Pompeii and the Roman Villa at LACMA

Michele Amodio's Pompei, nd (book)

I thought I'd post a few pics of the Pompeii show at LACMA that opens Sunday and runs through the first part of October. It's an amazingly big show; I counted 160 pieces, mostly from Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, with contributions from the Getty, and the Office of Excavations from Oplontis, Napoli, and Pompei, and others.

Video of the Moregine Triclinium (dining room), c. 1st cent. CE (fresco)
Apollo with Muses (l. to r.): Calliope, Erato, Clio, Apollo, Euterpe, Melpomene, Thalia, Urania

There are quite a few impressive works of art, including an entire frescoed dining room, pictured above. It reminds me of some of the big, east coast encyclopedic museums, where their antiquities collection include large chunks of architecture.

unk. Plato's Academy, c. 1st cent. BCE-1st cent. CE (mosaic)

What is most impressive is the level of skill of artisans, something that often goes unappreciated when shows mix archaeological artifacts like mundane implements, Roman coins, and plaster casts of buried-alive dogs with the occasional piece of jewelry and bronze figurine.

unk. Bust of Kouros/Apollo, c. cent. BCE (bronze)

My memory of art history 101 was that the Romans copied quite a bit from the Greeks, but the pervasiveness of appropriated styles and movements makes me think that Cesar's seaside villa in Baia was more than a superficial forebearer to the Las Vegas Strip. The faux Etruscan bust above was cast with a ragged edge, giving it the appearance when new as being an archaeological artifact. The mosaic of Plato's Academy attest to the literary pretensions of the home's owner, rather than to anything Plato might have espoused.

unk. Skyphos with Inlaid Egyptian Figures, c. 1st cent. BCE-1st cent. CE
(a solid block of carved obsidian w. inlays of coral, lapis, jasper, malachite and gold)

The last galleries of the exhibition attest to Pompeii's romantic pull during excavations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Reproductions and artifacts repurposed for the modern home joined literary fictions and painterly creations of the last days of Pompeii and the resulting ruins. If these coastal estates were decorated and furnished with replications and riffs off Greek, Etruscan, and Egyptian art, then it's fitting that the final room is the exhibition gift shop, offering a modern take on an eternal desire, sated with a reproduction.

(l.) unk. Dionysos, the so-called Narcissus, c. 1st cent. BCE-1st cent. CE
(r.) Vincenzo Gemito's Narcissus, 1885 (both bronze)

Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples is on view at LACMA May 3, 2009 through October 4, 2009. Advance reservations are required. If you plan on getting a couple of tickets (which will set you back 50 bucks) consider spending another 40 and get a membership. It includes two free tickets, the ability to see the show on less crowded members only days, and you'll also receive a free pair of tickets for Renoir and American Stories along with their bi-monthly newsletter and free admission for the year.

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