Ancient Egypt rests in Richmond

Bust of Neilos, God of the Nile, ca. AD 100-200. Neilos was the "divine personification" of the River Nile in ancient Greece and Rome, according to the label copy. This sculpture was found in the submerged city of Canopus. The Nile is vital to Egypt's welbeing, then and now/Maritime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Osiris, 664-610 BC.  Here he wears the "white crown" of Upper Egypt, with a rearing cobra. Considered to be a god of the afterlife and "Lord of Life," he has a curved beard, a sign of divinity. The white dots are reflected lights/Egyptian Museum, Cairo/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the entrance to the exhibition, Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Near the entrance of the exhibition is this statue of a Ptolemaic queen dressed as the goddess, Isis, whose styles and imagery reflect Egyptian and Greek influences, 2nd century BC/National Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Head of a woman, possibly Princess Berenike, II, c. 300-200 BC. She was the daughter of Pharaoh Ptolemy III who died young and was deified. Found underwater at Canopus where she was honored at the temple alongside Osiris. The white lines in the photograph are reflections of lights/Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries atTreasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

We three kings and pharaohs... were found at Canopus/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Perhaps this is Emperor Hadrian (who just spied Cleopatra) and ruled Rome from AD 117-138 or perhaps he is a citizen who looked like Hadrian.  This bust was found on the banks of the Nile where stones were quarried for Hadrian's building projects in Italy.  In AD 130 Hadrian visited Egypt where his lover, Antinous, drowned. He doesn't blink, then or now/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Temple Stele, c. 664-332, BC, limestone/
Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries of Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Arsinoe II, c. 300-200 BC, an excellent example of Greco-Egyptian art/Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The photograph by Christoph Gerigk of Arsinoe II being raised from discovery at Aboukir Bay in the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria

This is Horus protecting the pharaoh (between its talons), c. 350 BC. The Egyptians believed that every pharaoh was a reincarnation of Horus, the son of Osiris and Iris/Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 

In front of Horus is the smaller bronze statuette of a pharaoh c. 664-380 BC/Maritime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Statue of Tawaret, 664-610 BC. Tawaret was the "Great One" whose scary looks help protect mothers and infants. She has the head and body of a hippopotamus, the limbs of a lion and the tale of a crocodile/Egyptian Museum, Cairo/ Photo by Patricia Leslie

 In the galleries ofTreasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Head of a priest, c. 332-330 BC. Found in an Alexandria harbor with features likely obliterated by hundreds of years spent under the sea. His bald head identifies him as a priest. If he were a little bit younger, I'd swear he was an old boyfriend/Martime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Apis Bull, AD 117-138, The cult of the sacred bull probably rose in the city of Memphis where Alexander the Great offered sacrifices to Apis, but this statue was found at a temple in Alexandria/Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Goblet, c. 1 - 200 CE, gilded silver/Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries at Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It's only a three-hour drive* from D.C. to Richmond where you can see the notable Robert E. Lee Monument (if it's still standing; please see photos below) on Monument Avenue, and just a mile away, the fascinating "underwater" exhibition, Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the beautiful Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

The Ptolemaic Egyptian exhibition is the East Coast premiere (and the last stop before returning home) of the presentation, spread over several large galleries and designed to make visitors experience the sensation of being underwater as they descend the stairway to the museum's lower level and enter the show. (Elevators are available.)

Scientists, archaeologists, researchers, and Egyptologists from the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology spent more than a decade recovering and studying the artifacts, almost 300 which are displayed; some, from Egyptian institutions.

The IEASM, headed by Franck Goddio, its founder, subscribes to the standards of the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. In its arsenal of treasured discoveries, Mr. Goddio has recovered about a dozen historic ships, some lying on the sea floor for hundreds of years, including Napoleon Bonaparte's Orient.

Researchers believe a natural event such an an earthquake, tsunami, or other cataclysmic force "sunk" the two ancient cities featured in Richmond: Canopus (which Herodotus called an ancient port) and Thonis-Heracleion (their Greek and Egyptian names are combined). Both places prospered in trade in and around Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean Sea, and on the western edge of the Nile delta not far from Alexandria's center where 60 shipwrecks are recorded.

Research and excavated coins from the second century BC tell the story of Canopus whose buildings collapsed, and the city disappeared from view. A British air officer spotted the ruins from a plane in 1933, according to Wikipedia. 

The exhibition was curated by Mr. Goddio and organized by VFMA's Peter Schertz. Dominion Energy is the chief sponsor.

Who's not to be fascinated by Egypt? Curiosities of young and old alike never wane when it comes to the Land of the Nile, pharaohs, pyramids, cobras, and strange (at least, to Westerners) practices. It's a magical and alluring ancient civilization one thousand years old whose busts, statues, gods and goddesses, travelers can see nearby at little cost. 

It's a large show, beautifully designed to welcome visitors to "somewhere beneath the sea" to visit galleries on timed entrances which allow plenty of "elbow room" to see and practice social distancing.  

Make sure to get tickets before you go. The show was sold out the weekend I visited, and as time grows closer to the closing date on January 18, 2021, I do imagine the crowds will grow. Maps and an audioguide make the visit more rewarding.

Remember your mask! And, practice social distancing.


* I refuse to drive the crowded, the ugly I-95, and I take instead the beautiful two-lane highway 522 south from Culpeper to I-64 or turn off 522 and pick up Route 33 at Cuckoo, that's right, (my preferred route) into Richmond. The time from here to there is about the same as on I-95, but you "keep on truckin,'" as they say, without 95's "stop and go," but please, keep my secret highway "secret," or it won't be a secret. Thank you.

What: Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities

When: Now through Jan. 18, 2021; open seven days a week, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Wednesday through Friday nights, until 9 p.m.

Where: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

How much: Free general admission to the Museum. but a fee  for the exhibition, students (over age 7), $10 ; seniors over age 65, $16; adults, $20. Free for members, children age 6 and under, state employees, teachers, active-duty military members and their families.

Free virtual lectures:

Sun, Oct 25 | 2:30–3:30 pm
Re-Membering Osiris: Overcoming Death in Ancient Egypt
with Dr. Robert Ritner, Professor of Egyptology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago who will examine the underlying mythology, symbolism, and festival rituals for Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead, focusing on the rites of reanimation celebrated at the now sunken city of Canopus on the Mediterranean coast.

Sun, Nov 15 | 2:30–3:30 pm
The Maritime History & Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
with Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, Archaeologist and Director of the American Center of Oriental Research who will provide a brief history and review of the field of study, discussing topics as diverse as early dynastic (ca. 3000 BC) boat burials found on land at Abydos, Ramesside (ca. 1200 BC) tax levies on imported ship cargoes, and underwater excavations of the Ptolemaic (ca. 300 BC) harbor at Alexandria and identifies possible avenues for future work.

Fri, Dec 11 | 6:30–7:30 pm
The Art of Object Conservation with Elsa Sanguoard, Senior Conservator, USS Monitor Center, Newport News, VA, in conversation with Ainslie Harrison, Associate Objects Conservator, VMFA, moderated by Dr. Peter Schertz, Jack and Mary Ann Frable Curator of Ancient Art, VMFA Join experts in the field of conservation for a discussion about the different techniques and strategies needed to stabilize objects for display.

Thu, Jan 14 | 6:30–7:30 pm
Cleopatra’s World: Greeks, Egyptians and the Fusion of Culture
with Dr. Jeremy McInerny, Professor of Classical Studies, UPENN who will examine how Egyptians and Greeks dealt with each other, how Egyptian culture changed as a result of the occupation by Greeks and how Greek culture was transformed as well.

Parking: The onsite parking deck is free to members and $6 for others. There are some free handicapped spaces.

For more information: 804-340-1400

 

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Robert E. Lee Monument, Richmond, Aug. 15, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Robert E. Lee Monument, Richmond, Aug. 15, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The base of the Robert E. Lee Monument, Aug. 15, 2020, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie


patricialesli@gmail.com

The Wall Street Journal and "anthropomorphism"

Albrecht Altdorfer, Landscape with a Spruce  which may be confused with Landscape with Woodcutter, c. 1522/Kupferstichkabinett Berlin/Wikipedia Commons

Anthropomorphism is unusual enough to find the word in a newspaper, let alone two different articles covering the entirety of a single page. Both articles in the Journal's weekend edition, Sept. 19-20, 2020, about works by German artists, their lives separated by centuries.  

The word leaped from the Journal's page to me who did not know the meaning, but, ask me now! 

To those unlearneds, "anthropomorphism" is "having human characteristics" (like Trump).  

One article, "Rediscovering a Renaissance Man" by J.S. Marcus, is about the Louvre's new exhibition on works by Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538), who was forgotten for several hundred years until "rediscovered by 19th-century German art historians," and used in the next century by a different group of finders, the Nazis. They thought Mr. Altdorfer was a "folk artist" and used his art to convey their message. Current experts say they got it all wrong.

Mr. Altdorfer is generally considered one of the founders of the movement which came to be known as the Danube School. 

The Louvre's Altdorfer exhibition was delayed from April and set to begin October 1, according to WSJ (whoops!  This just in:  Delayed until Jan. 4 , 2021 !), with  191 works or "more than a third of his surviving oeuvre."  

(If only the French would let us back in! With the show's delay, maybe you can gain entry before it closes whenever that might be.. The National Gallery of Art in Washington has 167 Altdorfers in its collection, 

Who is WSJ writing for, anyway? Is Trump going to arm wrestle his good friends, President Macron and his wife, into opening the gates to France so Trump can toot the French horn? I imagine that in the time it's taken me to learn how to spell "anthropomorphism." Trump has probably written a symphony which will likely not impress his pals, the Proud Boys. What are they proud of anyway? Tatoos? Motorcycles? Looking like every other Harley-Davidson rider? You see what art can do!)

It's easy to see anthropomorphism in Mr. Altdorfer's Landscape With Spruce Tree, pictured in the Journal. The long, tall tree becomes long, tall Sally with stringy hair, sinewy arms, maybe wearing an apron and carrying a birdhouse purse. (The next time you're at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden, check out Roxy Paine's Graft for anthropomorphic examples.)

Eva Hesse, Repetition Nineteen III (1968)/The Estate of Eva Hesse. Hauser & Wirth/The Museum of Modern Art/Art Resource

Next up, the second WSJ article, "Making the Most of Minimalism" by Helen A. Cooper, about a "masterpiece," Repetition Nineteen III (1968) by German-American Eva Hesse (1936-1970).  It's a sculpture which looks like an enlargement (ahim, sick, sic) on orange hardwood of half cigarettes, some leaning left or bent; maybe dented in their centers, reminiscent of those candles you see (or saw) lighted on sidewalks at Christmas parties. 

The Museum of Modern Art just moved Repetition Nineteen from public view. Thanks, MOMA!  (Prithee, why run an article about this now which it leaves the stage? None of the National Gallery's six Hesses are on view either.) 

An article subtitle calls Nineteen a celebration of "humor, eroticism and discovery," The only anthropomorphism  I see are 19 male examples.  What do you think?

Ms. Hesse's family also had a connection to the Nazis., forced to flee Germany to save their lives. They made it to the Netherlands, and then to England before settling in  the U.S. in the late 1930s.  

At age 34, Ms. Hesse died of a brain tumor.

If you are still reading, I hope you have added a new word to your vocabulary, or maybe you knew it already. Can you spell it?  No peeking!

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

RBG's last night at the Supreme Court

RBG at the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

RBG at the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

 

RBG at the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

 

Across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020. It was always the same at the opera, whether it was the Kennedy Center or Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University: Just before show time, Justice Ginsburg would enter the hall through a side entrance (at the Kennedy Center) surrounded by three bodyguards, one, always a woman, dressed in characteristic suits of dull monotones. They did not sit with her. I believe she sat alone.  

Her silhouette was unmistakable and audience members stood, cheered, and applauded her presence every time. At both places she always had the same seat:  orchestra level, on the left in the first section towards the rear, one row from the aisleway at the Kennedy Center, and at Lisner, a few rows from the stage, center left. Her presence lent a happy tone to the production, whether it was a sad show or not.  Now, it's a sad show./Patricia Leslie

   

Across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court Sept. 24, 2020 was this letter which reads (the portion not covered by rocks): "Justice Ginsberg! - You will be sorely missed... The sisters ... (rocks) have loved your work for all ...You made an IMMENSE difference in this world for us, our daughters, and our granddaughters. Thank you for being NOTORIOUS! Catie(?), Nomi, Toni, Cricket, Erin, Lizzie & the rest of us sisters"/Patricia Leslie

Across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

RBG at the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

RBG at the U.S. Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie

 

A few steps from the U.S. Supreme Court is the U.S. Capitol, Sept. 24, 2020/Patricia Leslie  

 

Patricialesli@gmail.com

Alexandria's 'Love Letters' are a match

The U.S. Post Office "Love" stamp, 1973

Letters?  Who writes letters?  Millennials don't even know how to address envelopes, let alone write letters.

But, watching and listening to Love Letters now on stage at Little Theatre of Alexandria makes you long for and appreciate the letters which used to come in the mail, the letters friends and relatives used to write, that now, re-reading them years later revives voices and experiences which take us back to other .......(fill in the blank) times.

These Letters are a wonderful short escape from our anxiety-ridden world, a delightful detour along a different path from what a playgoer expects.

For "Small Theatre for Troubled Times" as LTA bills this first show in a series (with a PWYC admission price), Nicky and Steve McDonnell (who are married in real life) are longtime "friends," Melissa and Andy, who grow up together, beginning with pre-school and lasting 'til death did them part.

At separate tables the couple sit at simple wooden desks on opposite sides of the stage against a dark backdrop with two highly placed, large silhouetted windows. They face the audience and read their letters to each other. 

Back and forth, like tennis balls on a court, they go, but their dialogue is much more interesting than a tennis match and sometimes letters fly faster than Serena's serve (sorry, could not resist). 

I can't recall another stage performance where a playwright (A.R. Gurney) so effectively used silence.

When a letter generates no reply, the sender waits a moment in silence before writing again and sometimes, a third time. 

Over the years, their love (or is it?) deepens. 

The letters follow their lives from primary and secondary school  through college, adulthood, marriages, jobs, children, dreams, disappointments, regrets. The "friends" relate their different journeys, him to law school, Japan, relationships, and her to parents, art, relationships until THE END.

Initially, Ms. McDonnell was a little too loud, too rambunctious but perhaps she was setting the tone for Melissa's personality, because she calmed down soon enough, or maybe it was I who got used to her antics which did not dominate the show after the first few moments. Director Joanna Henry coaxes expressive hand and body movements from Ms. McDonnell who gets up from her desk occasionally, much like a political candidate to stake her ground. 

Except when reading or looking over his shoulder for his "wife," Mr. McDonnell, a star from Saturday Night Live and more, looks straight at the audience.  His  dark conservative suit with tie and glasses befits a Yalie who thrives as a New York lawyer who decides to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate and wins!

These Love Letters are a certain hit,  easy to understand the 1990 nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  I expected to see a dull, wittyless platform but this convincing duo engaged me from the get-go.  

Certainly, another covid-19 victim is the theatre and LTA which has reduced seating to approximately 25 percent to ensure safety practices which it takes special care to follow.  

Nick Friedlander, producer; Brittany Huffman, stage manager; Jeffrey Auerbach and Kimberly Crago, lighting; Alan Wray, sound; Bobbie Herbst, properties; Russell Wyland, set.

What:  Love Letters

When:  Sept. 23 and 25, 8 p.m.; Sept. 27,  3 p.m.

Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

Content: Adult

Duration:  90 minutes; no intermission

Tickets: Free!  Donations, encouraged!  
  
Public transportation: Check the Metro website.

Parking: On the streets and in many garages nearby with free theatre parking at the Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets (when the bank is closed).

For more information: Box Office: 703-683-0496; Business: 703-683-5778. Ask@thelittletheatre.com

patricialesli@gmail.com

Nyet! Book review: Candace Fleming's 'Family Romanov'

On July 17, 1918 the Romanov family of seven and their servants were murdered at this site in Yekaterinburg, Russia which was then the Ipatiev House. In later years, the Politburo and Premier Boris Yeltsin resisted the growing sacredness of the site and the pilgrims who visited the Ipatiev House and ordered it torn down in 1977. In its place, one of the largest churches in Russia, the Church on the Blood was erected.  It opened in 2003/Patricia Leslie

This statue honors the memory of the Romanov children, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei at Ganina Yama where the bodies of the children, their parents, and servants were thrown into a pit, 9.5 miles from the murder site/Patricia Leslie

Lily fields at the Ganina Yama pit where the Bolsheviks threw the bodies which they burned with acid for two days before moving them to their second graves, a field 4.5 miles away. When this picture was made 100 years after the family assassinations, large photographs of family members hung on the wooden walkway which surrounded the lily field. Above are two of the Romanov daughters. Every year at the Church of the Blood in Yekaterinburg, thousands gather for services on the anniversary of the murders and then walk four hours to the iron pit at Ganina Yama for more ceremony/Patricia Leslie

The lily field at Ganina Yama with Nicholas II pictured at far left/Patricia Leslie

Fearing the Whites would find the bodies, the Bolsheviks moved them 4.5 miles from Ganina Yama to a field across these railroad tracks, the second burial site. This site was discovered in the late 1970s and kept secret until the Russian government changed in 1989/Patricia Leslie

 The second burial site of the Romanovs/Patricia Leslie

The entrance to the Chapel of St. Catherine the Martyr inside the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, St. Petersburg, the third and last burial site of the Romanovs/Patricia Leslie

The Chapel of St. Catherine the Martyr, the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, St. Petersburg, with the remains of the Romanovs and their servants, now saints of the Russian Orthodox Church/Patricia Leslie

At the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, St. Petersburg/Patricia Leslie



It's as if a publisher ordered a writer to find the most negative research possible and turn it into a book, and that's exactly what Candace Fleming did with her 2014 The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia.

Fleming and her team found all things bad they could possibly locate about the Romanovs and then packed them into her book. Only when the family begins the last leg of their journey to Siberia and certain death, does Fleming show any sympathy and, maybe a little remorse, over the outcome.  

She describes the five children as "young savages" whose parents cared little about their children's education (not true). She ridicules an eight-year-old's behavior (show me a perfect eight-year-old), and the grammar of a 13-year-old. Tsk, tsk.

From criticizing the children to sneering at the family's pets, clothing, languages, childcare, schooling and illnesses, Fleming goes overboard to paint the family as n'er do wells, dilettantes with nothing more to do than smoke (Nicholas), frown and lay around (Alexandra), ignore their offspring and fail to keep up with their studies (the children).  (I suppose Fleming has never been a parent.) 

What was good about the Romanovs?  Oh, yes, the women played nursemaid during the War.

Even the speaker's condescending attitude makes its way onto the pages while she reads the book, no doubt given instruction to read in a haughty manner. She succeeds!

Designed to influence young readers, it's no wonder adults are not Fleming's market since anyone with a smidgen of Romanov knowledge would quickly recognize this portrayal as a lopsided, petty picture of a family sacrificed on the altar of politics.

On her website Fleming carries a trailer for the book which makes light of the family and their plight, accompanied by whimsical music.

Hundreds of books have been written about the family and this sad chapter of Russian history which elicit our sympathy and attempt to understand rather than ridicule. Who else does this? It may be the first time Fleming has been compared to Trump.
patricialesli@gmail.com