Fragments of Antiquity: Drawing Upon Greek Vases

Fragments of Antiquity: Drawing upon Greek Vases celebrates the acquisition and publication by the Art Museums of a recently acquired collection of Greek black-figure and red-figure vase fragments from 182 different vases that document almost two centuries of vase-painting, from the early sixth to the late fifth centuries B.C. The exhibition examines the vase-painting style of Greek artists in general, as well as masterworks by individual artists, including Sophilos, the Berlin Painter, Onesimos, Makron, and Douris. The exhibition also highlights the history of scholarship and interest surrounding Greek vases and the important role that vase fragments have played and continue to play in our understanding of vase painting.

The exhibition features a large selection of the vase fragments shown with Greek vases from Harvard University Art Museums’ permanent collection, as well as loans from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Fragments of Antiquity also includes works of art on paper from the Art Museums’ collection—a drawing after a Greek vase by Eugene Delacroix, and a group of intaglios inspired by Greek vase paintings by local artist Catherine Kernan (b. 1948). These works demonstrate the role Greek vase painters’ figural compositions have played in the work of artists from the nineteenth century to the present.

Organized by Aaron J. Paul, Curatorial Research Associate in the Department of Ancient Art, and author of the essay and catalogue publishing this collection in Harvard University Art Museums’ Spring 1997 Bulletin.