The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection

Coates, Victoria C. Gardner, et al.

ISBN 10: 1606061151 / ISBN 13: 9781606061152

Edité par J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2012

A propos de cet article

Stamped goldenrod cloth, gray & illustrated dust jacket, 264 pp., many color illustrated. Destroyed yet paradoxically preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, Pompeii and other nearby sites are usually considered places where we can most directly experience the daily lives of ancient Romans. Rather than present these sites as windows to the past, however, the authors of this book explore Pompeii as a modern obsession, in which the Vesuvian sites function as mirrors of the present. Through cultural appropriation and projection, outstanding visual and literary artists of the last three centuries have made the ancient catastrophe their own, expressing contemporary concerns in diverse media, from paintings, prints, and sculpture, to theatrical performances, photography, and film. This volume, featuring the works of artists such as Piranesi, Fragonard, Kaufmann, Ingres, Chasseriau, and Alma-Tadema, as well as Duchamp, Dali, Rothko, Rauschenberg, and Warhol, surveys the legacy of Pompeii in the modern imagination under the three overarching rubrics of decadence, apocalypse, and resurrection. The section on decadence investigates the perception of Pompeii as a site of impending and well-deserved doom due to the excesses of the ancient Romans, such as paganism, licentiousness, greed, gluttony, and violence. The catastrophic demise of the Vesuvian sites has become inexorably linked with the understanding of antiquity, turning Pompeii into a fundamental allegory for apocalypse, to which all subsequent disasters (natural or man-made) are related, from the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. The section on resurrection examines how Pompeii and the Vesuvian cities have been reincarnated in modern guise through both scientific archaeology and fantasy, as each successive cultural reality superimposed its values and ideas on the distant past.

N° de réf. du vendeur 136218

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection
• Éditeur: J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles
• Date de parution: 2012
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1606061151
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781606061152
• Reliure: Hardcover
• État de l'article: VG, Like New
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • European Art
  • Museum Exhibitions - European Art

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

It is a fascinating survey of the modern obsession with the destruction of Pompeii as seen through the eyes or artists. Destroyed yet paradoxically preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in a.d. 79, Pompeii and other nearby sites are usually considered places where we can most directly experience the daily lives of ancient Romans. Rather than present these sites as windows to the past "The Last Days of Pompeii" explores Pompeii as a modern obsession, in which the Vesuvian sites function as mirrors of the present. Through cultural appropriation and projection, outstanding visual and literary artists of the last three centuries have made the ancient catastrophe their own, expressing contemporary concerns in diverse media - from paintings, prints, and sculpture, to theatrical performances, photography, and film. This lavishly illustrated volume - featuring the works of artists such as Fragonard, Kaufmann, Duchamp, Dali, and Warhol - surveys the legacy of Pompeii in the modern imagination.

À propos de l?auteur

Victoria C. Gardner Coates received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania where she has been a lecturer and visiting scholar. Kenneth Lapatin is associate curator of antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Jon L. Seydl is the Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos, Jr. Curator of European Painting and Sculpture, 1500-1800, at the Cleveland Museum of Art.