Classics and Museums

Wednesday 18 March 10.00 – 17.00 Institute of Classical Studies

Location: STB7 (Stewart House, behind Senate House overlooking Russell Square)

Workshop leaders: Kate Nichols (Birkbeck) and Dr Debbie Challis (Petrie Museum, UCL)

This full day seminar uses a mixture of lectures, discussion and visits to museums in London to consider the importance of material remains from the classical world in the modern reception of Greek and Roman antiquity.

The aims of the day are to:

· gain an understanding of the importance of exhibited objects for the reception of the classical world
· consider how visual culture and museums studies fit into reception theory
· think about why classical archaeologists need to know about museum display

A full bibliography and timeline of museums and the display of classical antiquity in Britain will be available on the day.

10.00 Introduction to the day

10.15 Overview of history of museums (timeline) with case studies

(a) The acquisition of the Elgin Collection (KN)
(b) Ephesos and Empire (DC)
(c) Arthur Evans in Crete (KN)
(d) Democracy on Display (DC)

11.15 Break

11.45 Regroup – intro to museum visits

12.00 Go to Sir John Soane Museum (12.20 – talk there tbc)

13.00 Lunch

14.00 Reception Theory and Museums

(a) Museum Studies and Classics (DC)
(b) Audience Response and Reception Studies in Museums (KN)
Discussion

14.45 Coffee

15.15 British Museum. Either talk about contemporary display of Parthenon sculptures – dismantling of casts (Ashmole’s et al suggestions), new room and recent updates and educational galleries (including computer graphics) before enter the main gallery. Or, Xanthus on display – different antiquities in 3 different rooms etc.

16.00 Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology – Introduction and tour

16.30 Object handling

17.00 Finish (at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology)

For further information and bookings please contact: a.bakogianni@open.ac.uk

London Roman Art Seminar - 2009

12 January
Dr Antony Eastmond (Courtauld Institute)
Consular Diptychs: Paradoxes and Problems

26 January
Dr Caroline Vout (Cambridge)
Sculpture and Epic

9 February
Lisa Shekede (Independent)
A Nabataean Wall Painting at Siq al-Barid, Petra: Context and Conservation

23 February
Jason Mander (Oxford)
The Iconography of the Roman Family: Interpreting Portraits of Children in Funerary Contexts

9 March
Ben Russell (Oxford)
The Good Shepherd Sarcophagus from Salona and the Stone Trade

11 May
Amanda Claridge (Royal Holloway)
Reading Trajan's Column


Dr Peter Stewart
Senior Lecturer in Classical Art and its Heritage
The Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 2163

Email: peter.stewart@courtauld.ac.uk
www.courtauld.ac.uk

All seminars held on Mondays at 5.30pm in Seminar Room 1, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London. For further info contact A.Claridge@rhul.ac.uk or peter.stewart@courtauld.ac.uk