Gods in Color
Gods in Color (original title in German: Bunte Götter – Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur, painted gods - the polychromy of ancient sculpture) is a travelling exhibition of varying format and extent that has been shown in multiple cities worldwide. Its subject is ancient polychromy, i.e. the original, brightly painted, appearance of ancient sculpture and architecture.
Concept
The exhibition is based on the result of research on ancient polychromy, conducted especially by the Classical archaeologist Vinzenz Brinkmann since the early 1980s, based on earlier works by Volkmar von Graeve. Working together with Raimund Wünsche, the director of the Glyptothek at Munich, Brinkmann developed the concept for the exhibition, culminating in the original Munich show in 2003. It displayed copies of ancient sculpture in their recostructed painted appearance that had been produced during his studies, as well as new reconstructions created expecially for the exhibition, in conjunction with the originals or comparable ancient sculptures. Soon, it began to travel to other cities in Germany and beyond.
Since 2007, the exhibition and underlying research receive support from a foundation created by the government of Bavaria, as well as private donations. After the original German catalogue produced for the 2003 Munich exhibition, new editions were issued for later showings, most recently for the 2010 one in Berlin. An English catalogue was published for the 2008 showing in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University. In 2007 the Colored Gods formed part of the exhibition Color of Life – Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present at the J. Paul Getty Museum at Los Angeles, with contributions in the respective catalogue.
Dates
So far, the exhibit has been shown in the following locations :
- 16. Dec. 2003 – 29. Feb. 2004: Glyptothek, Munich [1]
- Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen
- Vatican Museums, Rome
- 11. Aug. – 20. Nov. 2005: Skulpturhalle, Basel
- 2. Dec. 2005 – 26. Mar 2006: Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam
- 2006: Archaeological Museum, Istanbul
- 9. Jan. – 24. Mar. 2007: as Πολύχρωμοι Θεοί/Polychromoi Theoi, National Archaeological Museum, Athens
- 4. Apr. – 1. Jul. 2007: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
- 22. Sep. 2007 – 20. Jan. 2008: as Gods in Color. Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity, Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge (Massachusetts) [2]
- 6. Mar. – 23. Jun. 2008: Part of exhibition Color of Life – Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles [3]
- 8. Oct. 2008 – 15. Feb. 2009: Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main [4]
- 6. Mar. – 1. Jun. 2009: Antikensammlung, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel
- 18. Dec. 2009 – 18. Apr. 2010: Museum, Madrid
- 13. Jul. – 3. Oct. 2010: Antikensammlung in the Pergamonmuseum, Berlin
- 9. Oct. 2010 – 30. Jan. 2011: as White Lies, Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm [5]
- 6. Mar. – 31. Jul. 2011: Georg-August-Universität, Archaeological Institute, Göttingen [6]
- 29. Oct. 2011 - 20. May 2012: Heidelberg University[7]
- 28. Jun 2012 - : Kunstsammlungen, Ruhr University Bochum
- 13. November 2012 - : Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Catalogues
In German:
- Vinzenz Brinkmann, Raimund Wünsche (eds.): Bunte Götter. Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur. Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, Munich 2004. ISBN 3-933200-08-3. [Original catalogue]
- Various editions coinciding with later showings
- Vinzenz Brinkmann, Andreas Scholl (eds.): Bunte Götter. Die Farbigkeit antiker Skulptur. Hirmer, Munich, 2010. ISBN 978-3-7774-2781-2 [Most recent edition]
In English:
- Vinzenz Brinkmann (ed.): Gods in Color - Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity, Biering & Brinkmann, Munich, 2007. ISBN 3-930609-54-1 [Coinciding with Harvard showing]
- Roberta Panzanelli, Eike Schmidt, Kenneth Lapatin (eds.): The Color of Life: Polychromy in Sculpture from Antiquity to the Present, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, 2008. ISBN 0-892369-18-3 [Catalogue for the L.A. exhibition, including sections on the Gods in Color exhibit]
External links
References
- ^ http://www.amazon.de/Bunte-G%C3%B6tter-Farbigkeit-antiker-Skulptur/dp/3933200083/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344896859&sr=8-2 Original catalogue
- ^ Harvard exhibition
- ^ Getty exhibition
- ^ Homepage Liebighaus
- ^ Homepage Medelhavsmuseet
- ^ Hompepage Universität Göttingen
- ^ Antikenmuseum der Universität Heidelberg