The Glam-Ur-ous Life: Archaeology and Modern Art

When British archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovered in December 1927 the tomb of Puabi, the queen/priestess of the Sumerian city of Ur during the First Dynasty of Ur more than 4,000 years ago, the story rivaled that of Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt just five years earlier. “Magnificent with jewels,” as Woolley described it, Puabi’s tomb contained the bodies of dozens of attendants killed to accompany her in the afterlife — the ideal material for a headline-grabbing PR campaign that momentarily shouldered Tut out of the spotlight. A new exhibit at New York’s The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World titled From Ancient to Modern: Archaeology and Aesthetics puts Puabi back in the spotlight to examine how archaeology and aesthetics intersected, transforming ancient art into modern and making modern art strive to be ancient. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "The Glam-Ur-ous Life: Archaeology and Modern Art."

Death at the Museum: Tunisia, ISIS, Civilization, and Survival

The attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia, on March 18, 2015, was an attack on civilization itself. Not just Tunisian civilization or Western civilization or Islamic civilization or Christian civilization — ALL civilization. ISIS may not have been directly involved in the Tunisian attack, but its iconoclastic, its “year zero” philosophy certainly was present. The fact that these attackers targeted tourists seeking out ancient civilizations rather than the artifacts of those ancient civilizations makes this latest tragedy even more chilling. The Bardo National Museum attacks may one day emerge as the first battle in the ultimate fight for civilization’s survival. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Death at the Museum: Tunisia, ISIS, Civilization, and Survival."

Discovering Korea’s “Hermit Kingdom” Through Its Art

The Joseon Dynasty ruled over Korea for more than half a millennium, stretching from 1392, when horses were still the main means of travel, to 1910, the dawn of the age of flight. Overshadowed (and sometimes invaded) by neighboring China and Japan, Korea maintained its unique culture and arts until the late 19^th century, when the West finally made inroads into what became known as the “hermit kingdom.” A new, unprecedented exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art titled Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392–1910 retells the story of that dynasty through more than 150 works, including many Korean national treasures that have never before left their native land. Walking among the remnants of people steeped in the simplicity of Neo-Confucianism yet still marked by the grandeur of kings, you feel yourself transported not just to a different place and time but to a whole new state of being. This rediscovery of Korea’s “hermit kingdom” through its art will bring you out of your own cultural shell. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Discovering Korea’s “Hermit Kingdom” Through Its Art."

Were the Cave Paintings Painted by Women?

Art history (and all history, for that matter) has shortchanged women for a long time. A recent article about the authorship of the earliest cave paintings—the earliest images made by human beings—sets the discrimination clock back tens of thousands of years. Archaeologist Dean Snow studied the hand prints found in caves containing prehistoric artwork and found that 75% of the handprints were those of women. This theory, if true, shatters the idea of prehistoric men both hunting animals and exclusively documenting the hunt. With these simple handprints, such as those found in the Argentinian Cueva de las Manos (“Cave of the Hands”) (shown above), these first women artists reach into our time for recognition and question all the assumptions we’ve made (and sometimes still make) about artists based on gender. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Were the Cave Paintings Painted by Women?"


[Image: Cueva de las Manos (“Cave of the Hands”), ca. 7,000 BC. Located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. Image source.]  
[Follow me on Twitter (@BobDPictureThis) and Facebook (Art Blog By Bob).]

Will This Be the Museum of the Future?

Imagine walking into a 1,300-year-old Buddhist cave carved from a cliff overlooking a stretch of the ancient Silk Road in Dunhuang, China. You point your flashlight and frescoes showing musicians and bodhisattvas come alive with sound and color. The experience is life-changing. Now imagine doing all that in a room in a museum thousands of miles from the Silk Road. When the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, hosted Pure Land: Inside the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang last week (shown above), it marked not just a groundbreaking new standard for virtual reality exhibitions, but also a glimpse of what the museum of the future may look like. Where paintings and sculpture fill galleries today, could immersive virtual realities and 3D printed replicas of priceless originals fill the physical (and online) galleries of tomorrow? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Will This Be the Museum of the Future?"

Did Shakespeare Hold the First London Olympics?

If the Olympics are all about bringing the world together in one place to play, then William Shakespeare could be credited with holding the first London Olympics all the way back in the Elizabethan Age. The British Museum’s new exhibition, Shakespeare: Staging the World, which runs through November 25, 2012, gathers together nearly 200 artifacts related to Shakespeare’s writings that demonstrate just how the Bard brought the whole world to London, just as London itself entered the international stage as a major center of commerce and culture. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Did Shakespeare Hold the First London Olympics?"

[Image: Ides of March coin, reverse, 43-42 BC, gold aureus commemorating the assassination of Julius Caesar, Rome’s most famous murder and the subject of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The reverse shows the daggers with which Julius Caesar was murdered and a cap of liberty to symbolize the idea of the liberation of Rome from Caesar's rule. Lent by Michael Winckless Copyright of The Trustees of the British Museum.]

 
[Many thanks to the British Museum for providing me with the image above and other press materials related to Shakespeare: Staging the World, which runs through November 25, 2012.]

Should the Bamiyan Buddhas Be Rebuilt?

When I read the news that the Bamiyan Buddhas, the giant 6^th century statues in Afghanistan destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001, would not be rebuilt, I had mixed feelings. To rebuild or not to rebuild? That is the question. On one hand, is not rebuilding them a way of letting the bad guys “win”? On the other hand, is there any way we can really rebuild them? The approach being taken in Afghanistan isn’t necessarily the “right” one, but it might be the right one for them. But might it also be the right one for us? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Should the Bamiyan Buddhas Be Rebuilt?"