ATLANTA, GA.- Recasting Antiquity: Whistler, Tanagra, and the Female Form opens at Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum on February 3, 2024. The exhibition focuses on a series of works on paper created in Paris by James McNeill Whistler in the early 1890s that were inspired by recently excavated Hellenistic Greek terracotta figurines known collectively as Tanagras. The exhibition, the first to ever exhibit works by Whistler alongside ancient art, juxtaposes approximately thirty of the artist’s prints and drawings with significant examples of Tanagra figurines, many on loan from the Louvre Museum. It contextualizes the work of the expatriate American artist within the wider enthusiasm for the terracottas that took hold of Europe and the United States around the turn of the twentieth century.

Recasting Antiquity is co-curated by Ruth Allen, curator of Greek and Roman art at the Carlos Museum, and distinguished Whistler scholar Linda Merrill, teaching professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Art History Department. On view from February 3 through May 19, 2024, the visually stunning exhibition offers a completely new perspective on the work of the beloved American artist and invites visitors to consider what the taste for Tanagras at the turn of the twentieth century reveals about changing attitudes to classical antiquity and conventional Western notions of femininity.

The Carlos Museum will host various public programs in conjunction with Recasting Antiquity. These include a gallery talk with Ruth Allen, scheduled for February 13 at 7 p.m., a lecture titled “Classical Drapery & Dress Reform: Fashioning the Female Figure.” The colloquium will feature scholars Mireille Lee, Hallie Franks, and Eugenia Paulicelli who will speak about the long, complex, and evolving relationship between women and their clothing, examining historical significance through contemporary impact. Additionally, a two-day hands-on adult workshop will explore the materials and techniques employed by ancient artists who crafted the polychromatic terracotta Tanagras showcased in the exhibition. For more information about upcoming events, please visit our website.

This exhibition has been made possible through the generous support of the Charles S. Ackerman Fund, the Massey Charitable Trust, and our community partner, the Consulate General of France in Atlanta.

Michael C. Carlos Museum

Set in the heart of Emory’s Atlanta campus, the Michael C. Carlos Museum is a dynamic, interdisciplinary center for study of art and culture, with collections from Africa; ancient Egypt; Nubia, and the Near East; ancient Greece and Rome; the Indigenous Americas; and South Asia; as well as American and European Works on Paper. Through our permanent collection galleries, engaging special exhibitions, and innovative programs for audiences of all ages, the Carlos Museum connects the past with the present and the campus with the community.

Curators and faculty develop original exhibitions, engage in interdisciplinary research and teaching, and host touring exhibitions that complement our collections and support the teaching mission of the university. The museum’s conservators collaborate with staff, faculty, and students to conduct research and manage preventive care on the museum's varied collections. Museum educators reach across the museum, campus, and city to develop opportunities to engage the intellect and the imagination of university students and faculty, preK-12 students and teachers, and the larger Atlanta community.