INDIANAPOLIS - The Indianapolis Museum of Art will be the first venue to host "To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum," which will be on view from July 13 through Sept. 7.Featuring approximately 120 objects dating from 3600 B.C. to 400 A.D. from the world-renowned Egyptian art collection of New York's Brooklyn Museum, the exhibition will illustrate the range of strategies and preparations the ancient Egyptians developed to defeat death and to achieve success in the afterlife.
"The IMA is pleased to be the first museum in a multiple-city tour for this exhibition," said Maxwell L. Anderson, the Melvin & Bren Simon director and CEO of the IMA. "Through a vibrant selection of artworks from one of the world's leading collections of Egyptian antiquities, our visitors will gain real insight into the ancient quest for survival into eternity."
The exhibition explores the belief that death was an enemy that could be vanquished, one of the primary cultural tenets of ancient Egyptian civilization. In order to survive in the next world, Egyptians would purchase, trade or even reuse a variety of objects - statues, coffins, vessels, and jewelry for example - that would protect them in the afterlife. The exhibition explains the process of mummification, the economics and rituals of memorials, the contents of the tomb, the funeral accessories - including the differentiation of objects used by upper, middle and lower classes - and the idealized afterlife."
Exhibition highlights include: a vividly painted coffin of a Mayor of Thebes (about 1075-945 B.C); the mummy and portrait of Demetrios, a wealthy citizen of Hawara (95-100 A.D.); two mummies of dogs (664 B.C.-395 A.D); stone sculpture and statues; protective gold jewelry made for nobility; amulets (items for protection in the afterlife); canopic jars (used to store the body's major organs); and ceramic vessels.
"Many of the objects in the show have never been exhibited before," said Theodore Celenko, curator of African art at the IMA. "And one piece in particular - a limestone statue of a father, mother and child that's more than 2,000 years old - will only be shown in Indianapolis."
In addition to the exhibition, the IMA will host a lecture by the exhibition's curator Edward Bleiberg.
On July 13 at 2 p.m., Bleiberg - the curator of Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Middle Eastern Art at the Brooklyn Museum - will discuss religion, aesthetics and immortality of ancient Egypt in relation to the exhibition.
Admission to "To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum" will be $12 for adults (ages 18-64); $6 for children (ages 7-17) and college students; $10 for seniors (65+) and groups of 10 or more. The exhibition is free for children 6 and under and for all school groups booked through the IMA Education Division. General admission to the IMA and Lilly House is free.
The IMA also exhibits an acclaimed permanent collection of African art, which totals more than 2,000 works. The Eiteljorg Gallery of African Art features more than 400 objects including masks, figures and textiles from all major regions of the continent, including Northern, Eastern, Central, Southern and Western Africa. Twenty-eight pieces from ancient Egypt and Nubia are currently on display. Admission is free to the IMA's permanent galleries.
