I also went while it was in L.A., and I saw it as a 20-something (22?) when the exhibit was in San Francisco at the de Young in the 70s. Yes, this tour doesn't have the mask, but it has more, much more than I remember at the first show. It has the ebony throne with insets you've seen all your life while looking at the Tutankhamon books. The chest with the Pharoah in the chariot hunting is there and even more lovely than in the best photograph you've ever seen. It has a leather dog collar, showing the fine work that was done on this everyday object. I was lucky enough to be walking with a man who does leather work and a woman who works with natural dyes. Their input on this little object make it alive. The way the exhibit was set up was very nice; it gave some good history and actually showed a decent map of the whole Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens with the more famous tombs listed. It merged my picture of the Valley and what I had learned together and made more sense. I spent the extra money and rented the audio package offered; imagine my pleasure to hear both Omar Shariff and Dr. Hawass, Head of the Department of Egyptian Antiquitites (or something like that) on this package. This whole exhibit brought tears to my eyes several times - especially the canoptic jar with the lioness lounging on the top with her tongue out and the walking cane with the handle carved as a Nubian slave. I rode to LACMA on a bus with a tour from Costume College, and I actually had to skip the last room and the shop in order to get to the bus at the appointed time, I had spent so much time looking at the objects on display.
The exhibit that toured in the 1970s was an exhibit of objects, lovely objects but there was no attempt to put them into perspective of the time when they were in use; they were in display cases under lights under guard with small notes saying what they were, when given to the collection, etc., the ususal stuff in a museum. This current exhibit really explains them to those people who haven't been, as Chris said, an "armchair Egyptophile" for 40 years as I have. I'm sure this is also a process of change from what a museum was in 1970-something to now. Also, as a tour it has been underwritten by companies who have put big bucks into the display of these gorgeous objects. SO, the bottom line? Yeah, I think it would be worth it to see the exhibit. If you've ever read any book about Tutankhamon and seen any pictures, you can almost guarantee that you'll see it in the exhibit -- and things you've never seen before. Except the mask. LynnD On 8/22/07, Gytha Stonegrinder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I saw the exhibit in Los Angeles and enjoyed it very much. I hadn't seen > previous exhibits, though I've seen the magazine pictures.... and the gold > mask was there. In terms of history and costume (particularly jewelry) it > was very nice. I would recommend the effort! Kathy > > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: Chris Laning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: Historical Costume <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 10:42:06 PM > Subject: [h-cost] King Tut exhibit (WAS: More Comments: Costume Content) > > > On Aug 21, 2007, at 9:08 PM, Penny Ladnier wrote: > > > The King Tut exhibit in Philadelphia in mid Sept. Has anyone been > > to it? I would like to know if it is worth the trip. I was going > > to see the exhibit in Florida when it was there. A friend told my > > sister that this tour was not that good. I would like some > > feedback from someone who has seen it in PA, CA, or FL. > > Co-workers of mine who went to see it were disappointed, mostly (I > gathered) because they hadn't realized beforehand that some of the > most spectacular artifacts stayed home this time, such as the famous > gold mask. > > Reading between the lines, though, it sounded pretty interesting to > me as long as you go with an open mind and don't assume it's > necessarily designed for maximum "splash" like previous Tut exhibits. > (Old armchair Egyptophile speaking here.) > > ____________________________________________________________ > > O Chris Laning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - Davis, California > + http://paternoster-row.org - http://paternosters.blogspot.com > ____________________________________________________________ > > > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Luggage? GPS? Comic books? > Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search > http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=graduation+gifts&cs=bz > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume > _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
