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Are Pictures Worth More than Words? Ancient Greek Painters as Storytellers
Tags For: Are Pictures Worth More Than Words? Ancient Greek Painters as Storytellers
- Lecture
- Featured
- Ticket Required
The Dr. John and Helen Collis Lecture in Greek and Byzantine Art
Sunday, September 27, 2026, 2:00–3:00 p.m.
Mark Stansbury-O’Donnell, Professor Emeritus, University of St. Thomas
Location: Gartner Auditorium
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Free; Ticket Required
About The Event
We know many ancient Greek stories from epic poems and plays, and when movies today are made from these stories, they are always critiqued by comparisons to these texts. This charge of infidelity was leveled against ancient artists too. Yet the Greek poets themselves were not faithful to older versions of the stories they told. Although silent, it can be argued that a painter who showed the anger of Achilles or the suffering of the Trojan princess Polyxena created a more vivid narrative than a poetry recital. In this lecture, we will look at examples of Greek vase and mural painting and consider how narrative pictures produced powerful narrative experiences for their viewers, both in antiquity and today.
Sponsors
Sponsored by the Hellenic Preservation Society of Northeastern Ohio
All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Principal support is provided by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen, and Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, Mrs. Martine Kowal, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Medical Mutual of Ohio, the Edwin D. Northrup II Fund, the Reinberger Foundation, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Linda Harper, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Susan LaPine, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Suzanne Cushwa Rusnak and Jeff Rusnak, Ellen and Lowell Satre, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, Jack and Jeanette Walton, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
Education programs are supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.
