Art Of The Gods Cheney Cowles Lauches Most Important Show With Greco-Roman ‘Treasures Of Antiquity’

First, the superlatives: Oldest. Most expensive. Biggest. Most influential.

All of these apply to “Treasures of Antiquity: Greek and Roman Art From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” an 81-object exhibit which opens today at the Cheney Cowles Museum.

Oldest, because it contains the oldest Western art objects ever displayed by the Cheney Cowles Museum. Some objects date to around 520 B.C. The newest is from the third century A.D.

Most expensive, because it far surpasses the Dutch Masters exhibit in 1993, which had a budget of about $43,000. The budget for this exhibit is nearly $200,000, about $25,000 of which came from a single contribution from Washington Trust Bank.

Biggest, not so much in volume (it fits in the museum’s regular gallery space), but because of its sheer scope. The exhibit is accompanied by more than 30 lectures, workshops, parties and other special activities.

And most influential because, put simply, these objects represent the roots of all Western art. A quote on the wall at the beginning of the exhibit sums it up:

“Greek art, like Greek culture in general, influenced in one way or another the art of every subsequent period of Western civilization, including the present, sometimes to an overwhelming degree… . The only other culture that has left a comparable impression on later periods was Rome, and this is in large part because Rome was the transmitter, by commerce and conquest, of the artistic heritage of Greece.”

The people at the Cheney Cowles are hoping to achieve one more superlative - best-attended - by the time the exhibit leaves on Dec. 31.

“We anticipate 100,000 people in the next three months,” said Larry Schoonover, the project director. “The Dutch Masters pulled in just under 30,000.”

The “Treasures” exhibit came about because the Cheney Cowles was on the lookout for an exhibit that “would get Spokane excited,” an exhibit that would draw people who don’t normally visit, said Schoonover. After Schoonover saw this exhibit at the Boise Art Museum, he knew he had found it.

“It was just a knockout,” said Schoonover. “The quality was fabulous, and it was very popular.”

The exhibit previously has been only to Vero Beach, Fla., and Boise. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was more than happy to make Spokane the next city on the list.

The exhibit is intended for museums like the Cheney Cowles.

“We make it available to smaller museums that don’t have their own Greco-Roman collections,” said Arthur Beale of the Boston museum. “It’s called a ‘collection-share’ exhibit, and it comes largely out of our storage. It is done to make the objects more publicly accessible.”

These stored objects are not necessarily inferior to those on display at the Boston museum. They might be, however, “redundant,” meaning that the museum already has a similar object on display.

“We have what I call a very deep bench,” said Beale. “Much of what we have in storage is unique and high quality.”

Early in the process, the Cheney Cowles made a commitment to going all out in terms of quality of presentation. That was partly to match the caliber of the objects, and partly because the museum, now more than ever, wants to prove that it is ready for the cultural big leagues. There’s a political reason for that.

“We’ll be going to the Legislature next year and asking for funds for expansion ($19.5 million for a 43,000-square-foot expansion),” said Glenn Mason, director of the Cheney Cowles.

“We want to show people that this kind of exhibit is what would happen on a consistent basis. It’s our way of stepping forward in a very big way and saying we are a major part of this community.”

And not just the Spokane community. The museum hopes to draw crowds from at least a 200-mile radius.

Over the next three months the museum is saturating the community with 19 lectures on topics ranging from Athena, to carbon-dating, to surgical instruments of Greco-Roman times. Numerous interactive children’s activities are scheduled, and the museum has an entire room devoted to hands-on kids activities.

Other events are equally playful. On Halloween, admission is free for anyone dressed as a Greco-Roman character. (No fair dressing as Venus de Milo.) “We want to show that the museum is more than just a place where old things are,” said Mason. “It’s a place where people are continuing their learning activities.”

Of course, for the “Treasures” exhibit, the museum is indeed a place where old things are.

Visitors will encounter a most appropriate tour guide as soon as they walk in the door: a marble head of Alexander the Great, who represents a bridge between the Greek and Roman cultures, said Barbara Racker, curator of art at the Cheney Cowles.

Immediately, visitors should notice a difference in the gallery. It has been totally redesigned by a Seattle-based exhibit designer, David Edquist.

It is now divided into several sections by partial walls and decorated with towering columns. The objects are displayed in all-new exhibit cases designed expressly for this show.

The Boston museum delivered and uncrated the objects, but it was up to the Cheney Cowles to install and display them.

Laura Thayer, the museum’s curator of collections, said installing the objects was challenging, to say the least.

On one hand, she and the other workers had to mount and anchor solid marble torsos weighing 80 pounds. On the other hand, they had to meticulously position delicate thin-walled pots that had never been broken in their entire 2,200 years.

The gallery design is based around three main themes.

The first is “The Natural World,” which contains mainly representations of animals. Visitors will see a bronze Roman bull, a Roman lamp decorated with dolphin figures, and a slithering bronze snake from 400 B.C., among many other objects.

From there, visitors move into “The Mortal World,” in which the human figure is supreme. There are marble torsos, terra-cotta figures and 10 sculpted heads, mostly in marble and limestone. Racker said that by looking at the heads closely, you can see how the Greek style of realism developed.

One head, from 525 B.C., looks stylized and almost Egyptian in design. As time goes on, the heads get gradually more naturalistic and sophisticated.

The final stop is “The Spiritual World,” probably the richest and most stunning of the three. Visitors enter through columns, as if into a temple, and they will see a bronze Zeus holding a thunderbolt; a limestone Aphrodite untying her sandal before her bath; a bronze Dionysus brandishing a drinking horn and staggering drunkenly; a terra-cotta Eros embracing his lover Psyche; and a terra-cotta Nike flying high in victory.

“Many are votive figures found in a sanctuary in the home or in a grave site,” said Racker.

Many of the pieces in the exhibit are everyday objects and artworks that people bought for their homes. There are lamps, candleholders and many beautifully decorated pots.

“These pots were exported widely for household use,” said Racker. “They might cost two or three days’ wages.

“It’s almost like our tradition of fine china. They were brought out for important events.”

Some of the pots are intact, probably because they were buried in tombs. Tomb-robbers didn’t consider them valuable enough to steal, said Racker.

Other objects, such as the heads, busts and larger statuary, were probably from public monuments.

How they got to the Boston museum is not always easy to answer. Some came from excavations the museum sponsored.

“Our museum in the 19th century and early 20th century did some excavating,” said Beale. “But the era of colonization is over. You can’t take things out of the country of origin anymore.”

About 90 percent of the objects come from gifts, and in most cases it’s anybody’s guess how the collectors originally came across them. Some were acquired as early as 1872, others as late as the 1990s.

The exhibit is not huge; the gallery space is only 2,500 square feet. But visitors can spend a lot of time there, if they wish.

“They can come in, look at the objects and leave,” said Racker. “Or they can get more in-depth with the object cards and the gallery guide.

“There is so much information; it becomes more complex as you get into it.”

Or, they can go all out and attend all of the lectures, the planetarium show, the “A Mythical Evening” event at the Davenport.

Why not? The Greeks and Romans don’t visit Spokane very often.

, DataTimes MEMO: Two sidebars appeared with the story: 1. Treasures of Antiquity “Treasures of Antiquity: Greek and Roman Art From the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston” opens today at the Cheney Cowles Museum, 2316 W. First, and continues through Dec. 31. Admission (included in regular museum admission): $4 adults, $3 seniors, $2.50 for students and children ages 6-16, $10 family, free for museum members. Hours: Sundays, 1-5 p.m.; Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Mondays.

The exhibit by the numbers Number of objects: 81 Oldest object: Head of a soldier, 525 B.C. Newest object: Marble relief from a sarcophagus, 280 A.D. Number of depictions of Zeus: 4 Number of depictions of Eros: 7 Number of marble objects: 24 Number of bronze object: 12

2. ‘Treasures of Antiquity’ schedule Here is a schedule of events associated with the exhibit “Treasures of Antiquity: Greek and Roman Art,” which opens today at the Cheney Cowles Museum. Most FamilyFest events, for families to make copies of ancient coins, paint bas-relief sculptures and participate in other activities, are included in the regular admission fee. The exception is Oct. 28, when the class will design, construct and paint Greek amphoras (tall jars). Added cost for members, $9; for non-members, $11. The Lunchbox Lecture Series: members $8 with lunch, $3 without; non-members, $12 and $7. For the entire series, the cost is: members, $24 with lunch, $12 without; nonmembers, $36 and $21. The Sunday Lecture Series costs members $4 per lecture, $12 for the entire series; non-members, $8 and $24. Saturday FamilyFest, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Oct. 8 Lunchbox Lecture Series: Barbara Racker, Cheney Cowles, curator of art, “Treasure of Antiquity Gallery Tour,” 12:15 p.m. Oct. 9 Wednesday Night Program: Tames Allen, Art Institute of Seattle, “From the Streets of Rome to the Provinces of an Empire: A Short Social History,” a one-woman, costumed presentation depicting the history of the Roman Empire, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 Interactive Children’s Programs conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 13 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Oct. 13 Sunday Lecture Series: Art Ferrill, Ph.D., University of Washington, “Athens vs. Sparta: Greek Warfare in the Fifth Century B.C.,” 2 p.m. Oct. 16 Wednesday Night Program: Michael Hoff, Ph.D., University of Nebraska, “RomanAthens: The Transformation into an Imperial City,” 8 p.m. Oct. 19 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 20 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Oct. 22 Lunchbox Lecture Series: Sister Paula Turnbull, “Narrative Clay: the Classical Greek Vase,” 12:15 p.m. Oct. 23 Wednesday Night Program: Fred Lauritsen, Ph.D. Eastern Washington University, “Cyprus: Crossroads of the Ancient World,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 27 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Oct. 27 Sunday Lecture Series: Jeffrey Hurwit, Ph.D., University of Oregon, “In the Palm of Her Hand: Athena, Victory and the Acropolis,” 2 p.m. Oct. 30 Wednesday Night Program: Richard S. Williams, Ph.D., Washington State University, “Our Roman Heritage: Electoral Bribery, Scandal and Corruption,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31 Halloween: Free admission to visitors costumed as Greco-Roman characters. Nov. 2 A Mythical Evening at the Davenport Hotel, $100 per person. Nov. 2 FamilyFest, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 5 Lunchbox Lecture Series: Fred Lauritsen, Ph.D., Eastern Washington University, “From Myrina and Tanagra: the Beautiful People,” 12:15 p.m. Nov. 6 Wednesday Night Program: Ann Lou Robkin, Ph.D., University of Washington, “Taste, Smells and Perfumes of Antiquity,” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8 Greek Constellation Planetarium Show at Eastern Washington University Planetarium, 7-9 p.m., $10 admission; limited to 50 people. Nov. 9 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 10 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Nov. 10 Sunday Lecture Series: Eli Nagy, Ph.D., University of Puget Sound, “The Message of Roman Funerary Sculpture.” 2 p.m. Nov. 13 Wednesday Night Program: Peter Ian Kuniholm, Ph.D., Cornell University, “What Mother Never Told Me about Dating or LongTree Chronologies,” co-sponsored by the Spokane Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, 8 p.m. Nov. 16 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 17 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane. 1:30-4:30 p.m. Nov. 19 Lunchbox Lecture Series: Robert Gariepy, Ph.D., Eastern Washington University, “Aphrodite, Eros and the Classical Concept of Love,” 12:15 p.m. Nov. 20 Wednesday Night Program: Carol G. Thomas, Ph.D., University of Washington, “Ancient Greece’s Debt to the Near East: A Negotiated Inheritance,” 7:30 p.m. Nov. 23 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 24 Interactive Children’s Programs, conducted by the Children’s Museum of Spokane, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Nov. 24 Sunday Lecture Series: Barbara Miller, Ph.D., Eastern Washington University, “Inspiration From the Antique: the Influence of Classical Art Upon Renaissance, Baroque and Modern Vision.” 2 p.m. Nov. 29 Come Home for the Holidays (Campbell House) through Dec. 31, regular museum hours. Dec. 4 Wednesday Night Program: Lawrence J. Bliquez, Ph.D., University of Washington, “Tools of Asklepions: Surgical Instruments in Greek and Roman Times,” co-sponsored by Deaconess Medical Center, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5-7 Museum Store’s special public sale (museum members receive an additional 20 percent discount off sale prices). Dec. 7 FamilyFest Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dec. 8 Wassail party at Campbell the House for museum members, 5-7 p.m. Dec. 11 Wednesday Night Program: Carolyn Stephens, Spokane Falls Community College, “Beyond Garden Ornaments and Spa Kitsch: Classical Inquiry in Contemporary Art,” 7:30 p.m. Dec. 28 “An Amphora Adventure,” art classes for children, 9 and older, taught by Gloria Fox and Beth Calkins, 10 a.m.-noon, and 1-3 p.m., $9 for members, $10 for nonmembers. Dec. 31 Treasures of Antiquity exhibit closes at 5 p.m.