“Making Sense of Marbles: Roman Sculpture at the OI”
A Special Exhibition
September 15, 2022-March 12, 2023
oi.uchicago.edu/marbles
On view as a group for the first time in an exhibition co-curated by Kiersten Neumann, OI Museum interim chief curator, and Roko Rumora, PhD candidate, Department of Art History, University of Chicago, the OI’s collection of Roman sculpture illustrates how we can make sense of marbles with divergent histories and the fundamental importance of archaeological context in telling an object’s story. The majority of the collection was excavated by OI archaeologists at the site of Ptolemais in Libya in 1956-1958, a veritable highlight being two life-size marble statues, once displayed in the City Baths at Ptolemais. In the exhibition, this abundance of contextual information is placed in sharp contrast with Roman works purchased from the antiquities market. Sixty-five years after they were first on view in the galleries of the OI Museum, we can appreciate the OI’s collection of Roman marbles in a new light, conscious of their complex history.
Visit the exhibition webpage for visitor information and related programming: oi.uchicago.edu/marbles
c. 2022 OI