LLEI D'ART 13

Definingbeauty: thebody inancient Greekart By IanJenkins BritishMuseum Until the 5 th July 2015 Sponsored by Julius Baer Inmemory of Melvin RSeiden Mrs JayneWrightsman, OBE This spring theBritishMuseumwill stage amajor exhibition on the humanbody in ancient Greek art, sponsoredby JuliusBaer. This exhibitionwill explore theGreek experience and its preoccupationwith the human form. To the ancient Greeks thebodywas a thingof beauty and abearer of meaning. The remarkableworks of art in the exhibition range from the abstract simplicity of prehistoric figurines tobreathtaking realism in the age of Alexander theGreat. Giving form to thought, theseworks continued to inspire artists for hundreds of years and, over time, shaped theway we think of ourselves. The exhibitionwill feature around 150objects, including some of themost beautiful Greek sculpture tohave survived from antiquity. In addition to iconicwhitemarble statues, the exhibitionwill include exquisiteworks in terracotta, beautiful bronzes and fascinating vases that demonstrate thequality and inventiveness of ancient Greek craftsmen. Outstanding objects from theBritishMuseum, one of themost important collections of Greek art in theworld, will be shown alongside extraordinary loans fromother world-class collections. Ancient Greek sculpturewas both art and experience. The exhibitionwill present sculpture as an encounter between viewer and the object. The first such encounter will be a newly discoveredoriginal bronze sculpture of a nude athlete, scrapinghis bodywith ametal tool after exercise andbefore bathing. Raisedoff the seabed near Lošinj, Croatia in 1999, this rare survival of an ancient bronze statuewill be shown for the first time inBritain after years of conservation. For the first time, sixParthenon sculptureswill be takenout of thepermanent Parthenongallery andwill be installed in the temporary exhibition inorder to contribute to adifferent narrative from their usual context. As a supreme example of thework of the sculptor Phidias, the river god Ilissoswill be shown indialoguewith thework of twoof the sculptor’s contemporaries; the TownleyDiscobolus, aRoman copy of the lost original byMyron, andGeorgRömer’s reconstruction of theDoryphoros byPolykleitos. The three great sculptors of the age,Myron, Polykleitos andPhidias, were said to have been trained in theworkshopof a singlemaster and each motivatedby a strong impulse tooutdo the other. In addition to the figure of Ilissos, other examples of sculpture from the Parthenon templewill be shown indifferent sections of the exhibition including ametope, twoblocks from the frieze, one figure from theWest Pediment andone figure from the East Pediment group. The exhibitionwill also explore the revival of theGreek body in themodern era following its destruction and disappearance at the endof pagan antiquity. Prior to the arrival of theParthenon sculptures in London in the early 1800s, Greek art was viewed throughRoman copies of lost Greek originals, such as theBelvedere Torso, whichwill be lent by theVaticanMuseum. This seatedhero, perhaps Herakles, was regardedbyMichelangelo as the finest fragment of classical sculpture that couldbe seen in his day. It will be shown alongside his drawingof Adam for the SistineChapel ceiling. Thesemasterpieceswill bedisplayed in a unique combinationwith a recliningnude figure from theEast pediment of theParthenon. Thus the school of Michelangelowill bebrought together with the school of Phidias for the first time. The exhibitionwill explore how, inGreek art, thebody acts as apictorial language for articulating the human condition. It can represent every aspect ofmortal anddivine experience, in fulfilment of Protagoras’s statement “Man is themeasure of all things”. This exhibitionwill be the first in a series to focus on important areas of theMuseum’s famous permanent collection toguide future thinking about the display of one of themost important collections of sculpture 65