Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome

Over our spring break, the Getty Villa's exhibition Sicily: Art and Invention between Greece and Rome opened, which focuses on the life and culture of ancient Sicily from the 5th through 3rd c. BCE and will run through this summer to August 19.

Despite its title, the materials in the exhibition are primarily Sikeliote Greek, including some sculpture, unique pottery, rare coins, and a few other interesting pieces (e.g. the spectacular golden "Phiale of Achyris").

Of especial interest are the materials devoted to the Sicilian engineer Archimedes, including a page from a palimpsest recording his work on his famous stomachion problem ("Archimedes' square").  Novelty versions of the square are available in the Villa's gift shop.

Poppies

The exhibition is organized thematically, with features on the island's initial colonization by the Greeks, its literary culture, and its religion (focusing, of course, on Demeter).  The materials on literature and art are particularly interesting, given that several prominent Greek literary figures like Pindar and Aeschylus, visited Sicily, leaving their mark on its culture.

Marigolds beside a fig tree

The Villa's side production for the exhibition, as is customary, is fantastic, and the exhibition catalog, which is designed to bridge the gap in scholarship in this period, is beautiful.

As an added bonus for visitors right now, several of the flowers in the Villa's several gardens are in bloom, making the Sikeliote art not the only attraction worth visiting.

The Latin program will sponsor a tour of the Getty Villa later this spring on Sunday, May 19 on behalf of the HWPA Partybook, and we'll certainly explore this exhibition in great detail.

The Hidden Classical World in Los Angeles

Though the Last Days of Pompeii exhibition has recently moved on from the Getty Villa (it's now at the Cleveland Museum of Art), there are other interesting pieces of art with connections to ancient Rome and Greece to be found in Los Angeles right now.  That items of this sort can be found almost randomly in Los Angeles goes to show just how pervasive Greco-Roman culture was in the ancient world and now, and it also attests to the fact that we live in a city remarkably rich in art.

Roman costume from Spartacus

The Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has materials from all of the director's work. Items from his 1960 film Spartacus are on display, including costumes and storyboards from the movie. The degree of detail that Kubrick put into his movies was extraordinary, and the small corner of the exhibition dedicated to this film provides a fascinating glimpse into how movies on ancient Rome were made in his time. The Kubrick exhibition runs through June 30, 2013.

The Art of Continuity at the Pacific Asia Museum 

The Pacific Art Museum in Pasadena currently has on display The Art of Continuity: Revering our Elders, which collects Asian traditions of revering and honoring ancestors.  It's worth visiting to compare the Asian traditions to the Roman mos maiorum, in that the values that both traditions had are similar in some interesting ways.  Revering our Elders is on display until Jan. 5, 2014.

Buddha Shakyamuni

Also in Pasadena, the Norton Simon Museum houses a remarkable collection of Asian art, including spectacular pieces of Buddhist art. One piece in particular, a statue of Buddha Shakyamuni from Gandhara dating to c. 200CE (pictured above), is remarkable for its multicultural features. The Buddha shows the classical hand mudra and ushnisha above his head. But because ancient Gandhara (modern Pakistan) was at a confluence of Greek and Asian culture, thanks to the conquest of Alexander the Great, much art from the region shows Greek influence. Here, the statue possesses a flowing gown and curled hair that are not characteristic of Buddha depictions in older Buddhist art, but rather are standard features belonging to Hellinistic sculpture. This Buddha is part of the Norton Simon's permanent collection. Interest in ancient Gandhara has been on the rise, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York currently has a beautiful exhibition Buddhism art along the Silk Road through Feb. 10, 2013 that also includes several similar examples of Buddhist art with Hellenistic features.

Feel free to add any other potentially interesting items of Classical interest in the greater Los Angeles area below in the comments.

Lion Attacking a Horse at the Getty Villa

Another shameless Getty Villa plug:  the Lion Attacking a Horse exhibition has just opened, featuring the eponymous statue on loan from the Capitoline Museum in Rome, and will be featured until 2/4, 2013.  The video below details its installation in the Villa's atrium.

On Thursday, 8/23 at 3pm (with repeats on 9/20, 10/25, 11/29, and 12/20), Villa curators will lead free 45min. gallery talks on the piece and its installation.  Additionally, they will offer a $35 ($28 for students) course on Saturday, 12/8 at 1pm on the history and iconography of this fantastic sculpture.

Last year, we offered a field trip to the Getty Villa that included a tour and scavenger hunt designed around the collection.  I think that we'll do something similar this year, though now focusing on the Lion.