and rival claims unleashed! The water, in this first great representation, was important: It connected the goddess to her birth, from the sea, and alluded to her status as a goddess of water. Subsequent versions of Aphrodite have her holding an apple; standing with hands revealingly open or subtly indicating her genitals; wearing a crown of victory; wringing out her hair; associating with amorous doves; untying sandals; erotically veiled by “wet drapery;’’ or leaning confidently on statues of herself. They tease out the goddess’s many other roles and characteristics: not just seductress, but mother and nurturer, patroness of brides, and protector of seafarers and warriors. Several incarnations here stand out. The first is the famous “Bartlett head,’’ named for Francis Bartlett, who provided the funds for its acquisition by the MFA in 1900. Celebrated in rapturous prose by Henry James within a few years of its first appearance in Boston, it was carved from luminous marble shortly after Praxiteles’s Knidos Aphrodite, and remains to this day one of the most admired examples of classical Greek sculpture. The goddess’s shadowed eyes, set deep in her softly modeled face, seem to carve out a sense of interiority, much as Degas’s late bathers bend over an inviolate space defined by the contortions of their self-tending bodies. Another highlight is a drinking cup from about 490 BC, signed by the painter Makron. It shows two key events marking both the beginning and the end of the Trojan War. That legendary conflict was triggered, of course, by Aphrodite promising the world’s most beautiful woman, Helen, to the mortal Paris if he should present her, rather than Hera or Athena, with the golden apple. On one side of Makron’s cup, we see Paris grabbing Helen by the wrist - a loaded gesture symbolizing for the ancients both marriage and rape. Helen’s hand is limp, her head bowed in trepidation; but Aphrodite arranges her veil and encourages her to go with Paris, as she would a nervous young bride. On the other side, the war at an end, we see Helen’s husband, Menelaus, drawing his sword, ready finally to punish his unfaithful wife. But here again, hovering behind Helen is Aphrodite, who this time adjusts Helen’s gaze so that her beauty mesmerizes Menelaus. If Helen’s face could launch a thousand ships, it could also disarm a man, making violence seem preposterous, and even sacrilegious. It’s this second effect of beauty that has inspired beauty pageants in war-torn Sarajevo and lyric poetry from the trenches. But we ignore beauty’s potential for destruction at our peril. Near the back of the show a separate section addresses Aphrodite’s many offspring. Among the most famous of these are Hermaphrodite - the bi-gendered offspring of Hermes and Aphrodite - and Priapus, her son with the party-boy Dionysus. Here, the sleeping Hermaphrodite - leg erotically stretched out so that the toes pull taut a bed sheet - opens onto a theatrically darkened display of erotic sculptures, including a sculpture of a bearded Priapus, his erect and overburdened phallus supporting a cornucopia of fruit. But of Aphrodite’s offspring, by far the most famous was Eros (known to the Romans as Cupid). His mischievous, destabilizing but profoundly procreative role - extending beyond sex and into learning, philosophy, art, and war - is central to classical culture, and thus to the whole Western tradition. In an array of sculptural fragments and painted bowls, we see him here inspiring not just explicit scenes of athletically heterosexual sex, but homosexual seductions, as well as spanking, pedophilia, and even bestiality. Over the centuries, our conception of classical art has tended toward the hygienic. We - and scores of artists past - have associated it with near-static ideals of order, decorum, beauty, and harmonious proportion. But these ideals represent just one half of the classical tradition. The other half is inseparable from desire, with all its destructive and generative force, and from the Greek notion of “mixis’’ - the mingling of bodies in love or in war, the ongoing exchange been gods and mortals, and so on. Aphrodite, the most seductive of goddesses, is crucial to this half of the tradition.
submitted by Hellenic Museums & Galleries on 27.03.2012
Bostoniano.info - October 27, 2011 in Boston When: Through February 20, 2012 Where: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, More exhibit information at end of article. "Votive Relief with Aphrodite and devotees" Greek, Late Classical period, 4th century B.C. Marble (Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) Ancient worshipers traveled to Mount Olympus in Greece or to temples in Kythera and Cyprus to pay homage to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, but today, devotees can admire the beguiling divinity closer to home at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), in Aphrodite and the Gods of Love. On view October 26, 2011, to February 20, 2012, in the Lois and Michael Torf Gallery, it is the first museum exhibition of classical works devoted solely to Aphrodite (known as Venus to the Romans) and her realm—one that celebrates her likeness as the first female nude in western art history. It features some 160 works from the MFA’s Greek and Roman collection, among the finest holdings in the United States, and includes 13 important loans. Nine of these lent works are from Rome and Naples—including the spectacular Sleeping Hermaphrodite, which has left Italy only once prior to this exhibition. Aphrodite and the Gods of Love is sponsored by United Technologies Corporation. The catalogue was made possible by the A.G. Leventis Foundation. This exhibition is organized under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. Conservation support for objects in the exhibition was provided by the Leon Levy Foundation. Additional support was provided by The Hellenic Women’s Club. The multimedia guide was made possible by the John and Sonia Lingos Family Foundation. "Sleeping Hermaphrodite" Roman, Imperial Period, 1st century B.C. Marble "The Judgment of Paris" – Itallic, Etruscan, Hellenistic Period, late 3rd – 2nd century B.C. (Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) “I am excited to welcome visitors to the realm of the sexy goddess Aphrodite and hope that her powers are still potent and present, as well as her wise ancient ways,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the MFA. “The wonderful loans on view in the exhibition enhance the appreciation of Aphrodite and represent a continuation of the MFA’s longstanding relationship with Italy.” Aphrodite and the Gods of Love aims to answer the questions, “Who was Aphrodite, and why was she so important to the Greeks and Romans?” In addition to celebrating the goddess’s legacy as an icon of romantic love and ideal beauty, the exhibition examines her more complicated nature as a powerful and sometimes capricious deity who influenced the daily lives of mortals, and explores the roles played by the other gods of love—Aphrodite’s children from her many love affairs—particularly the mischievous Eros. It also traces the first depiction of the female nude back to the Knidia, a life-size sculpture of Aphrodite made by the great 4th-century BC artist, Praxiteles, for her temple at Knidos, a Greek city in Asia Minor. This much-copied sculpture (the original has never been found) marked a turning point for the depiction of the female in western art. “We are exceptionally fortunate to have the quality and depth of collection to offer this first-ever survey of Aphrodite, which draws largely from our own holdings and is complemented by generous loans from Italy,” said Christine Kondoleon, the MFA’s George and Margo Behrakis Senior Curator of Greek and Roman Art, who organized the exhibition. “I am proud that the MFA will host the goddess’s US debut, and I fully expect she will attract many new devotees.” "Sleeping Hermaphrodite" Roman, Imperial Period, 1st century B.C. Marble (Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) Aphrodite and the Gods of Love begins with the deity’s birth in Cyprus and origins rooted in Near Eastern mythology, followed by an exploration of the cult of Aphrodite, the goddess’s myth and her influence over marriage, the concept of beauty—both ideal and in daily life, and the role Eros and other gods of love played in ancient Greek lore. Additionally, the exhibition assembles for the first time works given to the MFA by noted Boston art collector Edward Perry Warren (1860–1929). In fact, half of the objects in the exhibition can be traced to him (either as gifts from Warren or works he purchased on behalf of the Museum). These are among the 4,000 objects that form the core of the Museum’s holdings of Greek and Roman art, a premier collection. Warren was responsible for the acquisition of the MFA’s most renowned classical work, Head of Aphrodite (Bartlett Head), (Greek, 330–300 BC, MFA), a sculpture of Aphrodite so admired that even Henry James wrote about her in his book of travel writing, The American Scene (Harper & Brothers Publishers, NY, 1907). The birth of the goddess reveals her roots in Cyprus, a cosmopolitan crossroads, and in the mythology of Near Eastern divinities who represented beauty, power, and fertility. The development of the most recognized imagery of the goddess, namely her rising from the sea out of a shell, can be found in the show. According to myth, the Titan Kronos castrated his father, the sky god Ouranos, and flung the genitals into the sea, where they were carried on the waves until the mixture created white foam from which Aphrodite (whose name means “born from foam”) was formed, already an irresistible woman. This remarkable birth is depicted in the marble Statuette of Aphrodite emerging from the sea (Greek or Roman, 1st century BC or 1st century AD, MFA) and Oil flask (lekythos) in the form of Aphrodite (Greek, mid-4th century BC, MFA), a richly painted and gilded ceramic container for perfumed oil, where the goddess is seen flanked by winged erotes. Statuette of Aphrodite emerging from the sea,Greek or Roman, Eastern Mediterranean, Hellenistic or Imperial Period, first century BC or first century AD. (Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) The Greeks believed that Aphrodite had control over many aspects of their lives. Women were among her cult followers because Aphrodite influenced love and marriage, and men because she was thought to oversee male potency and war. This is illustrated by Relief with Aphrodite and devotees (Greek, 4th century BC, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples), a marble votive that shows a family of worshipers bringing a ram for sacrifice before a seated, larger-than-life Aphrodite. Her devotees left pleasing offerings of all kinds in her sanctuaries and particularly popular were statuettes of doves, her favorite type of bird, a terracotta example of which is Statuette of a Dove (Etruscan, late 3rd–2nd century BC, MFA). As the goddess of love, Aphrodite had primary control over courtship and sexuality, as well as marriage and the creation of legitimate children, which promoted the continuity of Greek society. (Ironically, as the adulterous wife of Hephaistos, the god of the forge, Aphrodite herself was not the best role model for brides.) The importance of marriage can be seen in a variety of wedding related objects in the exhibition, such as the rare Bathing vessel (loutrophoros) with a bridal procession (Greek, 450–425 BC, MFA). Aphrodite’s influence over love played an important role in one of the pivotal moments of Greek mythology, shown in The Judgment of Paris – Itallic, Etruscan, Hellenistic Period, late 3rd – 2nd century B.C. (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples). This rare and beautiful fresco from Pompeii depicts the well-known myth in which Zeus asked the Trojan prince Paris to choose who among the goddesses —Hera, Athena, or Aphrodite—was the most beautiful. Paris selected Aphrodite and she rewarded him with Helen, the breathtaking wife of Menelaos of Sparta. So began the 10-year Trojan War, the subject of Homer’s Illiad. Documenting this is an important work from the MFA’s collection, Drinking cup (skyphos) with the departure and recovery of Helen (Greek, about 490–480 BC, MFA), by the vase painter Makron. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, Aphrodite/Venus represented idealized beauty. Prior to Praxiteles’s sculpture of Aphrodite in the 4th century BC, only males were depicted in the nude. Aphrodite and the Gods of Love includes a number of sculptural types that developed in response to the Knidia in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, including the marble Statue of Aphrodite or a Roman lady (Roman, Imperial Period, about mid-1st century AD, MFA), and the terracotta Statuette of Aphrodite untying a sandal (Sandalbinder) (Greek, 1st century BC, MFA). Also featured is the extraordinary Aphrodite of Capua (Roman, AD 117–38, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples) a nearly seven-foot -tall marble statue of the half-draped goddess with military associations. The pursuit of beauty extended beyond Mount Olympus, preoccupying earth-bound females who wanted to emulate Aphrodite. A fresco from a villa in Pompei, Three Graces (Roman, 1st century BC–1st Century AD, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples), shows the lovely attendants who assisted Aphrodite with her beauty regimen. Mirrors, perfume, jewelry, and cosmetics feature images of the goddess and reflect her influence in this area. Among the objects on view are the gilt-bronze Mirror with women bathing before a statue of Aphrodite on a pillar (Roman, AD 110–117, MFA) and Mosaic panel (emblem) with cupid gathering roses in a garden (Roman, 2nd–3rd century AD, MFA), which attests to the erotic power and economic significance of the perfume industry in antiquity. Sharing dominion over love and sexuality with Aphrodite was the youthful Eros, whose specialty was passionate desire and erotic love as experienced by members of the opposite or same sex. Equally complicated, albeit more playful than his mother, this challenging child is seen with wings, a bow, and a quiver of arrows in both the Greek depictions of the god, as in the terracotta Statuette of a Flying Eros (Greek, late 2nd century BC, MFA), and the Roman versions, where he is portrayed as Cupid, the son of Venus and Mars. An example is a fresco from the House of Terentius Neonis in Pompeii, Painting of Cupid and Psyche (Roman, AD 45–79, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples), which shows Cupid with the beautiful Psyche, with whom he has fallen in love, engaging in a romantic kiss hitherto rare in ancient art. Aphrodite’s other children have equally distinct characteristics, including Priapos (son of Dionysius), the well-endowed god of fertility; Aeneas (son of Prince Anchises), the Trojan hero who later is said to have founded Rome; and Hermaphrodite (son of Hermes), who is depicted in the languorous Statue of a sleeping Hermaphrodite (Roman, 2nd century AD, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome). This marble statue, which has left Italy only once before, is a surprising work: On one side it appears to be a voluptuous, sleeping female, but on the other, it is male. A multimedia guide is available to visitors to enhance the viewing of Aphrodite and the Gods of Love. It includes 12 stops highlighting key works accompanied by recitations of ancient classical texts and love poems narrated by actors from the Huntington Theatre Company. The multimedia guide is available for $5 for MFA members, $6 for non-members, $4 for children, and $2 per person for groups at the Museum’s Huntington Avenue Entrance, State Street Corporation Fenway Entrance, and the Sharf Visitor Center. .
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