An Archaeologist’s Eye: The Parthenon Drawings of Katherine A. Schwab, a new exhibition of works by the Fairfield professor of art history, began traveling the country for the first time with a January stop at the Consulate General of Greece in New York City. It will tour through 2017, making stops in Washington, D.C., San Diego, Calif., and Nashville, Tenn., among other locales.
Combining art, history, and archaeology, the exhibition includes 35 works on paper providing a glimpse into the ancient Greek world. The exhibition is organized by the Fairfield University’s Bellarmine Museum of Art, Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., and the Timken Museum of Art in San Diego.
In 2005, Dr. Schwab began experimenting with graphite and pastel on paper in an effort to develop a new method for recording her research on the badly deteriorated ancient Parthenon sculptures in Greece. She found that careful drawing enabled her to make new observations and scholarly discoveries, which have in turn contributed to the larger understanding of the east and north metope series.
“Earlier archaeological renderings used lines to denote figures in the Parthenon’s metope sculptures,” said Dr. Schwab — metopes are an architectural element in Doric architecture and were often decorated. “These images did not, however, convey important visual information, including the preserved depth of surviving contours of these figures, many of which were severely damaged in the 6th century when the ancient Greek temple was converted to a Christian church.”
The exhibition schedule is as follows: Greek Embassy/Smithsonian Associates, Washington, D.C., March 7 through early summer 2014; Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Ga., Sept. 13-Dec. 7, 2014; Lied Art Gallery, Creighton University, Omaha, Feb. 21-March 29, 2015; California State University, Sacramento, Calif., Spring 2015; Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, Ore., Nov. 15-Feb. 15, 2016; Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, Calif., March 31-July 3, 2016; The Nashville Parthenon, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 4, 2016- Jan. 1, 2017.
Visit www.fairfield.edu/parthenon for updates.