Cosmopolite

Athens' National Archaeological Museum

Ancient works are put on display in the artificial settings.

Modern museums are designed to display ancient artifacts, not as they were intended, but in a manner designed to entertain callow money oozing tourists. Shuffling through darkend, artificially cooled and humidified galleries, the patrons of these modern day tombs are presented remnants of a long dead culture frozen in time and suspended in space by interpretive theatrical lighting. Lost in this contrived setting is the sense of drama, movement and life these figures generated in their original alfresco home.

These sculptures were made to live outside, in the brilliant Hellas light. The craftsman set upon the lifeless stone with tools of shadow and light. They freed these shapes from their stone casings to live in the vibrant ever-changing sunlight. From the softness of daybreak, through the stark radiance of noon and on to the golden decline into night, the sun's daily march across the sky brought light-born life to these stone shapes. Just as these ancient artisans used diaphanous folds to reveal the shapely female form so too did they use light and shadow from the sun itself to reveal movement and life.