Photographs chronicle 天美传媒视频无限制观看 professor鈥檚 rich examination of hair of the Caryatids on the Acropolis
FAIRFIELD, Conn. (Feb. 6, 2015) 鈥 The Consulate General of Greece will host 鈥淧hotographs of the Caryatid Hairstyling Project,鈥 an exhibition that reveals the intricacy, technique and meaning of the elaborately braided coiffures worn by the ancient marble maidens of the Athenian Acropolis, from Wednesday, February 25 through Friday, March 27. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public, features photos of the maidens, known as Caryatids, as well as photos of six 天美传媒视频无限制观看 students whose hair was used in an experiment to replicate these ancient hairstyles.
Visitors may view the photographs from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays at the Greek Consulate General, 69 East 79th Street, New York City. The exhibition will then travel to the Greek Embassy in Washington, D.C., where it will be on view from Wednesday, April 29 through June 2015.
The 2009 Caryatid Hairstyling Project is the brainchild of Katherine A. Schwab, Ph.D., professor of art history in 天美传媒视频无限制观看鈥檚 Department Visual and Performing Arts. Dr. Schwab, who has long studied the art and architecture of the Acropolis, wondered if the hairstyles of the maidens of the south porch of the Erechtheion could be replicated on modern women. As part of her research, six student models had their hair styled by Connecticut stylist Milexy Torres. Torres worked from photographs of the marble maidens, including archival works from the collections of the American School of Classical Studies and the German Archaeological Institute, both at Athens, studying the photos and matching the student models鈥 hair texture to the specific examples.
This experiment was made into a short film, 鈥淭he Caryatid Hairstyling Project,鈥 which has been screened at international archaeological film festivals in Athens and Rovereto, Italy, as well as in presentations in Kyoto, Japan, and throughout the United States. Why are hairstyles significant? Dr. Schwab says, like many other aspects of antiquity, the maidens鈥 braids reveal much about social status and activities of their times. Coincidentally, the fishtail braid worn by the Caryatids was the most popular braid on fashion runways as the film project concluded in 2009, and it remains popular today.
鈥淢ost stylists and those wearing this distinctive braid do not know of its famous use and appearance in antiquity, as part of a rarely worn hairstyle by both young women ready to marry and by gods in ancient Greece,鈥 she said. 鈥淎s hands create the fishtail braid today, they follow the same hand movements by people in ancient Athens nearly 2,500 years ago.鈥
The project has prompted a larger inquiry into 鈥淗air in the Classical World,鈥 the title of an exhibition at the University鈥檚 Bellarmine Museum of Art planned for Thursday, October 8 through Friday, December 18, 2015, in celebration of the museum鈥檚 fifth anniversary. The exhibition will include objects on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery and the American Numismatic Society, and will be curated by Schwab and Marice Rose, Ph.D., associate professor of art history at Fairfield.
Posted On: 02-09-2015 03:02 PM
Volume: 47 Number: 167