Adapting Antiquity: Classical Receptions in American Art

Suda House, Leda (detail), from the Aqueous Myths, 1984, printed 2013. Gift of Suda House.

Adapting Antiquity: Classical Receptions in American Art

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR - To Jun 1

by Joseph Gallivan

Rather than “tradition,” this show looks at “classical reception,” or the ways Greek and Roman material has been “transmitted, translated, excerpted, interpreted, rewritten, re-imaged, and represented,” according to the curator Alexis Garcia. Works by Andy Warhol, Nelson Sandgren, Suda House and William Cumming, such as Warhol’s screenprint Alexander the Great (1982) and House’s ancient goddesses (1986), are seen in dialogue with the classical past. This is one way of making ancient marbles relatable.