Investigations into the Ancient Mediterranean

May 5 through June 24, 2012
Harrington gallery

Over the course of this past year and a half Dartmouth faculty and students from a range of disciplines including art history, classics, religion, and history have used both the Yale loans and works from the Hood collection to explore current discourses on such topics as gender systems, representation and identity, and center and periphery in the Roman Empire. By working closely with faculty and students to document these projects the Hood wishes to highlight this major part of its daily activities as a teaching museum; to make visible its work with undergraduate students, most of which happens “behind the scenes” in Bernstein Study-Storage Center. In addition to the exhibition, the project entails a related website and a documentary film highlighting student and faculty research related to the loans. These projects were prominently featured in the installation.

The faculty and student work featured in the show offered insights into the study of ancient cultures and helped understanding of different methodologies used by scholars of various fields interested in visual and material culture. The intention of the installation was to explore how the close observation of works of art can reveal connections to wider cultural, religious, political, and social themes in the ancient Mediterranean world.

PANEL DISCUSSION

Investigations into the Ancient Mediterranean:
Spotlight on Teaching with Objects

May 16, 2012
Wednesday 4:30 PM
Kim gallery

Dartmouth professors teaching courses on ancient Greek and Roman culture discussed their work with objects on loan from Yale University Art Gallery over the past year. Roberta Stewart, Paul Christesen, Kathleen Corrigan, Jeremy Rutter, and Roger Ulrich talked about introducing students to the issues that stem from the close investigation of objects. The session included a preview of a documentary film about the project. A reception followed.

Center and Periphery: Cultural Hybridity in the Funerary Arts of the Roman Provinces

A SPACE FOR DIALOGUE 64
February 11 through March 11, 2012
At the entrance to the museum

A Space for Dialogue: Fresh Perspectives on the Permanent Collection from Dartmouth’s Students is a unique opportunity within Dartmouth’s senior internship program, which includes museum positions in curatorial, public relations, and educational work. Interns choose objects from the Hood’s permanent collection, write descriptions of the objects, design a space, create a brochure, and conduct a public gallery presentation. The program also allows students to develop art projects and displays within the Hood Museum of Art and on the Dartmouth College campus, creating “spaces for dialogue” between works of art and their viewers.

In her installation, Amanda Manker, Mellon Special Projects Intern, explores concepts of identity and cultural hybridity as expressed in funerary arts from several of the provinces of the Roman Empire. Objects on display include various funeral stelae, painted mummy portraits, and examples of imperial Roman coinage. Romanization, the process whereby Roman customs and values spread across disparate areas of the Roman Empire, is often thought of in terms of a unilateral movement toward a single, homogenous Roman culture. Amanda’s installation, on the other hand, presents examples of the kind of hybrid visual culture that materialized in funeral art from certain key provinces–Syria, Africa Proconsularis (modern Tunisia), and Egypt–during the era when the Roman Empire was at its greatest extent. The context of funerary art offers a special kind of insight into the formation and renegotiation of identity in the provinces, as this historically conservative genre might otherwise be expected to resist the intrusion of imperial culture.

A Space for Dialogue, founded with support from the Class of 1948, is made possible with generous endowments from the Class of 1967, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Jr. ’66, and Pamela J. Joyner ’79.

Center and Periphery: Cultural Hybridity in the Funerary Arts of the Roman Provinces -gallery brochure (PDF)

Objects on view

Click here to read more on student curator and Mellon Special Projects Intern Amanda Manker.

Faces of Antiquity: Portraiture of the Roman Empire

A SPACE FOR DIALOGUE 64
May 14 through August 27, 2011
At the entrance to the museum

In her installation, senior intern Kasia Vincunas, Class of 2010 explores some of the most widespread variations of ancient portraiture, including funerary painting, sculptural busts, and coinage from ancient Rome.

Faces of Antiquity: Portraiture of the Roman Empire -gallery brochure (PDF)

A Space for Dialogue, founded with support from the Class of 1948, is made possible with generous endowments from the Class of 1967, Bonnie and Richard Reiss Jr. ’66, and Pamela J. Joyner ’79.