An Archaeologist's Eye: The Parthenon Drawings of Katherine A. Schwab

Piece from An Archaeologist's Eye

An Archaeologist's Eye:
The Parthenon Drawings of Katherine A. Schwab

Traveling Exhibition

2014-2018

In 2005 the American art historian and archaeologist Katherine Schwab (b. 1954) began experimenting with graphite and pastel pencil on paper to develop a new method of recording her observations of the Parthenon east and north metopes. A tension emerges between what is preserved and what has been lost, creating a theme of presence within absence.

Schwab's drawings arise from the intersection of artistic ability and archaeological expertise. Through the process of drawing Schwab has made new observations and discoveries that have contributed to our larger understanding of the east and north metope series.

Her drawings are divided into three sections. The first includes 16 pastel and graphite drawings of the east metopes which has the theme of the Olympian gods fighting the Earthborn giants. The second section shows 12 graphite drawings of the Sacking of Troy. Seven graphite drawings comprise the third section, which is devoted to a selection of figures from the Parthenon pediments and frieze.

The exhibition was organized by the Bellarmine Museum of Art at Fairfield University, Creighton University (Omaha), and the Timken Museum of Art (San Diego).

 

 Read what The Washington Post had to say about the exhibition.

 

National Tour of Parthenon Drawings by Fairfield University Professor Opens in NYC 

 

Article on exhibition in Greek News Online

 

Watch an interview with Dr. Katherine Schwab and Ms. Amanda Dyer, Director, Forsyth Galleries, Texas A&M University, March 22, 2017.

 

Venues

Greek Consulate General in New York, 69 East 78th Street, New York, NY; January 16 to March 7, 2014

Greek Embassy, Washington, D.C.; April 14 to August 1, 2014

Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; Sept. 13 – Dec. 7, 2014

Lied Art Gallery, Creighton University, Omaha, NE; February 21 – March 29, 2015

Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem, OR; November 7 – January 31, 2016
https://willamette.edu/arts/hfma/exhibitions/library/2015-16/archaeologists_eye.html

Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, CA; April 1 – June 5, 2016
https://www.timkenmuseum.org/news/an-archaeologists-eye-exhibition-opening-at-the-timken/

Phillips Museum, Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA; September 13 – December 9, 2016

University Art Galleries, Texas A & M, College Station, TX; January 20, 2017 - August 1, 2017

The Nashville Parthenon, Nashville, TN; January 13 - May 6, 2018

For more information, please contact:
Carey Mack Weber
Frank and Clara Meditz Executive Director
Fairfield University Art Museum
cweber@fairfield.edu
(203) 254-4000, ext. 2499