Antiquities: Art & Design During the Time of Alexander the Great (Issue #3) + FOOD

Portrait of Pompey the Great

Period: Late Republican

ca. 50 B.C.

Roman

Marble

ART
Antiquities: 
Art & Design 
During the Time 
of Alexander 
the Great
at the Met 
(continued - Issue #3)

(From the Met Museum of Art NYC Exhibition: 

Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms 

of the Ancient World)

The Hellenistic Age that followed the conquests of Alexander the Great witnessed unprecedented cultural exchange and a burst of creative activity. The recent exhibition at the Met Museum in NYC, titled "Pergamon" gave a unique glimps into the art created during the time of Alexander the Great. Here our coverage continues. (issue #3)

Statue of a youth,  Hellenistic, 2nd century B.C.  Greek,  Marble Sculpture

Statue of a youth, 

Hellenistic, 2nd century B.C. 

Greek, 

Marble Sculpture

Statue of a female figure in archaistic style

Hellenistic

50–125 B.C.

Greek

Marble

Grave Stele of an Enthroned Woman with an Attendant

Hellenistic

ca. 100 B.C.

Greek

Marble

Applique depicting the head of Pan

Hellenistic

100 B.C.

Greek

Medium: Ivory

Gold diadem

Hellenistic

250-150 B.C.

Greek

Medium: gold, garnet, carnelian, sardonyx

Mosaic with street musicians

Period: Late Republican

2nd–1st century B.C.

Roman

Medium: Stone Mosaic

Calyx Krater, so-called "Borghese Vase"

ca. 40-30 B.C.

Roman

Marble Sculpture

Sleeping Hermaphrodite

mid 2nd century A.D.

Roman

Marble Sculpture

Portrait of a Roman General from Tivoli

Late Republican

80–60 B.C.

Roman

Marble Sculpture

Portrait of a man from Delos

Hellenistic

ca. 100 B.C.

Greek

Bronze

Cameo with portrait heads

Hellenistic

278–269 B.C.

Greek, Ptolemaic

Sardonyx (gem stone)

Rhyton with centaur protome

Hellenistic

ca. 160 B.C.

Greek

silver, gold

Upper body of a queen

Hellenistic

175–150 B.C.

Greek

Marble Sculpture

Statue of a triton, akroterion from the Great Altar

Hellenistic

ca. 160 B.C.

Greek

Marble Sculpture

Panel 12 of the Telephos Frieze: 

Herakles Discovers His Son Telephos

Hellenistic

ca. 160 B.C.

Greek

Marble

(Source: Photos by ARTSnFOOD staff and supplied by the Met Museum NYC, Any text came from the Met Museum press dept. and the wall plaques next to each work of art at the exhibition. All photos were taken with permission.)

FOOD:

Fresh Salmon

Croquettes

If you ever have some left over poached salmon, 

it's a great opportunity to make salmon croquettes.

Ingredients:

To 6 oz. of cold poached salmon (shredded / no skin)

add very thin sliced + some diced onion

1 Tbs mayo

1/2 tsp creamy horseradish sauce

black pepper & salt

1/2 tsp Old Bay

pinch dried dill

dash dried roasted garlic

chopped chive greens

bread crumbs

dash of half & half

Instructions:

Mix all until it forms a nice firm texture, not to mushy

Form patties

Dip patties in bread crumbs

sauté in olive oil 

From start of prep to finished cooking was 15 to 20 minutes. 

These croquettes were very light in texture / held together fairly well, but were not very firm. An egg may have helped hold the croquettes together, but I would do it exactly this way. 

These salmon croquettes were delicious,

served with salad greens & cucumber.

Mmmmm! Very tasty!

Until later,

Jack

ARTS&FOOD is an online magazine dedicated to providing artists and collectors around the world with highlights of current art exhibitions, and to encourage all readers to invest in and participate in “The Joy of Art” and Culture. All Rights Reserved. All concepts, original art, text & photography, which are not otherwise credited, are copyright 2016 © Jack A. Atkinson, under all international, intellectual property and copyright laws. All gallery events', museum exhibitions', art fairs' or art festivals' photographs were taken with permission or provided by the event or gallery. All physical artworks are the intellectual property of the individual artists and © (copyright) individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees. 

Trademark Copyright Notice: ©ARTSnFOOD.blogspot,com, ©ARTSnFOOD,

©ARTS&FOOD, ©ARTSnFOOD.com, ©ARTSandFOOD.com, ©ART&FOOD, ©ARTandFOOD.com, ©ARTnFOOD.com)

ETHNICITY IN AMERICA

SPECIAL

EDITORIAL
ISSUE:

A Point of View
by Editor/Publisher

Jack A. Atkinson

(From time to time, ARTSnFOOD publishes editorialized content. This point-of-view is specifically one person's opinion and we recognize many differing opinions exist. This post may be up for a short period before it is moved into our archives. ARTSnFOOD's defining focus is on "The Joy of Art.")

"DEEP-THOUGHTS about Ethnicity"

I have decided that ethnicity (race) is less about skin color and other physical features and more about our geographic heritage and the external cultural influences which contributed in making us who we are.

For my entire life there seems to have been a constant discussion about ethnicity in America. My original position on ethnicity, as an adult, was to be color blind. I though it was an intelligent point-of-view and the correct way to associate with my ethnically diverse friends. Very quickly I found out, everybody strongly wanted me to recognize their ethnicity as a part of their identity and to never be color blind! They wanted me to recognize their ethnicity as a part of who they are and I needed to embrace them and see them completely.

I have now pivoted my point-of-view to think physical appearance (skin tone and other distinctive "ethnic" features) has little to do with what we consider "ethnicity" and who we are as individuals. Our physical appearance is a result of our family heritage, the many generations of relatives who form our genetic history. Ethnicity check boxes on surveys are created based on these family trees.

Scientifically and genetically, there are only minuscule differences between all human ethnicities. Our physical ethnic traits are controlled by only 3 to 6 genes out of the 25,000 genes making-up the human genome. Somehow each of us looks unique within those 3 to 6 genes, but we must remember all humans are genetically 99.99999% similar. 

What society currently calls ethnicities are the genetics passed down to us from a geographic lineage many generations ago. We have certain traits simply because our ancient relatives lived in one specific, isolated location on this planet for many millennia, reproducing within the same gene pool. This created our unique skin colors and physical characteristics, but today's ethnicities seem to come from more recent influences. We are the cultural mores, traditions and religions passed down to us by last dozen or so generations of our families and our specific homogeneous social groups. (i.e.: Mayan descendants are now Hispanic or Latino and not Mayan.) The foods our immediate family, relatives and social group preferred, the common language and dialect we were taught at birth, and all traits and preferences our specific homogeneous group embraced create our current ethnicity. Think of how African-Americans, Latino-Americans, Asian-Americans, etc., when viewed as homogeneous groups, have lifestyles, interests and social bonds unique to their specific communities.

Social group influencers, whom we relate to and think of as our community, define our contemporary ethnicity more than our skin color, hair texture, eye shape does. In other words our ethnicity seems to be more about how our community shapes us (as we grow up) than our physical traits, determined by our genetic history. A 10th generation Ethnic-American is a very different person from his or her distant cousin recently born and raised in the same ancestral village of origin - even if the two share some of the same physical traits of "ethnicity", their cultural communities define them more than the physical traits do.

When it comes to ethnicity we must recognize people as individuals as well as being a part of one or more ethnic groups, taking into account their specific histories and cultural influences.

We are individual humans packaged in the visual genetics given to us from recent and long forgotten ancestors. Let's start understanding and accepting that our cultural history contributes greatly to each of us as an individual, but our physical ethnic traits have less and less to do with who we are as a person. "Race" has become a label.

All of my friends, from varied ethnic backgrounds, have unique cultural stories that are extremely interesting to me, and I want to hear them all. I want to learn how their cultural influences shaped their lives. 

As adults we learn to accept change: in the world around us, in our lives, in how we think, in advances in technology, etc. I suggest we change our thinking about ethnicity:

• Can we stop thinking about ethnicity simply as physical traits and start focusing on the interesting and diverse cultures represented by the word "race"?

• Can we stop stepping on each others cultural toes?

• Can we try to understand each other’s problems from the other person's cultural perspective?

• Can we find respectful solutions to all problems where ethnicity or "race" is involved?

• Can we keep in mind all humans are 99.99999% alike (genetically speaking) and we also share these cities and towns we call home!

Ethnic and cultural diversity is the spice of life!

- Jack A. Atkinson

editor & publisher of ARTSnFOOD magazine

Until later,

Jack

ARTS&FOOD is an online magazine dedicated to providing artists and collectors around the world with highlights of current art exhibitions, and to encourage all readers to invest in and participate in “The Joy of Art” and Culture. All Rights Reserved. All concepts, original art, text & photography, which are not otherwise credited, are copyright 2016 © Jack A. Atkinson, under all international, intellectual property and copyright laws. All gallery events', museum exhibitions', art fairs' or art festivals' photographs were taken with permission or provided by the event or gallery. All physical artworks are the intellectual property of the individual artists and © (copyright) individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees. 

Trademark Copyright Notice: ©ARTSnFOOD.blogspot,com, ©ARTSnFOOD,

©ARTS&FOOD, ©ARTSnFOOD.com, ©ARTSandFOOD.com, ©ART&FOOD, ©ARTandFOOD.com, ©ARTnFOOD.com)

Antiquities: Art & Design During the Time of Alexander the Great (Issue #2) + FOOD, is good health, diet, exercise or both?

Stater of Mithridates VI Eupator (120-63 BC)

ART
Antiquities: 
Art & Design 
During the Time 
of Alexander 
the Great
at the Met 
(continued - Issue #2)

(From the Met Museum of Art NYC Exhibition: 

Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms 

of the Ancient World)

Terracotta statuette of the Diadoumenos (youth tying a fillet around his head)

1st century b.c., Greek

Connoisseurship and the origins of the discipline of art history began in the Hellenistic period. Greek statues of the fifth century B.C., notably works by Polykleitos, Phidias, and others, were sought out and frequently replicated. The pose of the famous statue of the Diadoumenos by Polykleitos is recognizable in this statuette, but the slender, graceful forms conform to Late Hellenistic taste.

Although terracotta was one of the most abundantly available and inexpensive materials of sculptural production in antiquity, it was used to make miniature copies less widely than might be expected. Apparently, only a few centers of production concentrated on this sculptural genre, and those that did limited their choices of subject considerably. The Greek city of Smyrna on the west coast of Asia Minor was among the most important copying centers, and a number of large- and small-scale replicas or variations of well-known statuary types, from both the Classical and Hellenistic periods, were made there.

Bronze statuette of a veiled and masked dancer

Hellenistic, 3rd - 2nd century b.c.

The complex motion of this dancer is conveyed exclusively through the interaction of the body with several layers of dress. Over an undergarment that falls in deep folds and trails heavily, the figure wears a lightweight mantle, drawn tautly over her head and body by the pressure applied to it by her right arm, left hand, and right leg. Its substance is conveyed by the alternation of the tubular folds pushing through from below and the freely curling softness of the fringe. The woman's face is covered by the sheerest of veils, discernible at its edge below her hairline and at the cutouts for the eyes. Her extended right foot shows a laced slipper. This dancer has been convincingly identified as one of the professional entertainers, a combination of mime and dancer, for which the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria was famous in antiquity.

Bronze statue of Eros sleeping

Hellenistic period, 3rd - 2nd century b.c.

The Hellenistic period introduced the accurate characterization of age. Young children enjoyed great favor, whether in mythological form, as baby Herakles or Eros, or in genre scenes, playing with each other or with pets. This Eros, god of love, has been brought down to earth and disarmed, a conception considerably different from that of the powerful, often cruel, and capricious being so often addressed in Archaic poetry. One of the few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity, this figure of a plump baby in relaxed pose conveys a sense of the immediacy and naturalistic detail that the medium of bronze made possible. He is clearly based on firsthand observation. The support on which the god rests is a modern addition, but the work originally would have had a separate base, most likely of stone.  

This statue is the finest example of its kind. Judging from the large number of extant replicas, the type was popular in Hellenistic and, especially, Roman times. In the Roman period, Sleeping Eros statues decorated villa gardens and fountains. Their function in the Hellenistic period is less clear. They may have been used as dedications within a sanctuary of Aphrodite or possibly may have been erected in a public park or private, even royal, garden.

Gold armband with Herakles knot

The Herakles knot on this sumptuous armband is enriched with floral decoration and inlaid with garnets, emeralds, and enamel. According to the Roman writer Pliny, the decorative device of the Herakles knot could cure wounds, and its popularity in Hellenistic jewelry suggests that it was thought to have the power to avert evil.

Pair of gold armbands

These imposing serpentine armbands represent two tritons, male and female, each holding a small winged Eros. The hoops behind the tritons' heads were used to attach the armbands to the sleeves of a garment, for otherwise, their weight (each over 6 1/2 ounces) would have caused them to slip down the arms.

Glass situla (bucket) with silver handles

Translucent greenish.
Everted, angular rim, with thick vertical outer edge; slightly convex side tapering downwards; slightly domed bottom; two handle attachments, each pierced by two horizontal holes, project outward and upward from the edge of the rim on opposite sides of the bucket; two silver handles, each cut from a flat sheet into a semicircular arched strip, end in U-shaped round rods with decorative finials that are turned upward through the holes in the handle attachments.

The handle attachments are carved into rounded rectilinear blocks with a central upward finial with a raised outer surface, resembling a stylized palmette. On exterior, painted decoration extends from underside of rim to the bottom, comprising four main elements: at top, under rim, a continuous dog-tooth band in purplish red, with a thin line of light (Egyptian) blue below; on body, several irregular horizontal bands of small bud-like objects in shades of pinkish red, with details outlined in dark brown; on bottom, similar small objects, perhaps arranged in a rosette pattern; finally, two vertical stripes run down the sides of the bucket below the handle attachments, both are block-filled with purplish red paint, into which the lines of slender wavy tendrils have been incised freehand. Traces of gilding are visible on the stripes and elsewhere on the sides. The silver handles are fashioned into a stylized bud at the end of each rod. 

Broken and repaired from numerous small fragments, with some losses and areas of fill; a few bubbles and many internal strain cracks; slight pitting and areas of whitish iridescent weathering; the silver handles are also broken and repaired.

The situla was used for cooling and serving wine at banquets. This one is made of almost colorless glass. It was cast and carved, and then bands of gilded and painted decoration were applied around the outside. The vessel is highly unusual in both shape and decoration, and few parallels in glass are known. It may, however, be compared with metal examples such as the bronze situla of the Prusias Find, which is displayed in the gallery for Greek art of the fourth century B.C.

Medallion with relief bust of Athen

Hellenistic, 2nd century B.C. Greek

Medium: Gold, blue enamel

Dimensions: 4 3/8 in. (11.1 cm) 

Classification: Gold and Silver 

(Source: Photos by ARTSnFOOD staff and supplied by the Met Museum NYC, Any text came from the Met Museum press dept. and the wall plaques next to each work of art at the exhibition. All photos were taken with permission.)

Until later,

Jack

ARTS&FOOD is an online magazine dedicated to providing artists and collectors around the world with highlights of current art exhibitions, and to encourage all readers to invest in and participate in “The Joy of Art” and Culture. All Rights Reserved. All concepts, original art, text & photography, which are not otherwise credited, are copyright 2016 © Jack A. Atkinson, under all international, intellectual property and copyright laws. All gallery events', museum exhibitions', art fairs' or art festivals' photographs were taken with permission or provided by the event or gallery. All physical artworks are the intellectual property of the individual artists and © (copyright) individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees. 

Trademark Copyright Notice: ©ARTSnFOOD.blogspot,com, ©ARTSnFOOD,

©ARTS&FOOD, ©ARTSnFOOD.com, ©ARTSandFOOD.com, ©ART&FOOD, ©ARTandFOOD.com, ©ARTnFOOD.com)