The Frist Center for the Visual Arts again welcomes a spectacular exhibition of Egyptian art and artifacts as To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum opened in the Ingram Gallery Oct. 7, 2011, and remains on view through Jan. 8, 2012.
To Live Forever was organized by the Brooklyn Museum and includes 119 objects selected from its renowned collection of ancient Egyptian art.
Anthropoid Coffin of the Servant of the Great Place, Teti. From Thebes, Egypt. New Kingdom, mid- to late Dynasty 18, ca. 1339–1307 BCE. Painted wood, 33 7/16 x 26 3/16 x 83 1/2 in. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.14E
“It is so exciting to have our second major Egyptian exhibition at the Frist Center,” said Executive Director Susan H. Edwards, Ph.D. “The allure of Egypt is wonderfully compelling, as we learned in 2006 when The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt was on view at the Frist. People are utterly fascinated by this most-ancient civilization. To Live Forever offers a different context from which to view and learn more about ancient Egyptians and the belief system they shared, rich and poor, alike.”
One of the primary cultural tenets through thousands of years of ancient Egyptian civilization was a belief in the afterlife and the view that death was an enemy that could be vanquished. To Live Forever includes objects that illustrate a range of strategies the ancient Egyptians developed to defeat death. It explores mummification and the rituals performed in the tomb to assist the deceased in defying death, as well as examining what the Egyptians believed they would find in the next world.
Tombs and mummification rituals were not solely reserved for pharaohs and Egyptian royalty; Egyptians of various classes also prepared for the afterlife, although with far less opulence.
To Live Forever explores the economics of the Egyptian funeral and contrasts how rich and poor, according to their means, prepared for the hereafter. Egyptian funerals are examined with
examples of the ways the poor tried to imitate the costly appearance of the grave goods of the wealthy in order to ensure a better place in the afterlife.
The exhibition is a study in contrasts. Visitors will be able to compare finely painted wood and stone coffins made for the rich with the clay coffins the poor made for themselves; masterfully worked granite vessels with clay vessels painted in imitation, and gold jewelry created for nobles with earthenware amulets fashioned from man-made turquoise substitutes.
Objects on view include the vividly painted coffin of a mayor of Thebes; the mummy and mummy portrait of Demetrios, a wealthy citizen of Hawara; the Bird Lady, one of the oldest preserved statues from all Egyptian history and a signature Brooklyn Museum object; a painted limestone relief of Queen Neferu; a gilded, glass and faience mummy cartonnage (mask fashioned of plastered layers of papyrus or fiber) of a woman; the elaborately painted shroud of Neferhotep; a gilded mummy mask of a man; and a gold amulet representing the human soul.
About the Frist Center
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, Tenn., is an art exhibition center dedicated to presenting the finest visual art from local, regional, U.S. and international sources in a program of changing exhibitions. The Frist Center’s Martin ArtQuest Gallery (open until 5:30 p.m. each day) features interactive stations relating to Frist Center exhibitions. Gallery admission to the Frist Center is free for visitors 18 and younger and to Frist Center members. Frist Center admission is $10.00 for adults and $7.00 for seniors, military and college students with ID. College students are admitted free Thursday and Friday evenings (with the exception of Frist Fridays), 5–9 p.m. Discounts are offered for groups of 10 or more with advance reservation by calling (615) 744-3247.The Frist Center is open seven days a week: Mondays through Wednesdays, and Saturdays, 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays, 10 a.m.–9 p.m. and Sundays, 1–5:30 p.m., with the Frist Center Café opening at noon. Additional information is available by calling (615) 244-3340 or by visiting our website at http://www.fristcenter.org
Lower image: Image: Mummy Mask of a Man. Egypt, provenance not known. Roman Period, early 1st century C.E. Stucco, gilded and painted, 20 1/4 x 13 x 7 7/8 in. (51.5 x 33 x 20 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 72.57