| Exhibition Dates: |
May 13, 2019–January 5, 2020 |
| Exhibition Location: |
The Met Fifth Avenue, Greek and Roman Mezzanine,
Gallery 172 |
A virtuoso watercolorist, Émile Gilliéron (1850–1924) was the most important draftsman and popularizer of archaeological discoveries in Greece beginning in the late 1870s. Opening May 13 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition Watercolors of the Acropolis: Émile Gilliéron in Athens features three drawings roughly 11 feet long and two smaller examples depicting architectural sculptures with mythological subjects from the Athenian Acropolis. The sculptures decorated buildings that were destroyed in the early fifth century B.C. The watercolors demonstrate Gilliéron’s exceptional mastery of an unforgiving medium applied on an exceptionally large scale.
The exhibition is made possible by The Vlachos Family Fund.
Louis Émile Emmanuel Gilliéron (1850–1924), known as Émile Gilliéron père, was born in Villeneuve, near Bern, Switzerland, and received his training in Basel, Munich, and Paris, notably in the studio of the painter Isidore Pils. By 1877 he had moved to Athens, where his talents as an archaeological illustrator were quickly recognized. He was employed by Heinrich Schliemann, famous for his excavations at Troy and Mycenae that first revealed the cultures of prehistoric Greece described by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey. Gilliéron is probably best known for having been called to Crete in 1900 by Sir Arthur Evans, who was bringing to light the center of Minoan culture at Knossos. For 30 years, Gilliéron father and son, Émile Gilliéron fils (1885–1939), served Evans as draftsmen, restorers, and advisors. They also developed a highly successful business making and selling two- and three-dimensional reproductions to an international clientele. Between 1906 and 1933, The Metropolitan Museum of Art was a major purchaser.
The five watercolors depicting sculptures from the Athenian Acropolis represent a special group by virtue of their size and evolution. Recent investigation reveals that Gilliéron père was present when the original sculptures were excavated in the 1880s. From working drawings and photographs, he later created these watercolors for sale. The three largest works depict the sculptures that are believed to have decorated the pediment of a very large temple, known as the “Hekatompedon” (the “Hundred Footer”). In the center, two lions savage a young bull. On the left, the Greek hero Herakles wrestles Triton, a sea creature; on the right, a winged, three-bodied figure with a snaky tail holds out fire, water, and a bird. The drawings of the corner groups are the same size as the original sculptures while the drawing of the animals is half the size of the original. The two smaller sculptures, from different, unidentified buildings, depict two further myths involving the Greek hero: one shows Herakles killing the Hydra of Lerna, a fearsome creature whose heads grew back as quickly as they were lopped off, and the other shows Herakles being introduced into Olympos, the home of the gods, at the end of his trials. The original sculptures date to about 575–560 B.C. and, from the time they came to light, excited interest for the colors with which they were painted in antiquity.
These watercolors are precious renderings of early Greek sculptures that Gilliéron père saw when they first came out of the ground, with some of their original color. At the same time, the drawings present challenges, because the sculptures’ polychromy has changed since excavation and the artist introduced his own interpretation.
A video showing the dramatic conservation of the watercolors accompanies the exhibition.
The exhibition was organized by Joan R. Mertens, Curator, Department of Greek and Roman Art. Conservation was performed by Lisa Conte, now Head of Conservation, National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
The exhibition will be the subject of the Annual Cycladic Lecture—Émile Gilliéron's Watercolors of Sculpture from the Athenian Acropolis (May 29, 4 p.m.).
This lecture has been made possible by the Museum of Cycladic and Ancient Greek Art, Athens, Greece, in fondest memory of its founder, Dolly Goulandris.
A Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin will be published in concert with the exhibition. The publication will be available in The Met Store (paperback, $14.95).
This Bulletin is made possible in part by The Ceres Foundation, Inc., The Prospect Hill Foundation, and the Jenny Boondas Fund. The Met’s quarterly Bulletin program is supported by the Lila Acheson Wallace Fund for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, established by the cofounder of Reader’s Digest.
The exhibition will be featured on The Met website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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May 7, 2019
Image: Émile Gilliéron père. Three-bodied winged figure with a snaky tail, commonly known as “Bluebeard” (detail), 1919. After a sixth-century B.C. pedimental sculpture found on the Acropolis of Athens. Watercolor, graphite, and crayon on paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dodge Fund, 1919.
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