So what's your beef? The Persepolis Bull is heavily restored and yet remains on view. Why? Because people want to know what those Bulls looked like. And with the Ancient Near East, what is so amazing is their highly refined sense of design. The restoration shows us the complete object, showing the design as carefully imitated from the fragments and other similar pieces. Some scholars say that the sophisticated design in ancient Near Eastern stone carving is linked to a similarly sophisticated textile tradition -- which relies on geometric repetition
I'm not very troubled by plaster copies of some work that is too rare to be otherwise shared or too fragile to be openly displayed. We approach "artworks" from several questioning viewpoints. One of them is aesthetic, another is historical, another is archaeological, anthropological, and so on. Of course it's true that these different viewpoints impinge upon one another but it remains intellectually useful to keep their separate advantages --and contexts -- in mind. The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago is one of the world's great archaeological museums (and I've loved that Bull since 1955 when I first saw it there). Its mission is firstly archaeological not aesthetical. WC --- On Wed, 11/12/08, Chris Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Chris Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Beautiful and Intriguing Knickknacks > To: [email protected] > Date: Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 8:06 AM > >But human nature being as goofy as it is, people want > the Real McCoy even if > they can't say what it is > > Yes -- human nature is goofy -- and sometimes cruel, > self-centered, > short-sighted, superstitious, and destructive -- but it > can be overcome > (which is why we have civilizations) even if it is very > difficult ( which is > why it took our big brains a few hundred thousand years) > > The demand for an original sculpture is just as irrational > as that for the > thigh bone of Saint Eustace -- it's Tjurunga -- and it > appears that human > communities at all levels of development have cherished > some kind of object > just because it is ancient -- maybe it's a rock or a > bone or some kind of > artifact that connects us to the time of the ancestors. > > And professional archaeologists can be just as silly about > it as anyone. > > For example -- the museum at the Oriental Institute in > Chicago once displayed > an Egyptian relief that showed Ramses II defeating the > Nubians. A wonderful > sculpture -- by far -- the best thing in that museum. But > it was only a > plaster cast -- so in the most recent round of remodeling, > it was removed. On > the other hand -- still on display is an enormous head of a > bull - that once > sat on top of a column at Persepolis. That piece is > still on display - but > if you read the label -- over 90% of it's surface is a > plaster reconstruction > -- it's basically a big, modern, plaster head in which > a few original > fragments have been embedded to give it authenticity. What > a joke! > > It's time to stop being silly about all this stuff -- > and return to displaying > the best pieces of earlier times -- just as the best > literature of earlier > times is made accessible, not just the original > manuscripts. > > The art museums of great cities can still be tourist > destinations -- but for > the display of the best of contemporary arts instead of > second rate, looted > artifacts from other civilizations -- while "visual > libraries" can be built > to show reproductions of canonical works - plus a rotating > display of less > renowned originals that haven't yet qualified for > reproduction. > > That's one way our civilization could advance -- and > isn't that the concern of > Philosophy? > > > > > > _____________________________________________________________ > Click for online loan, fast & no lender fee, > approval today > http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2211/fc/Ioyw6ijmOSaaokmeW8wAQhYXXEiygO > cDqdFL93aaGWgd3EBnD0yqI8/?count=1234567890
