“Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity” makes its premiere in the United States at Harvard

The Harvard University Art Museums present Gods in Color: Painted Sculpture of Classical Antiquity at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum from September 22, 2007 through January 20, 2008. This traveling exhibition of over 20 full-size color reconstructions of important Greek and Roman works challenges the popular notion of classical white marble sculpture, illustrating that ancient sculpture was far more colorful, complex, and exuberant than is often thought. The reconstructions will be displayed in the Sackler’s galleries of ancient art alongside some 35 original statues and reliefs—primarily from the Art Museums’ own collections of Greek, Roman, Near Eastern, and Egyptian art. Gods in Color breaks new ground as it constitutes the first large-scale effort to recreate the original appearance of ancient sculpture. The exhibition at the Sackler Museum is the first

U.S. venue of the traveling exhibition, which was previously shown in Amsterdam, Athens, Basel, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Istanbul, Munich, and Rome.

A closer look at the surfaces of many ancient statues and reliefs reveals traces of their painted decoration, suggesting that plain white marble sculpture was not so much an ancient reality as an invention of the Renaissance and neoclassical periods. Evidence of painted and gilt stone sculpture, of colorful bronze statuary, and of statues of gold and ivory puts Greek and Roman art in harmony with artistic practices in Egypt and the Near East, and with those of the subsequent medieval period. The color reconstructions presented in Gods in Color are based on extensive visual and scientific analysis of original sculptures. Two short films that document the process of their creation and a display of pigments used in antiquity—as well as for the modern reconstructions—will also be shown in the galleries.   More information.