Exhibition: Pompeii and the Roman Villa

"Pompeya y una Villa Romana: Arte y Cultura alrededor de la Bahia de Napoles" (Pompeii and the Roman Villa. Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples) has arrived in Mexico and will open this month at the National Museum of Anthropology.

As part of the cultural exchange program between Mexico and Italy, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) sponsors this international exhibition within its cycle “Great Civilizations”. In return, “Teotihuacan, City of Gods” will be displayed at the Palace of Exhibitions in Rome in 2010.

For the full story, see Artdaily.org.

Last days of Pompeii

Posted on behalf of Kenneth Lapatin:

"Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture Around the Bay of Naples" closed on Sunday October 4 after five months at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Over 100,000 visitors saw the exhibition at LACMA (ironically installed in the "Art of the Americas" Building), where the installation was slightly reconfigured following its successful run at the National Gallery of Art, where it had been guest curated by Carol Mattusch, who also edited and wrote most of the catalogue. Several additional loans from the Getty Museum augmented the already strong selection of artifacts from the Bay of Naples and other collections, and the Getty and LACMA collaborated on numerous public programs, including a major international symposium in June. An abbreviated version of the exhibition is scheduled to open in Mexico City in mid-November, and will travel to Russia next year.

Article: Archaism in Roman art explored in Los Angeles Pompeii exhibit

Another review of, or rather article inspired by, the current LACMA exhibition, recently posted on the new Heritage Key website.

Review: LA: Pompeii and the Roman Villa at LACMA

There is a nice snippet about the LACMA 'Pompeii and the Roman Villa' exhibition by Hamish Bowles in Vogue.com. 'So many small miracles. No wonder, as the exhibition reveals, that these treasures, when unearthed in the eighteenth century, unleashed the imagination of artists from that day to our own.' Shame he mistakes Etna for Vesuvius, but nice that he thought the exhibition 'a revelation of beauty'.

LACMA: Pompeii and the Roman Villa, again

Some of you may know that Jennifer and Arthur Stephens of the Via dell'Abbondanza Project contributed three images to the Pompeii exhibition at LACMA. Two were photographs enlarged to 18 ft x 12 ft taken in the garden of the Praedia of Julia Felix (Reg II.4), which served as backdrops to garden statuary; the third was a photomosaic of Reg 1,8 enlarged to 45 ft X 11 ft which was placed in a fairly narrow corridor at the exit the exhibition. Jennifer recently sent me images of these photos in situ (so to speak), and I want to share them here (with her permission, obviously) because I think they're spectacular.

Images: Su concessione del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali - Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompei.

Also, I want to provide a quick round-up of resources relating LACMA incarnation of this exhibition:

• This is the official LACMA site, which has a slide show, and details of lectures, concerts and a symposium that relate to the exhibition: http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibpompeii.aspx. Note too that the NGA website for the exhibition still contains podcasts and images (including discussions with Carol Mattusch and a lecture by Paul Zanker).
• There are photos of the exhibition on the LA Times website, and a review. The LA Times is also asking visitors to the exhibition if they think it was worth the $25 entrance fee ...
• There is another review at ArtDaily.org, but otherwise there is not a lot out there ... Personally I think Francesca's review for Blogging Pompeii is the best I have read!

Review: Buried Pleasure

An excellent review article by Glen Bowerstock in The New Republic.

Greek Art/Roman Eyes: The Reception of Greek Art in the Private Sphere in Ancient Italy

This from The Getty:
Keynote public lecture at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art June 4, 2009Scholarly symposium at the Getty Villa June 5 and 6, 2009.
This symposium addresses how Romans and other ancient peoples on the Italian peninsula collected, appreciated, emulated, and displayed the art and culture of Greece to diverse ends and the various ways ancient Greek art was presented in houses and villas in Italy from as early as the eighth century B.C. to the height of the Roman Empire. Distinguished international experts explore such topics as the early import of Greek artworks, the adaptation and reinterpretation of foreign myths to meet local needs, the ancient art market, encounters between Greeks and Romans at various social levels, the diverse functions of Roman villas, and recent finds from current excavations. This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples, on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art May 3 to October 4, 2009, and the current annual research theme at the Getty Villa, The Power and Function of Ancient Images. It is organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with additional support provided by the Italian Consulate General of Los Angeles, the Italian Cultural Institute, Los Angeles, and the Campania Region.