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Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
617-267-9300
Boston
The Loring Gallery
‘And So to Bed’:
Indian Bed Curtains
from a Stately English Home
November 5, 2008-
June 21, 2009

The textile trade between Great Britain and India flourished in the 17th century, and the influence of India and Southeast Asia upon British interior design could be found in a wide range of household objects, from soft goods such as bed hangings and wall coverings, to ceramics, toilette services, and decorative screens. While few examples of these textiles imported from India to Europe during this period have survived, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), owns two rare late 17th-/early 18th-century bed hangings, one of Indian embroidered cotton, and the other of hand-painted Indian callico or chintz. These bed hangings from Ashburnham Place in Sussex, England — which possibly hung in a bedroom — serve as the focal point for ‘And So to Bed’: Indian Bed Curtains from a Stately English Home. The exhibition draws its name from the famous diarist Samuel Pepys, who often ended his entries with the phrase “and so to bed.” The exhibition is made possible by the Loring Textile Gallery Exhibition Fund and The David and Roberta Logie Fund for Textile and Fashion Arts. Additional support for the exhibition is provided by The Coby Foundation, Ltd.

The exhibition — which includes approximately 40 objects — will begin with a look at the impact of Eastern goods on English life. It will examine how the Ashburnham hangings, with their depiction of a fantastic Eastern landscape, might have found a place in a British home, as well as show how they reflected British perceptions of the then relatively unknown East. Using the two curtains as a starting point — one of hand-painted chintz (one of the few existing English domestic textiles of the period still in its original form), and the other embroidered––the exhibition explores four themes: the influence of India on interior decoration and the growing importance of private spaces in 17th century British architecture, the design of the curtains, how the textiles were produced, and the textile trade between Europe and the East.

The Ashburnham family, based in Sussex, England, since at least the 12th century, owned several estates as well as a house in London. As styles and fashions changed over the years, objects that once held pride of place were tucked away in corners and attics of stately English homes, supplanted by newer and more up-to-date models. In many cases, the cast-offs were stored away for centuries, emerging in 1953, when Lady Catherine Ashburnham died, and the contents of her house, Ashburnham Place in Sussex, were auctioned to pay death duties. Among the treasures sold from the house was a group of embroidered and hand-painted textiles made of fabric imported from India, which had been in the family since at least the early 18th century. Two of these the rare bed hangings found a home in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts in 1953.

These spectacular bed hangings reflect European fascination with the imagery of Asia during this period, which found expression in chinoiserie designs that ornamented European textiles as well as other decorative arts. Some of these European orientalized designs reached India, and local artisans copied them using intricate hand-drawing and resist-dyeing techniques, producing fabrics known at the time, and even today, as chintz. Chintz was first used for bed curtains and wall hangings, particularly in the decoration of bedrooms and small cabinets or dressing rooms. It later became popular in men’s and women’s fashions.

“There was a great desire for dyed textiles from India, as the technique, profusion of color, and fastness were unlike any found elsewhere in the world,” said Pamela Parmal, David and Roberta Logie Curator of Textile and Fashion Arts, and curator of the exhibition. “These fabrics from around 1700 provide us with a glimpse into English society during this time and the forces that shaped English taste. They tell a story about interior decoration, the growing trade with India, and the impact of contact with Asia on English design and social customs.”

The British developed an interest in private domestic spaces during the 17th century, when bedrooms, dressing rooms and attached studios or cabinets became retreats for the members of the household. The rooms’ informality meant their decoration could be more experimental, and goods from the “Indies” became popular. Because of the private nature of these rooms, exotic trade goods from India were often used to furnish them: lacquer screens and chintz design on the walls, Chinese and Japanese ceramics on mantle pieces and cabinets, and oriental motifs on toilette services and bed hangings. Lacquer cabinet and stand (1680-90) portrays a distinctly European form, but has been decorated by the application of lacquer panels from a Chinese screen. Women showed a particular fondness for these chambers and used them for socializing with intimate friends and relations, often over a cup of tea, newly introduced from the East. Objects in the exhibition such as Teapot (probably 17th century, marked by Shi Dabin), an example of the earliest Chinese teapots introduced to Europe, and Tea kettle and stand (1717-18, marked by William Archdall), an example of hollowware developed specifically for the taking of hot drinks, illustrate new forms of decorative arts introduced to English society.

‘And So to Bed’ offers several other examples, including Twelve-piece toilet service and two candlesticks (1680, designed by Jacob Bodendeich), a silver toilet service chased with Persian and Chinese scenes, Coromandel screen with European hunting scene (about 1700) a Chinese lacquer screen depicting European ships, and a fragment of English crewelwork with the exact same design as the Ashburnham curtains, all which might have been proudly displayed in an English woman’s bed chamber.

Fragment of a Bed Curtain, English or Scottish, late 17th or early 18th century, Linen and cotton twill embroidered with wool, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Elizabeth Day McCormick Collection, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Coromandel Screen, Chinese, ,about 1700, Lacquer on wood, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Keith McLeod Fund, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Pomade Pot from a 12-piece Toilet Service, Jacob Bodendeich, German (active in London), 1634-1681, English, 1680, Silver, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously and Jessie and Sigmund Katz Collection, by exchange. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Cabinet on stand, English, about 1680-1690, Cabinet: panels of late 17th-century Chinese lacquer, oak and spruce carcass, engraved gilt brass-mounts; Stand: maple and pine, carved and gilt, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bequest of Forsyth Wickes – The Forsyth Wickes Collection, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Kettle and Stand, William Archdall, free 1704, died in 1751, Irish (Dublin), 1717-18, Silver and ivory, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Anonymous gift in memory of Charlotte Beebe Wilbour (1833-1914), Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Rachel Whiteread (British, born in 1963), Place (Village)¸ 2006-08, Doll houses, crates, boxes, wood, electrical fixtures, and fittings, and electricity, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, London, Photograph © Mike Bruce, Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Rachel Whiteread (British, born in 1963), Place (Village)¸ 2006-08, Doll houses, crates, boxes, wood, electrical fixtures, and fittings, and electricity, Courtesy the artist and Gagosian Gallery, London, Photograph © Mike Bruce, Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Rachel Whiteread (British, born in 1963), Untitled, 2006, Gouache, pencil and collage on paper, Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York, Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
617-267-9300
Boston
Rachel Whiteread
October 15, 2008-
January 25, 2009

Haunting and yet familiar are the works of renowned sculptor Rachel Whiteread. Themes of absence and memory are embodied in her interpretations of everyday, domestic objects and their overlooked “negative” spaces — the interior of a closet, the section of a floor, or the hollow of a chair. An exploration of the artist’s innovative use of the unseen areas that complement an object’s identity is presented in Rachel Whiteread, Whiteread’s first solo museum show in the United States since the presentation of two sculptures in 2002 at the Guggenheim Museum, as well as the American premiere of her dramatic new installation Place (Village) (2006-2008, Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery). The exhibition includes six additional sculptural pieces and 15 rarely seen drawings by the British contemporary artist. Rachel Whiteread is generously funded by The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, with additional support from the Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser Fund, the Robert and Jane Burke Fund for Exhibitions, anonymous donors, Irma Fisher Mann and The Barbara Lee Family Foundation Fund at the Boston Foundation.

The highlight of Rachel Whiteread is an assemblage of approximately 200 vintage dollhouses — all hand-made in a variety of architectural styles and averaging three feet tall — which the artist collected during the past 20 years. Titled Place (Village), this sculptural interpretation evokes reminders of the past as preserved in a sprawling hillside “community” of quaint homes, each with its own story to tell. Assembled in a darkened room of the MFA’s Foster Gallery, the houses are lit from within, but deserted — their emptiness evoking haunting memories and melancholy.

The artist has been making sculpture primarily through casting — using plaster, rubber, resin, and sprayed concrete — ever since graduating from London's Slade School of Fine Art in 1987. Individual sculptures by Whiteread, displayed in an adjacent room of the MFA gallery, serve as counterpoint to the installation. A lighter palette sets the tone, as select examples of interior objects are presented, from an early floor piece in rubber and a cast of a door, to more recent “stacks” cast from the interiors of tattered boxes, suggesting deconstruction of comfort, home, and memory. These works include: Untitled (Amber Floor) (1993, Courtesy of Luhring Augustine, New York), a rubber cast of a floor section; Double-Doors II (A+B) (2006-2007, Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery), two panels in plasticized plaster with interior aluminum framework; and Cabinet XI (2007, Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery), a cast of a cabinet made out of metal and plaster. Rarely seen drawings from Whiteread’s career are also on view, as well as five created for Place (Village), which have never been exhibited. Drawings include: Study for Wax Floor (1992, Collection The Museum of Modern Art, New York), a work in oil, crayon, correction fluid, felt-tipped pen and pencil on graph paper; Inside Upstairs (2004, Collection Tony and Gail Ganz, Los Angeles), a collage in gouache and pencil on paper; Study for House (1991, Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery), a work in acrylic and correction fluid on graph paper; and Village I (2007, Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian Gallery), a collage on paper made by Whiteread for her installation Place (Village).

Whiteread (b. 1963), the first woman to receive Britain’s prestigious Turner Prize (1993), is recognized internationally as one of the leading contemporary sculptors for her outstanding public works. The artist’s 1990 breakthrough piece, Ghost (formerly in the Saatchi Gallery and acquired in 2004 by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC), is a plaster cast of a typical Victorian house such as the one in which she grew up, and her 1993 commission by Artangel, Trust, London, resulted in the ambitious and controversial House, made by casting the actual interior of a condemned East London flat that was later demolished by official decree. Other acclaimed public works include Water Tower Project (1998), with the Public Art Fund in New York; Holocaust Memorial (2000) in Judenplatz, Vienna; Monument, Fourth Plinth Project (2001), in Trafalgar Square London; and Embankment, presented in 2005 as the annual Unilever installation in Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.

Suiô Genro (Japanese, 1716-1789), Japanese, Edo period, 18th century, Seated Bodhidharma, Hanging scroll; ink on paper, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gitter-Yelen Collection, Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
617-267-9300
Boston
Second Floor
Japanese Galleries
Zen Mind/Zen Brush: Japanese Ink Paintings From The Gitter-Yelen Collection
October 1, 2008-
January 4, 2009

New Orleans residents Kurt Gitter and Alice Yelen were among the first Westerners to collect later Zen paintings. They began acquiring paintings and calligraphies by Zen monks long before their importance was recognized in Japan. Their collection began in 1965 when Gitter was stationed in Kyushu for two years as a United States Air Force flight surgeon. While there, he came across Zen paintings by monk Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) who had served in a nearby temple and was captivated by the brushwork. Zen Mind/Zen Brush reflects their passions for Japanese art and self-taught art from the 18th to the 20th centuries.

Zen was first introduced to Japan in the late twelfth century. Painting and calligraphy were practiced at newly established monasteries which functioned not only as important religious institutions but also as cultural centers. During the sixteenth century a spiritual malaise gradually set in, but the Zen sect was revived and popularized by monks such as Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) and Sengai during the 18th and 19th centuries. Critical to their efforts was the production of paintings. These leaders incorporated bold displays of ink with individualistic brushwork giving traditional themes, such as the enso (circle of enlightenment), new forms, and often adding humor, which can be seen in Sengai’s rendition of Hotei Wakes from a Nap. The scroll captures the amusing nature of the big-bellied deity, resting on his mendicant’s sack.

Hakuin devised the famous illogical question, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” to challenge his students in their quest for enlightenment. To aid his efforts in propagating Buddhism among the populace, he also created highly inventive paintings — some with images of Bodhidharma, the first patriarch of the Zen sect, or of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune. In the powerful painting Two Blind Men Crossing a Log Bridge, Hakuin depicts two figures feeling their way across a bridge over a river chasm that can be interpreted as a poignant analogy to the unenlightened seeking understanding. In order to make his religious teaching more relevant to his students, he depicted a steep ravine that was an actual site near his own rural temple of Shoin-ji at the top of the Izu peninsula in eastern Japan.

Zen Mind/Zen Brush explores the legacy of Hakuin and generations of his disciples, whose works display the distinctive, fluid brushstrokes of Zen painting and calligraphy while transmitting the teachings through images of deities and Zen monks.

Hakuin Ekaku (Japanese, 1685-1768), Japanese, Edo period, 18th century, Two Blind Men Crossing a Log Bridge, Hanging scroll, ink on paper, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gitter-Yelen Collection, Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
617-267-9300
Boston
Rabb Gallery
Karsh 100:
A Biography in Images
September 23, 2008-
January 19, 2009

The legacy of Yousuf Karsh — the man behind the lens of some of the 20th century’s most famous photographic portraits — is illuminated as the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), presents Karsh 100: A Biography in Images. The exhibition of more than 100 works celebrating the 100th anniversary of Karsh’s birth (1908) presents his iconic portraits of the era’s most illustrious faces alongside rarely seen earlier photographs and little-known work.

The exhibition features a visual biography of the photographer, who died in 2002. In addition to Karsh’s well-known images of 20th -century heads of state, presidents, scientists, artists, writers, musicians, and actors, the exhibition highlights the photographer’s early work. Canadian vignettes, landscapes, moods of cities taken on assignment for Maclean’s magazine of Canada, and those commissioned by leading Canadian industries, lent by the Karsh Collection at the National Portrait Gallery of Canada, are included. Also on display are photographs taken by Karsh for Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s book, This is Rome, and on location in South Africa for the 1963 movie Zulu. Personal letters, diaries, and photographs, and one of Karsh’s large-format (8 x 10”) studio cameras with lens, velvet cloth, and tripod, lent by the Canada Science and Technology Museum, give greater insight into his inner thoughts and method of working.

Karsh 100 features many of the photographer’s most renowned portraits, including Ernest Hemingway, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Winston Churchill. His portrait of Winston Churchill, taken during the British Prime Minister’s visit to Canada in December 1941, launched his 60-year career. The oft-told story of Karsh being granted two minutes to capture the essence of the impatient statesman — from whose mouth he “respectfully” plucked an ever-present cigar — is almost as familiar as the photograph itself. The outcome of that brief encounter is the bold and defiant portrait of a belligerent Churchill, which put a human face on the indomitable spirit of the British people during World War II. That image propelled Karsh onto the international scene. Photographing men and women of consequence in the world — the “giants of the earth,” as he described them — Karsh became the most sought-after portrait photographer of his time. “My desire was to photograph the great in spirit,” he wrote, “whether they be famous or humble.”

“Karsh’s name became synonymous with the highest level of photographic portraiture and being ‘Karshed’ was an honor for his sitters,” said Anne Havinga, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Senior Curator of Photographs at the MFA, who curated the show. “This exhibition is intended to show the range of Yousuf Karsh’s work by including not only his famous portraits, but also the early efforts that led to the definition of his style and the special assignment work that he undertook once he had achieved international success. “Forty seven images — most in black and white — of the era’s celebrated personalities line the perimeter of the gallery walls. Featured among them are: heads of state — Dwight Eisenhower, Nikita Khrushchev, Ibn Abdul Aziz Faisal, and Fidel Castro; scientists — Albert Einstein, Jacques Cousteau, Albert Schweitzer, and Edward Teller; artists — Pablo Picasso, Mies van der Rohe, Ansel Adams, and Georgia O’Keeffe; writers — George Bernard Shaw, Helen Keller, Carl Sandburg, and W.H. Auden; musicians — Jean Sibelius, Jessye Norman, Pablo Casals, and Paul Robeson; and actors — Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Angela Lansbury, and Boris Karloff. A display of Karsh’s early photographs, featuring his experiments with portraiture and theatrical lighting; bucolic scenes of Canadian life for Maclean’s; and images promoting Canadian industry, will be mounted at the center of the gallery to show the breadth of Karsh’s vision. Consultant to the exhibition is Jerry Fielder, Curator and Director, Estate of Yousuf Karsh.

Archival materials in Karsh 100 provide a personal view of the man behind the velvet-draped studio camera, revealing insights into Karsh’s personality, his approach to his work, and his friendships with his subjects. Featured are reminiscences written by the photographer about his sittings with Churchill and King George VI of England, as well as the transcript of his recorded conversation with Albert Einstein after a 1948 portrait session. Video from Morley Safer’s 1977 60 Minutes interview with Yousuf Karsh also is included within the exhibition.

More than Karsh’s courtly manner, meticulous preparation, and professional demeanor was his ability to forge warm personal relationships with his subjects. The German artist Josef Albers gave Karsh his painting Homage to the Square: Stele and Foliage (1964); sculptor Jacques Lipchitz created Head of Yousuf Karsh (1970) in tribute; and sculptor Emilio Greco presented to Estrellita Karsh, the photographer’s wife, Head of Estrellita (1970), the bust for which he asked her to pose. All three of these works from Mrs. Karsh’s personal collection are included in the show, as are other special mementos, such as diaries with notations about appointments Karsh had in Washington, DC, and Hollywood with the famous and powerful; and a self portrait of Karsh near a birthday photograph of Mrs. Karsh, showing the private side of the man who lived in a very public world.

Karsh’s photographic style was influenced by his early experiences in Canada and an important sojourn in Boston. Born December 23, 1908, in Armenia-in-Turkey, Karsh spent his childhood under the horrors of the Armenian massacres. In 1925, he was brought to Canada by his uncle George Nakash, a photographer, traveling alone for 29 days in steerage from Aleppo, Syria, where his family sought refuge, to Sherbrooke, Quebec. At 20, he was apprenticed in Boston to the eminent photographer John H. Garo. At Garo’s urging, Karsh often visited the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to study the works of the great masters, and found there the artistic nourishment he treasured the rest of his life. In the humanistic atmosphere of Garo’s studio, Karsh learned not only natural light photography; meeting and listening to Garo’s accomplished friends inspired the fledgling photographer to want “to portray, to interpret, to record the human spirit, the human soul.”

In 1930, Karsh returned to Canada, and two years later, opened his own studio in Ottawa. During this period, as a member of the Ottawa Little Theater, while observing theatrical lighting, his discovery of the dramatic use of artificial light was a revelation. In 1941, having already achieved local renown, at the request of his patron, Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King, Karsh photographed Winston Churchill after his historic wartime speech before the combined Houses of Parliament. The portrait, chosen as the cover for Life magazine, became one of the most widely reproduced images in photographic history, setting in motion a long and distinguished career. In 2000, the international millennium edition of Who’s Who in the World named Karsh one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. He was delighted to learn that he had photographed more than half of those on the list. In honor of his centenary this year, Canada has commissioned three commemorative stamps: the photographer’s 1952 self portrait for mail to Canadian addresses, his famous photograph of Winston Churchill for international use, and his portrait of Audrey Hepburn for mail to the US.

Karsh’s quest — “to stir the emotions of the viewer” and “lay bare the soul” of his subjects — begun in Boston in the 1920s — ultimately gave him entrée to the most fascinating personalities of the modern age, taking him around the world on a photographic odyssey that spanned more than 60 years. In the mid 1990s, Karsh and his wife, Estrellita, relocated to Boston, his “spiritual home,” where he died on July 13, 2002, leaving behind a legacy as one of the 20th century’s most influential figures. In his final book, Karsh: A Biography in Images, the photographer summed up his career: “The endless fascination of these people for me lies in what I call their inward power. It is part of the elusive secret that hides in everyone, and it has been my life’s work to try to capture it on film. My quest has brought me great joy. It has kept me young in heart, adventurous, forever seeking, and always aware that the heart and the mind are the true lens of the camera.”

Yousuf Karsh has long been associated with the MFA. The young photographer studied works of art at the Museum during his apprenticeship in Boston with John Garo in the late 1920s. In 1968, the MFA was chosen as the first US museum venue for a Karsh exhibition. In 1996, the Museum organized Karsh Portraits: The Searching Eye, a major retrospective of 120 photographs. A gift of 199 photographs was given to the Museum by Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh between 1996 and 1998. The collection of predominantly black and white portraits by the internationally renowned artist spans more than 60 years and includes the most famous faces of the 20th century, including Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, and Man Ray. An exhibition, simply titled Karsh, featuring 75 of the artist’s iconic portraits, was sent to the MFA’s sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Nagoya, Japan) in 2000. The Karshes established the annual Karsh Lectureship in Photography in 1997, and the Karsh Prize for Photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1999. In 2005, Mrs. Karsh also endowed the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Curator of Photographs position. In 2008, she established the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Assistant Curator of Photographs position at the MFA.

In addition to their close association with the Museum, the Karshes established an ongoing collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital, melding art and medicine — spiritual and physical healing. In 1998, their gift of 20 unique Karsh portraits of medical and scientific luminaries, titled Healers of Our Age, was installed at Brigham and Women’s Nesson Pike. Karsh’s portraits of artists and authors also grace the Bretholtz Center for Patients and Families at BWH. In 2006, Mrs. Karsh presented, in her husband’s memory, a collection of photographs featuring diverse women of accomplishment to the Gretchen S. and Edward A. Fish Center for Women’s Health, a BWH outpatient practice in Chestnut Hill. In July 2008, a Karsh collection was installed in the offices of Dr. Marshall Wolf in the new state-of-the-art Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center at BWH. Karsh, whose original desire was to be a doctor, was especially happy that his work brought comfort and solace for people to enjoy “in a special gallery that never closes.” Another realization of the Karshes’ vision is the 2005 Bridge of Hope mural project, conceived and organized by Mrs. Karsh, which transformed the corridor between BWH and Dana-Farber Cancer Center into a fantastic aviary of birds carrying medicinal herbs, creating an inspirational passageway for patients, staff, and visitors. The mural was created by Nan Freeman, a faculty member of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, with the help of student assistants.

In addition to Karsh 100: A Biography in Images, several other exhibitions will be offered around the world celebrating the photographer’s work. The Boston Public Library is mounting an exhibition of Karsh’s photographs this fall, Behind the Words: Literary Portraits by Yousuf Karsh, drawing from a collection of 57 Karsh portraits of literary figures donated to the Library by Mrs. Karsh. Other venues featuring exhibitions of Karsh’s work in 2008-2009 include: National Portrait Gallery, London; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; Art Institute of Chicago; the Rhode Island School of Design; and the Art Gallery of Windsor, Canada.

Yousuf Karsh, (Canadian, born in Turkish Armenia, 1908-2002), Frank Lloyd Wright, 1954, Photograph, gelatin silver print, 49.6 x 56.8 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, 1996.186, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yousuf Karsh, (Canadian, born in Turkish Armenia, 1908-2002), Sophia Loren, 1981, Photograph, chromogenic print, 62.9 x
50.9 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, 1996.165, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yousuf Karsh, (Canadian, born in Turkish Armenia, 1908-2002), Winston Churchill, 1941, Photograph, gelatin silver print, 97.2 x 75.3 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, 1996.148, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yousuf Karsh, (Canadian, born in Turkish Armenia, 1908-2002), Audrey Hepburn, 1956, Photograph, gelatin silver print, 49.3 x 39.7 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, 1996.158, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yousuf Karsh, (Canadian, born in Turkish Armenia, 1908-2002), Fidel Castro, 1971, Photograph, gelatin silver print, 49.82 x
40.32 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, 1998.329, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yousuf Karsh, (Canadian, born in Turkish Armenia, 1908-2002), Ernest Hemingway, 1957, Photograph, gelatin silver print, 60.4 x 50.6 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, 1996.157, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yousuf Karsh, (Canadian, born in Turkish Armenia, 1908-2002), W. H. Auden, 1972, Photograph, gelatin silver print, 50.2 x 40 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, 1998.321, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Yousuf Karsh, (Canadian, born in Turkish Armenia, 1908-2002), Pablo Casals, 1954, Photograph, gelatin silver print, 50.2 x
40.3 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh, 1998.256, © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Bronze band from the gates of the palace of Shalmaneser III, Balawat (ancient Imgur-Enlil), northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 858-824 BC, Height: 27.000 cm, Width: 180.000 cm, Thickness: 1.000 mm, ME 124661.

Detail of Bronze band from the gates of the palace of Shalmaneser III, Balawat (ancient Imgur-Enlil), northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 858-824 BC, Height: 27.000 cm, Width: 180.000 cm, Thickness: 1.000 mm, ME 124661.

Stone panel from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 883-859 BC, Width: 22.500 cm, Height: 13.500 cm, Height: 13.500 cm, Width: 22.500 cm, The palace was excavated by A.H. Layard (from 1845), ME 124560.

Stone panel from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 883-859 BC, Width: 22.500 cm, Height: 13.500 cm, Height: 13.500 cm, Width: 22.500 cm, The palace was excavated by A.H. Layard (from 1845), ME 124560.

Stone panel from the Central Palace of Tiglath-pileser III, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, about 730-727 BC, Length: 188.000 cm, Width: 195.000 cm, Thickness: 16.000 cm, The palace was excavated by A.H. Layard (from 1847), ME 118908.

Stone lion's head, Neo-Assyrian, about 680-670 BC, From Sippar, southern Iraq, Length: 10.600 cm, Height: 9.400 cm, Excavated by Hormuzd Rassam.

The Flood Tablet, relating part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Neo-Assyrian, 7th century BC, From Nineveh, northern Iraq, Length: 15.240 cm, Width: 13.330 cm, Thickness: 3.170 cm, Excavated by A.H. Layard, ME K3375.

Carved ivory depicting a woman at a window, Phoenician, 9th-8th century BC, From Nimrud, northern Iraq, Height: 11.000 cm, Width: 8.850 cm, Excavated by A.H. Layard, ME 118159.

Stone panel from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq, Neo-Assyrian, 883-859 BC, Width: 22.500 cm, Height: 13.500 cm, Height: 13.500 cm, Width: 22.500 cm, The palace was excavated by A.H. Layard (from 1845), ME 124560.

Sardanapalus, King of Assyria, Stoke-on-Trent, England, around AD 1868-93, Inspired by Assyrian sculptures in The British Museum, Height: 30.500 cm, M&ME 1985,3-8,3;M&ME 1989,5-8,1.

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, Neo-Assyrian, 858-824 BC, From Nimrud (ancient Kalhu), northern Iraq, Stone panel from the Central Palace of Tiglath-pileser III, 730-727 BC.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
617-267-9300
Boston
Gund Gallery
Art and Empire:
Treasures from Assyria
in the British Museum
September 21, 2008-
January 4, 2009

“The former city of Kalhu I built anew. I built therein a palace with halls of cedar, cypress, juniper, boxwood, teak, terebinth, and tamarisk as my royal dwelling and for the enduring leisure life of my lordship. Silver, gold, tin, bronze, iron, my own booty from the lands over which I ruled, I placed it all therein.”

— From the Standard Inscription of Ashurnasirpal II

Ashurnasirpal II, Assyria’s self-proclaimed “great king, mighty king, king of the universe,” invited 70,000 guests to a 10-day housewarming in 860 BC to show off his impressive new home at Kalhu. Constructed on 900 acres in northern Assyria — now modern-day Iraq — it was the most magnificent palace the ancient Near East had ever seen. Art and Empire: Treasures from Assyria in the British Museum showcases 250 objects from the British Museum, which has the finest collection of Assyrian art outside of Iraq, found in palaces and temples dating from the 9-7th centuries BC located at Kalhu (present-day Nimrud) and Nineveh along the Tigris River in northern Iraq. Art and Empire is a collaboration between the British Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Art and Empire chronicles Assyria’s rise from a small landlocked kingdom in northern Mesopotamia to a magnificent empire stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Its territories encompassed all of present-day Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, as well as large parts of Israel, Egypt, Turkey, and Iran — the greatest dominion known until that time. The exhibition features artistry created for several great Neo-Assyrian kings, from the first, Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) of Nimrud, to the last, Ashurbanipal (668-631 BC), of Nineveh. Art and Empire brings the grandeur of this ancient Near Eastern realm to life through the display of 30 monumental wall reliefs, as well as numerous cuneiform clay tablets, sculpture — both in the round and in relief—and cylinder seals. Works on view range from The king on campaign (about 875-860 BC), a regal wall relief of Ashurnasirpal II going to battle in Kurdistan, to Dying Lion (around 645 BC), the moving image of a noble beast shot by an arrow, in the throes of a painful death, created during the reign of Ashurbanipal. (Among the finest wall relief carvings from this period are those of the lion hunts created for Ashurbanipal’s North Palace at Nineveh.) These are some of the many objects that shed light on administration of the empire, culture, trade, personal beliefs, and interrelationships among religion, magic, and medicine. Military dress, equipment, and horse trappings illustrating army life, as well as decorative ivory pieces, furniture fittings, and metal vessels showcasing a luxurious royal, cosmopolitan lifestyle, are highlights of the exhibition.

“The reliefs from Nineveh and Nimrud are a visual encyclopedia of ancient Mesopotamia, one of the cradles of civilization,” said exhibition curator Lawrence Berman (the MFA’s Norma Jean Calderwood Senior Curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art). “Today we are particularly aware how vulnerable these archaeological sites are in Iraq, and we can appreciate better than ever the efforts of archaeologists and museums past and present to preserve this part of the world’s heritage.”

In the mid 19th century, the full scope of ancient Assyria’s grandeur and supremacy was revealed through the efforts of French and British explorers. Preeminent among them was Austen Henry Layard, a British archeologist, whose interest was piqued by a large mound near Mosul that he thought was ancient Nineveh. It proved to be Nimrud, the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Kalhu (known as Calhu in Bible references to Assyria), and his discoveries there and at Nineveh in the 1840s and 1850s form the core of Art and Empire. Later digs in the region by notables such as Hormuzd Rassam, George Smith, and Sir Max Mallowan, including finds made at Ashur and Khorsabad, complete the picture of Assyrians as mighty warriors and cultured sophisticates whose deeds were recorded in stone.

The richness of Assyrian culture is the subject of Art and Empire, which is organized to highlight such themes as King and His Court, Palaces and Temples, Assyria at War, Assyria Revealed, Administration and Culture, Magic and Religion, and the King in Recreation. The focal point of the Gund Gallery’s first room is the king himself, represented by a statue of King Ashurnasirpal II, surrounded by images of his courtiers and bodyguard — both human soldiers and divine protective spirits — evoking the drama and majesty of the king’s throne room. A look at palace life follows, featuring decorative objects, furniture fittings, and an intricately patterned stone carpet. The battle room includes large wall reliefs that highlight the king’s dominance in warfare, and adjacent to it is a presentation of archival materials documenting the excavation of ancient Assyria. Administration of the empire and Assyrian culture are examined in displays of cuneiform writing on clay tablets featuring public documents, scientific tracts, and works of literature, as well as royal seals. The importance of magic and religion in Assyrian society is addressed in an adjacent room. A special display case contains the exhibition’s most famous piece, the carved ivory furniture fitting, The Lioness and the African (9th-8th century BC). It provides entrée to the exhibition’s final room, where dramatic wall reliefs showcase royal recreation as seen in the lion and bull hunts that occupied the king during respites from war.

Wall reliefs such as these adorned the magnificent interiors of Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud, as well as Sennacherib’s palace at Nineveh, where they were used as paneling along the bottom half of painted, mud-brick walls. Figuring prominently in the exhibition, these gypsum slabs were artfully carved with iron and copper tools. They average in size from about three-feet square, such as Three Protective Spirits (about 645-640 BC), to the immense and panoramic The Battle of Til-Tuba (about 650 BC) — composed of three panels, each roughly 6 feet square. (All are technically fragments, having been cut down from larger compositions and even entire walls.) They shed light not only on techniques of warfare, but also on daily activities, religion, and the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by Assyrian kings. Brightly colored (faint traces of the original paint are sometimes evident) so that they could be seen in the palace’s dimly lit staterooms and living quarters, the wall reliefs feature the kings as fierce warriors, hunters, and worshipers of Assyrian gods. Cuneiform inscriptions herald their conquests and achievements. Fantastic mythical creatures as well as protective winged genii ward away evil spirits. Such expansive wall reliefs were part of an elaborate decorative plan that glorified the king; they also served as propaganda — proclaiming his awesome majesty while warning of the gruesome death and destruction that would befall his enemies.

In addition to mandating a new look for Assyrian palaces, Ashurnasirpal II was responsible for the creation of Assyrian sculpture as we now know it. Carved in magnesite, an extremely hard stone, the Statue of Ashurnashirpal II (883-859 BC), stands approximately 6 feet tall with its original pedestal, and is the largest and best preserved Assyrian royal sculpture in the round. The ruler appears without a crown, but with long hair and an ornately curled beard. He wears a tunic and fringed shawl, and carries a ceremonial sickle to fight monsters, as well as a mace symbolizing his god-given authority. Inscribed on his chest is a list of his titles and ancestors. The statue was found in the Temple of Ishtar, where it was placed as a devotional piece.

Sculpture, in the form of monumental bas-reliefs, chronicled a king’s achievements, particularly on the battlefield, where wars were conducted in the name of the state god, Ashur, from whom the name “Assyria” is derived. Escape across a river (about 875-860 BC) dramatizes an incident during the reign of Ashurnasirpal II when, in 878 BC, the king and his soldiers encountered enemies near the Euphrates river. Assyrian archers along the river bank are seen in the relief shooting at the men, who are swimming away to safety with the aid of inflated animal skins. Another work, The Battle of Til-Tuba, dates to the reign of Ashurbanipal and its depiction of bloody warfare reinforces the Assyrians’ reputation for ruthlessness. Considered the finest large-scale composition in Assyrian art, the monumental relief shows the Assyrians defeating the Elamites of southern Iran. Scenes highlight the Elamite king’s chariot crashing down, the king’s flight from the wreckage, and his capture and beheading, with the severed head being carried back as a trophy to Assyria. The story unfolds amid a backdrop of horrible carnage and the
confusion of battle.

Human interactions are overseen by the protective spirits and demons associated with Assyrian magic and religion, who guarded the palace against harmful influences. Set of protective spirits (about 645-640 BC), from Ashurbanipal’s North Palace in Nineveh, is a wall relief of three magical figures who protected the king as a set: a lahmu, or Mesopotamian deity; an ugallu or “Great Lion;” and what appears to be a House God. Their features conform to precise rules of design, carved as though viewed from the front, while their heads are in profile — a standard Assyrian convention for representations of the human body. Clay tablets and amulets inscribed with magical spells to deter demonic spirits are included in Art and Empire, as are amulets inscribed with incantations worn as protective devices. Stone head of Pazuzu and Bronze head of Pazuzu, both from the 8th–7th century, show the mythical evil creature, known as the “scary demon,” whose image could be used for good, especially in the instance of protecting expectant mothers and newborns.

Large wall reliefs also were used to document the kings’ preoccupation with bull and lion hunting. Lion hunts provided an outlet for non-wartime combat, as Assyrians saw lions as savage enemies representing untamed nature. Royal lion hunt (about 875–860 BC) shows the king with bow drawn, ready to shoot once more at a fallen lion about to be trampled by the king’s horses. At one point in Assyrian history, it was decreed that only royalty could kill lions.

Such rules and regulations, as well as public documents (tax rolls, agricultural records, and treaties), religious rituals, and literary texts were written in cuneiform script and preserved on clay tablets, many of which were discovered by Layard’s protégé, Hormuzd Rassam, from the extensive library at Ashurbanipal’s palace in Nineveh. (In the 19th and 20th century, more than 20,000 cuneiform tablets were excavated by the British Museum.) Ashurbanipal asserted that he could read the wedge-shaped cuneiform script, and his desire to preserve in one place all of the world’s important works of literature and science has been called visionary.

Some of those collected by Ashurbanipal were 1,000 years old at the time. Included in the king’s library were numerous copies of The Epic of Gilgamesh (7th century BC), considered the most important work of Mesopotamian literature. One tablet of Gilgamesh is featured in the Administration and Culture section of Art and Empire, as are intricately carved cylinder seals used by the royal household; when rolled out over clay, the impressions they made served as official seals. Often crafted from semi-precious stone, the cylinders featured scenes of kings, warriors, gods, as well as animals. Such cylinders were used to form a parure, or jewelry set, commissioned by Layard as a wedding gift for his wife, Enid. After wearing her grand necklace of Assyrian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Achaemenian seals, Lady Layard later wrote in her diary that it was “much admired” by Queen Victoria when the Layards dined with her in 1873.

While stone wall reliefs served as the primary aesthetic enhancement in Assyrian palaces and temples of the 9th -7th century, other objects in Art and Empire highlight the refinement of their decorative arts. Intricately carved ivory pieces often were used to embellish royal furnishings, sometimes accented with semi-precious stones and gold leaf, such as in The Lioness and the African. The panel, which depicts a lion mauling a man in front of a beautifully carved floral background, is most likely Phoenician, acquired through trade or as war booty. (The only other plaque of this kind, one of the treasures of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, has been missing since 2003.) Another ivory panel is Woman at the window (9th –8th century BC), which captures the contemplative expression of a woman in Egyptian headdress staring out the window.

Other decorative items found during excavations by Layard include intricately incised bronze bowls and plates. In 1849, he discovered at the Nimrud site the so-called “Room of the Bronzes” containing hundreds of objects, about 150 of which were sent to the British Museum. Called the Nimrud Bowls, they were most likely acquired as war booty or royal tribute. Bronze also was used to decorate wooden doors erected by Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) at his palace at Balawat. Sixteen embossed and chased bands from the Balawat Gates, approximately 10 inches tall by 70 inches wide, were discovered, documenting in exacting detail various incidents from the king’s campaign in 859 BC. Two of the Balawat Gate bands are included in the exhibition.

Also on display in Art and Empire are archival materials that offer a fascinating look at the excavations of Assyrian palaces, temples, and treasures by British archeologists, in particular, Austen Henry Layard. Featured are portraits of Lord and Lady Layard, a copy of Layard’s 1854 book, The Monuments of Nineveh, and photographs and descriptions of Assyrian excavations. Discoveries made in this ancient land created a sensation back at home in England, where the public clamored for all things evocative of this culture. The exhibition includes an Assyrian-style revivalist bangle bracelet from a private collection made of 18k gold and enamel. It incorporates in its design a colossal gateway figure with a human head and winged-lion’s body flanked by protective genii, which found expression in all forms of the decorative arts in the late 19th century.