New Yorker Article: The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture

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seneca2008
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New Yorker Article: The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture

Post by seneca2008 »

I found this article in the New Yorker interesting:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018 ... type=owned

We have exchanged views on how ancient sculpture was painted in the Aegina thread viewtopic.php?f=36&t=68754.

There is a discussion in the NY article of how the colour of statues is affected by the material used in reconstructing the statues themselves. Plaster affects the results by making the painting seem flat. Layering the paint as in Oil painting and reconstructing on marble produces a more translucent effect. Modelling the statues digitally is one way forward. At the British Museum Ashurbanipal exhibition some of the reliefs were coloured using projections. The colours were added successively which helped (me at least) to “read” the panels.
Persuade tibi hoc sic esse, ut scribo: quaedam tempora eripiuntur nobis, quaedam subducuntur, quaedam effluunt. Turpissima tamen est iactura, quae per neglegentiam fit. Et si volueris attendere, maxima pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, magna nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus.

ariphron
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Re: New Yorker Article: The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture

Post by ariphron »

Wow. That article is like a Masters of Art History class. I'm reading it on the New Yorker app on my phone: different title and blurb from the website.

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