Ancient Art Podcast

iPod version. For HD video visit ancientartpodcast.org. Keeping our promise from last episode, episode 26 explores the history, artistry, and mythology of the famous Hellenistic sculpture, the Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles. Using the words of ancient authors like Hesiod, Pliny the Elder, and others, we examine multiple copies of the sculpture, including the Vatican’s Colonna Venus, the Uffizi’s Venus de' Medici, the Aphrodite Braschi of the Munich Glyptothek, and an example from the Art Institute of Chicago. We also expose the misnomer of the Roman “copy” of an original Greek sculpture. And we’ll round things out with some modern revisionist theories on the sexuality of Aphrodite.

Keeping our promise from last episode, episode 26 explores the history, artistry, and mythology of the famous Hellenistic sculpture, the Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles. Using the words of ancient authors like Hesiod, Pliny the Elder, and others, we examine multiple copies of the sculpture, including the Vatican’s Colonna Venus, the Uffizi’s Venus de' Medici, the Aphrodite Braschi of the Munich Glyptothek, and an example from the Art Institute of Chicago. We also expose the misnomer of the Roman “copy” of an original Greek sculpture. And we’ll round things out with some modern revisionist theories on the sexuality of Aphrodite.

iPod version. For HD video visit ancientartpodcast.org. With a nod to the Art Institute of Chicago’s October self-guide and celebrating the Halloween season, episode 25 explores a few headless and disembodied works of art, including the humorous, the grotesque, and the just plain practical. We compare a Roman statue of a seated woman to its Classical Greek antecedents and explore one very logical explanation for why so many Roman statues are missing their heads and arms.

With a nod to the Art Institute of Chicago’s October self-guide and celebrating the Halloween season, episode 25 explores a few headless and disembodied works of art, including the humorous, the grotesque, and the just plain practical. We compare a Roman statue of a seated woman to its Classical Greek antecedents and explore one very logical explanation for why so many Roman statues are missing their heads and arms.

iPod version. For HD video visit ancientartpodcast.org. Episode 24 brings us the art of the Japanese folding screen from the exhibition Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Saint Louis Art Museum. We’ll explore traditional styles, motifs, subjects, and forms, and also discover contemporary examples of the Japanese screen breaking boundaries and redefining the art form. Two works are examined in close detail, Flowering Cherry and Autumn Maples with Poem Slips by Tosa Mitsuoki and Mountain Lake Screen Tachi by Okura Jiro, in a discussion weaving together tradition and innovation, antiquity and contemporary, banal and spiritual.

Episode 24 brings us the art of the Japanese folding screen from the exhibition Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Saint Louis Art Museum. We’ll explore traditional styles, motifs, subjects, and forms, and also discover contemporary examples of the Japanese screen breaking boundaries and redefining the art form. Two works are examined in close detail, Flowering Cherry and Autumn Maples with Poem Slips by Tosa Mitsuoki and Mountain Lake Screen Tachi by Okura Jiro, in a discussion weaving together tradition and innovation, antiquity and contemporary, banal and spiritual.

iPod version. For HD video visit ancientartpodcast.org. Putting the cap on the jar of Akhenaten, episode 23 explores works from the reign of the boy king Tutankhamun and his successors. Do the efforts of the 18th dynasty heretic king Akhenaten die hard or do his radical transformations live on? Dive in to discover the artistic legacy of the Amarna period on the throne of King Tut and a fragment from the private tomb of Iniuia and Yui. In this episode, we also closely examine a fragmentary statue bust of a woman from the New Kingdom at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which you may have recently witnessed for its uncanny resemblance to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Putting the cap on the jar of Akhenaten, episode 23 explores works from the reign of the boy king Tutankhamun and his successors. Do the efforts of the 18th dynasty heretic king Akhenaten die hard or do his radical transformations live on? Dive in to discover the artistic legacy of the Amarna period on the throne of King Tut and a fragment from the private tomb of Iniuia and Yui. In this episode, we also closely examine a fragmentary statue bust of a woman from the New Kingdom at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, which you may have recently witnessed for its uncanny resemblance to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

iPod version. For HD video visit ancientartpodcast.org. Another foray into contemporary art, where antiquity and modernity collide. Episode 22 explores two works by contemporary performance and visual artist Lorraine O’Grady: Nefertiti/Devonia Evangeline and Miscegenated Family Album. We delve deep into the family history of Nefertiti and Akhenaten of the Amarna Period. We also explore the idea of race in Ancient Egypt, touching on Afrocentric theories and how our own cultural biases shape the field of Egyptology. Lastly, a short homage to the King of Pop [“ma’a kheru”].

Another foray into contemporary art, where antiquity and modernity collide. Episode 22 explores two works by contemporary performance and visual artist Lorraine O’Grady: Nefertiti/Devonia Evangeline and Miscegenated Family Album. We delve deep into the family history of Nefertiti and Akhenaten of the Amarna Period. We also explore the idea of race in Ancient Egypt, touching on Afrocentric theories and how our own cultural biases shape the field of Egyptology. Lastly, a short homage to the King of Pop [“ma’a kheru”].

iPod version. For HD video visit ancientartpodcast.org. In episode 21, we scratch the surface of one of the most interesting periods from Ancient Egypt, the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten. We explore the radical social transformations during his reign and its uniquely characteristic artistic revolution known as the Amarna style.

In episode 21, we scratch the surface of one of the most interesting periods from Ancient Egypt, the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten. We explore the radical social transformations during his reign and its uniquely characteristic artistic revolution known as the Amarna style.

iPod version. For HD video visit ancientartpodcast.org. In episode 20 we dive into the nitty gritty of the Ancient Olympic games. We continue to look at what makes the Greek games essentially Greek and we run through a survey of the various types of athletic events at the Olympics. We expose the often overshadowed origin of the marathon race and explore some interesting character portraits of notable ancient athletes.

In episode 20 we dive into the nitty gritty of the Ancient Olympic games. We continue to look at what makes the Greek games essentially Greek and we run through a survey of the various types of athletic events at the Olympics. We expose the often overshadowed origin of the marathon race and explore some interesting character portraits of notable ancient athletes.

Grab yer beer hat and foam finger, ‘cause it’s game on for part 2 of the Ancient Olympics on the Ancient Art Podcast. In episode 19 we continue to explore the idea of a tragic untimely demise as a good reason to hold an athletic contest. We take a close look at some very early Greek artwork dated to about the time of the foundation of the Olympic games, which may suggest chariot racing and funerary games. And then we “expose” — so to speak — various interpretations on nudity in the ancient games.