Traveling Exhibitions

The Creative Photograph in Archaeology, is an exhibition that brought together, for the first time, new ways of seeing archaeological sites, monuments and sculpture, from the invention of photography to the present day. The work of such influential photographers such as Robertson, Konstantinou, Stillman, Boissonnas, Hege, List, Hellner and Mavrommatis show commonalities in the representation of antiquities, and suggests a new way of seeing beyond the obvious, revealing the creative presence of the photographer. The exhibition was curated by Costis Antoniadis and was organized by Socratis Mavrommatis and the Benaki Museum in Athens, in collaboration with Fairfield University.

Photographs of the Athenian Acropolis: The Restoration Project, was an exhibition featuring photography by Socratis Mavrommatis, the chief photographer of the Acropolis Restoration Service. The exhibition was a remarkable collection of photographs documenting the interventions and transformations of Acropolis monuments since 1975.

Photographs of the Acropolis have usually been idealistic renderings and dramatizations of the subject, romantically emphasizing the beauty of the abandoned site and its damaged condition. The photographs of the restoration work carried out on the monuments, by contrast, show them as they are, as close to reality as possible. The exhibition images, photographically printed in black and white on large panels that also contain descriptive text, are chronologically arranged and depict four key areas of the restoration effort: the rationale for preservation, the preparation for intervention, the main restoration work in process, and images of the monuments themselves. The photographs include large panoramic shots of the buildings, sometimes encased in scaffolding; close-ups of architectural features such as columns, cornices and friezes; documentation of damage by pollution, explosions and other factors; and the disassembly and reconstruction of some of the monuments.

The exhibition opened in Athens at the renowned Benaki Museum in October 2002, and traveled to Thessaloniki, Brussels, Paris, Rome and London. The North American tour was organized by the Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery, Fairfield University.

In 2005 the American art historian and archaeologist Katherine Schwab (b. 1954) began experimenting with graphite and pastel pencil on paper to develop a new method of recording her observations of the Parthenon east and north metopes. A tension emerges between what is preserved and what has been lost, creating a theme of presence within absence.

Schwab's drawings arise from the intersection of artistic ability and archaeological expertise. Through the process of drawing Schwab has made new observations and discoveries that have contributed to our larger understanding of the east and north metope series.

Her drawings are divided into three sections. The first includes 16 pastel and graphite drawings of the east metopes which has the theme of the Olympian gods fighting the Earthborn giants. The second section shows 12 graphite drawings of the Sacking of Troy. Seven graphite drawings comprise the third section, which is devoted to a selection of figures from the Parthenon pediments and frieze.

The exhibition was organized by the Bellarmine Museum of Art at Fairfield University, Creighton University (Omaha), and the Timken Museum of Art (San Diego).

The Fairfield University Art Museum is pleased to present the inaugural exhibition of a monumental new series by artist Rick Shaefer created in response to the ongoing refugee crisis convulsing the globe. This three-piece suite is comprised of Land Crossing, dealing with the migration across foreign lands; Water Crossing, addressing the perilous journeys of refugees who take to the open seas; and Border Crossing, spotlighting the hostilities refugees face in seeking safe haven far from a violence-torn homeland. The trilogy employs the artistic lexicon of old master painting (specifically incorporating heroic figurative elements from works by Rubens and Géricault) to explore this contemporary crisis in a language both familiar and iconic. Such historical allusions underscore the tenacious persistence of this epic human tragedy throughout time, past and present.

In addition to the three triptychs, each executed in charcoal on vellum, the exhibition includes seventeen of Shaefer’s preparatory drawings for the series.

Audio clips were created by refugee and relocated youth, and their teachers, who found inspiration in Shaefer’s work. The participating students attended the Ubuntu Academy, a summer literacy lab hosted by the Connecticut Writing Project at Fairfield University that brings teachers and students together to write. Listen to our mobile app at app.cuseum.com/fuam.