This paper examines how Plato von Ustinow (1833-1920/21), a Russian aristocrat and German baron, became one of the nineteenth century’s most prolific collectors of antiquities from Israel, Palestine and the surrounding areas. It investigates how Ustinow collected archaeological artefacts and displayed them in an ʽexhibition hallʼ located at his home Hôtel du Parc, in Jaffa (Tel Aviv), from 1878 to 1913. Until recently, Ustinow’s private museum has been interpreted in the light of cultural revitalisation, as well as a sentimental attempt to inspire research and provide educational resources. However, post-colonial studies demonstrate that during the nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries, scholars from Europe and the USA sought ʽproofʼ of past civilisations. Today, collections that were constructed from this kind of cultural material are considered problematic. Many heritage sites and items of global importance were destroyed, disturbed, pillaged, traded and included in public and private collections without contextual information. The present text takes a deep dive into the history and formation of the Ustinow collection, now in the Museum of Cultural Heritage in Oslo, seeking to recover (to the extent possible) the wealth of empirical evidence which can further elucidate archaeological material from the Near East.
The exhibition Arte e sensualità nelle case di Pompei (21 April 2022-15 January 2023) has been curated by professor in art history and classical archaeology, Maria Luisa Catoni (IMT Lucca) and director of the Pompeii archaeological park, Gabriel Zuchtriegel. It offers a glimpse of the sensual, sexual and erotic aesthetics which decorated different spaces of ‘an ideal’ Pompeian domus. This wide repertoire brings together 69 items, including wall-paintings, statues (ranging from 139 cm to 94 cm) and statuettes (63 cm-13 cm), as well as other personal and everyday objects, dating to between the first century BC and the first century AD. Aside from the bronze medallions decorating the ceremonial chariot or ‘pilentum’ from Civita Giuliana discovered in 2021, and the newly restored wall-paintings from cubiculum 8 at Villa del Carmiano at Gragnano, all displayed works have been recovered from the storage rooms of Pompeii (rather than borrowed from other institutions or museums). The use of stored objects from depositories is a much-welcomed development for displaying sensual and erotic art from Pompeii. While current practices have a tendency to arrange exhibitions around the same familiar artefacts, Arte e sensualità nelle case di Pompei exhibits lesser-known examples—giving the audience an idea of the complex and diverse nature of such items. This review attempts to evaluate the potential of Arte e sensualità nelle case di Pompei and the accompanying catalogue. It begins with a definition of the field, continuing with an account and a walk-through of each of the exhibition areas. The review concludes with a descriptive evaluation of the lavishly illustrated catalogue.
Editors Brenda Longfellow (University of Iowa) and Molly Swetnam-Burland (College of William & Mary) have previously published insightful work on ancient Roman art and monumental architecture, and the social history and material culture of Pompeii and Rome. In Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices. Roman Material Culture and Female Agency in the Bay of Naples they bring together fourteen leading specialists in a pathbreaking collection of essays that challenge us to rethink gender-based occupational stereotypes, Roman women’s identities and public participation in spheres exclusively associated with Roman elite men. By drawing on epigraphic, archaeological, art historical and architecturalevidence, the various authors investigate female agency with an emphasis on social engagement and the lived experiences of Roman women in the Bay of Naples. Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices adopts an interdisciplinary approach to research, covering a wide range of theoretical frameworks, methodological objectives and materials. Taken together, these innovative discussions challenge entrenched beliefs about women’s essential passivity and inactivity in Roman society by drawing attention to how women from different social backgrounds engaged with the local community through families, businesses and religious activity, and how they expressed their identities in the funerary realm. Challenging familiar elitist-classicist standards dominating past scholarship, this book pushes women’s and gender studies, feminist art history, urban materiality, women’s local involvement and daily lives into a new era of research.
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