“Gods and Heroes: Western Arts and the Classical Tradition” at Beijing University
A fabulous exhibition called “Gods and Heroes: Western Arts and the Classical Tradition” is showing at Beijing University’s Arther M Sackler Museum of Art and Archaeology from Nov. 2015 to Jun. 2016. Beijing University is the most prestigious university in China where now the most gifted Chinese students aspire to learn more about the classical past of the West.
I brought some friends to visit. Gods and Heroes in Homer, Hesiod, Virgil, Ovid and many others were featured through various western etching artists such as Braque’s series of Theogony, Dumiere’s satirical series of Greek mythology, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione’ etchings on Greek gods and many other etchings based on famous paintings of Raphael, Botticelli and Titian. One girl who is a Beginner in Latin was fascinated by the bucolic landscapes of myths and dreamed of living in Italy in the future while the other student who was completely new to Greek myths was astonished by the overtly sexual references such as those in the birth of Aphrodite and the behaviors of satyrs (as this appears incredibly inappropriate to be put in public discourse to many Chinese audience).
Although there is a growing interest in western classical antiquity, events like these are relatively scarce due to language barriers and political debates. As China opens its doors to the world, hopefully more and more Chinese would have opportunities to get to know about classics in the future.
Tong Liu
2nd-year graduate student
Boston University
