Named and Unnamed
- Special Exhibition
The Paradox of the Ancient Greek Artist
The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Gallery
The Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Gallery
About The Exhibition
Named and Unnamed is an exhibition about the identities of ancient Greek artists, exploring names, signatures, and personal styles through a selection of more than 110 ancient artworks. Drawn from the collections of the CMA and more than 20 institutions in the United States and Europe, these works include engraved gems, coins, painted pottery, frescoes, and sculpture in bronze and stone. Beginning with rare, signed artworks and exquisitely detailed depictions of artists at work, the exhibition unfolds across four sections, organized by medium, or material. Together, they reveal the names and styles of more than 30 Greek artists, a small subset of the hundreds of named engravers, potters, vase painters, muralists, and sculptors known from the Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods (c. 600–30 BCE). Including celebrities as well as likely enslaved people and immigrants, these artists and their works underscore a major paradox—something that seems self-contradictory—in ancient Greek art. Surprisingly, the names preserved in artist signatures rarely match those highlighted in ancient literature. Signatures sometimes appear on particularly outstanding artworks and dedications, suggesting a sense of artistic pride. However, many notable objects are unsigned, while some less accomplished works bear signatures. Meanwhile, many of the artworks described by ancient authors, especially sculptures and painted panels or murals, no longer survive, though we can try to understand their appearance based on other ancient artworks that they inspired. The exhibition is inspired in part by two CMA artworks: the Cleveland Apollo, a nearly life-sized bronze sculpture attributed by some scholars to the Athenian sculptor Praxiteles, named and discussed by numerous ancient authors; and a black-figure amphora signed by Nikosthenes, an Athenian potter unmentioned by ancient authors but known from signatures on more surviving Greek vases than any other. A richly illustrated catalogue, with object entries and five extended essays, accompanies the exhibition.
Featured Art
Sponsors
This exhibition is organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art.
All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, the Leigh H. Carter family, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Mary and Jim Conway, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Ron and Cheryl Davis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Martha H. and Steven M. Hale, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Linda Harper, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Robert M. Kaye, Jane and Doug Kern, the late Mrs. Nancy M. Lavelle, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Mrs. Peta and the late Dr. Roland Moskowitz, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Sarah Nash, Courtney and Michael Novak, Mark and Paula Nylander, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, Dr. Nicholas and Anne Ogan, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Frank and Fran Porter, Christine Fae Powell, Peter and Julie Raskind, Michael and Cindy Resch, Marguerite and James Rigby, in memory of Dee Schafer, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Elizabeth and Tim Sheeler, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
This exhibition was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.
