The Michael C. Carlos Museum
A Profile by Gail S. Myhre, Correspondent
for Museums and Special Exhibitions
In October of 2006 this correspondent visited the Michael C. Carlos Museum, located on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. I had come to this venue to review the special exhibition In Stabiano: Exploring the Ancient Seaside Villas of the Roman Elite, but while there, I decided to tour the rest of the museum as well. I'm very glad I did.
The museum itself is a gem, home to a wonderfully well endowed collection of classical Greek and Roman art as well as smaller but still important collections of ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern, Mesoamerican, sub-Saharan African and Asian art. Though this range may seem ambitious, the collections themselves are carefully curated and exhibited, making this museum a joy to visit.
The original section of the museum, originally founded as the Emory University Museum, is housed in a 1916 Beaux Arts building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its interior was renovated in 1985 by the post modern architect Michael Graves. Mr. Graves returned in 1993 to design the museum's expansion, which enabled the display of the permanent collection in 29 galleries and made possible larger temporary and traveling exhibitions such as the one I viewed. The museum was renamed the Michael C. Carlos Museum at the groundbreaking of this expansion in honor of the Atlanta businessman whose generosity had made it possible.
The museum is a teaching institution on many levels. It offers internships for Emory University students with an interest in and aptitude for museum work, and staff courses for elementary, middle and high school teachers. It also maintains art, history and archaeology outreach programs to community classrooms through its Art Odyssey Outreach Program.
Collections compare quite favorably those of much larger urban museums. The Carlos Collection of Ancient Art in particular contains nearly 100 objects dating from the 8th century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D., and is the most extensive portion of the museum's permanent collections. It includes works in bronze, marble and ceramic. Curation and captioning is scholarly but accessible.
The collection of classical Greek and Roman art is contained in a series of small rooms which radiate from a central gallery. This arrangement serves to showcase the larger sculptures in the open space they deserve, while the smaller spaces help to focus the attention on groups of pieces which include items in everyday use such as jewelry, and a fine collection of calyx krater (vases stylized in the shape of calyx flowers used to mix wine and water) and kantharos (a two-handled drinking vessel) fragments, as well as a complete calyx krater.
Attributed to the Dinos Painter
Calyx Krater with the death of Aktaion
Greek, Attic, ca. 430 B.C.
Ceramic
© Michael C. Carlos Museum
A collection of religious bronzes kept in a case against a wall in a small anteroom gallery might be better served on exhibition in a freestanding case, but is nevertheless impressive, while a lovely collection of Roman funerary urns stands in niches on another wall. A case reserved for the decorative arts includes a beautifully veined marble table leg, sinuously leonine in form, which echoes grander pieces seen at exhibitions of Roman art from Pompeii and Petra.
A marble sarcophagus is decorated with scenes from Roman civic mythology including the suckling of Romulus and Remus by the she-wolf. It is capped at the corners by tragic theater masks, and decorated along the sides with a typically Roman floral garland representing the four seasons which reflects Hellenistic sensibilities and workmanship, also reminiscent of architectural work from Petra. In a side gallery, a small collection of Etruscan pieces shows very clearly the strong eastern influences upon Etruscan civilization and art prior to their being surpassed by the Romans as the preeminent Italian culture.
In the center of the main gallery of this collection, we see the famous bust of Tiberius (42 B.C.–37 A.D., Emperor 14–37 A.D.), taken from a larger than life size statue. This is a magnificent example of Roman portrait sculpture, possibly the best in existence, and nicely illustrative of the uses of Roman art in promoting the political agendas of the rich and powerful. The captioning of this particular piece is extensive, and quotes the physical description of Tiberius written by Suetonius (69 A.D.–after 130 A.D.) in De Vita Caesarum (The Twelve Caesars), which provides good contemporary context to the piece.
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus
Roman, ca. 14 A.D.
Parian Marble
© Michael C. Carlos Museum
The museum has recently acquired an additional treasure, the circular marble Lansdowne Altar, which stands just under four feet high and is decorated in relief in four panels depicting scenes of Bacchic and Apollonian worship. The altar dates from the 1st century B.C. to the 1st century A.D., and was probably carved in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Augustus (63 B.C.–14 A.D., Emperor 27 B.C.–14 A.D.).
Lansdowne Altar
Roman Augustan, 1st Century B.C.-1st Century A.D.
Marble
© Michael C. Carlos Museum
The ancient Egyptian, Nubian and Near Eastern galleries are especially striking and had been recently redesigned at the time of my visit. They beautifully showcased an excellent collection of the art of this place and period, the finest in the region. This collection includes, most dramatically, ten magnificently decorated wood coffins which may remind the viewer of similar examples in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Additional treasures include a sculpture of Tutankhamun as a child, canopic jars, jewelry and amulets, and sculpture. The newly renovated galleries are lovely, and show these pieces to good advantage. The coffins are displayed at table height, and are accessible to close viewing so that the detail and colors may be appreciated. Again, side galleries are useful in showing groupings of smaller objects in an appropriate setting.
Coffin, Coffin Board and Mummy of Tahat
Egypt, 21st Dynasty, ca. 1070-946 B.C.
Painted wood, linen and human remains
© Michael C. Carlos Museum
The MCCs collection of Art of the Ancient Americas includes over five hundred works from ancient Mexico, Central America and the Andes. These civilizations and cultures are well represented in ceramics, textiles and jewelry, including lovely examples of Costa Rican pottery, Mayan painting, and pre-Colombian bowls and statuary some of which have been grouped in an engaging theme according to the animals depicted, so that we find individual cases containing birds, fish, owls, cats, rendered in many different media. The small, winding gallery rooms in which these objects are shown are warmly intimate, and never overwhelm the visitor. Occasionally as one proceeds through the galleries one will come upon a map painted onto the floor which depicts the region in which the arts on display have originated. This is both a helpful contextual clue and an interesting decorative element in these spaces.
Vessel in the form of a Jaguar
Central America, Costa Rica, Guanacaste-Nicoya, Pataky
Period VI, 1000-1550 A.D.
Polychrome ceramic
D: 30.2 X 22.2 cm
© Michael C. Carlos Museum
The MCC also has a small collection of Asian art with some fascinating and important pieces primarily originating in India and the Himalayas. Especially featured are a rare cosmic form of eighteen-armed Vishnu from India, and a majestic seated Buddha from the late 1st century A.D.
The artistic diversity of sub-Saharan Africa is celebrated in a selection of works from a collection which focuses primarily on masks, figural sculptures, weapons and textiles from West and Central Africa. Among the most fascinating pieces are a Mande hunter's jacket which has been decorated with animal claws and tusks, designed to impart to the wearer the protective strength of the creatures from which they were taken. The museum is also justly proud of a late 19th century A.D. bowl-carrier figure from Cameroon, completely covered in blue bugle beads, a most striking textural delight.
Beaded Bowl Figure
Cameroon, Grassfields, Kom, Laikom, ca. 1900 A.D.
Wood, beads
70.6 X 35.3 X 30.5 cm
© Michael C. Carlos Museum
I consider myself most fortunate to have been able to visit and describe for you this jewel box of a museum. This is a charming regional museum with a wonderful depth of focus on the periods in which it has chosen to specialize. Anyone visiting Atlanta will find a visit well worthwhile, especially should your interests include the Hellenistic or ancient Egyptian periods. Though perhaps overshadowed somewhat by the larger (and wealthier) High Museum across town, the MCC is a fine institution in its own right.
At the time I visited, the MCC had produced and was hosting an audio tour linking their classical collection with biblical stories. This was available as a separate tour in addition to the audio tour of the full permanent collection. Synergies like this one occur easily and naturally when a museum has an institution of higher learning affiliated with it, and I look forward hopefully to seeing more of these interestingly cross-referenced tours produced in connection with their collections.
The museum's main audio tour is worth taking as well, giving detailed background to a selection of especially important pieces. It contains quotes from the curators of the permanent galleries, and is a wonderful opportunity to hear these scholars' thoughts on their work in their own words. However, should you choose not to avail yourself of the tour, object and gallery captioning is erudite but accessible, and will provide more than adequate context for the works exhibited.
The Michael C. Carlos Museum is located at 571 S. Kilgo Circle, Atlanta GA 30322, on the Quadrangle of Emory University. Telephone: 404-727-4282; fax: 404-727-4292; Website. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.; Sunday noon to 5 P.M.; closed Mondays and University holidays. Admission is a suggested donation of $7; unlimited free admission to Carlos Museum members and Emory University students, faculty and staff. Audio tours are available at the first floor reception desk for a fee of $3, or free to members. Parking is available in the Fishburne deck on campus.
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From your Guide: Gail S. Myhre, Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions, is a specialist in Roman art and history who also appreciates a wide variety of Modernist movements. You may read all of her Special Exhibition Reviews here.
