Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture in the Hellenistic World - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1606064401 ISBN 13: 9781606064405

Publisher: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2015

Synopsis

For the general public and specialists alike, the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC) and its diverse artistic legacy remain underexplored and not well understood. Yet it was a time when artists throughout the Mediterranean developed new forms, dynamic compositions, and graphic realism to meet new expressive goals, particularly in the realm of portraiture. Rare survivors from antiquity, large bronze statues are today often displayed in isolation, decontextualized as masterpieces of ancient art. Power and Pathos gathers together significant examples of bronze sculpture in order to highlight their varying styles, techniques, contexts, functions, and histories.

As the first comprehensive volume on large-scale Hellenistic bronze statuary, this book includes groundbreaking archaeological, art-historical, and scientific essays offering new approaches to understanding ancient production and correctly identifying these remarkable pieces. Designed to become the standard reference for decades to come, the book emphasizes the unique role of bronze both as a medium of prestige and artistic innovation and as a material exceptionally suited for reproduction.

Power and Pathos is published on the occasion of an exhibition on view at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence from March 14 to June 21, 2015; at the J. Paul Getty Museum from July 20 through November 1, 2015; and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, from December 6, 2015, through March 20, 2016.

About this title

About the Author

Jens M. Daehner is associate curator in the Department of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum and coauthor of Modern Antiquity: Picasso, De Chirico, Léger, Picabia (Getty Publications, 2011). Kenneth Lapatin is associate curator in the Department of Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum. He is the editor of The Berthouville Silver Treasure and Roman Luxury (Getty Publications, 2014) and coeditor of The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection (Getty Publications, 2012).

Review

“A superlative, richly illustrated, very readable catalog.”—Los Angeles Times
 

“Wonderful photographs supplement and complement the catalogued items, thus making this publication a stunning visual pleasure. . . . Both essays and individual entries—especially the latter—break new ground and advance new theories.”—Bryn Mawr Classical Review
 

“...a splendid catalogue...”—Hellenistic News of America
 

“Spectacular. . . .[this] book is a model of what an exhibition catalogue should be.”—Choice
 

“Students of the Classical world will find these essays invaluable, while readers with a more general interest will find them approachable, clear and engagingly written.”—The Art Newspaper
 

“Intelligently written, beautifully produced and with excellent photographs that do full justice to the sculptures they illustrate, it is itself a fine artefact, and one that should be valued for many years to come.”—The Art Newspaper
 

Edition details

• Publisher: J. Paul Getty Museum
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1606064401
• ISBN 13: 9781606064405
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Daehner Jens M, Lapatin Kenneth