The British Museum’s new touring exhibition, “The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece”, is expected to fan the controversy over the Parthenon marbles afresh when they leave their current home for the first time in more than half a century. The spring 2015 show examining the beauty of the Greek human form in art will include a number of objects from the museum’s permanent collection alongside other loans.
“The museum houses the most important collection of sculptures in the world and we want to improve the display and to allow a greater dialogue between the sculptures of different cultures,” said British Museum Director Neil MacGregor. He did not say whether the museum would seek loans from Greece.
A spokeswoman of the British Museum said that the display would take a look at how ancient Greeks represented the human body in works that have shaped the way that we think and the way we look at ourselves.Greek sculptures portraying muscular bodies perfected in Greece will be placed alongside loans influenced by these portrayals.
The piece de resistance of the entire show are the controversial Parthenon sculptures that were taken from Greece by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. The marbles were removed from Greece after Lord Elgin secured a permit from the early 19th-century Ottoman rulers of Greece to strip them from the temple on the Acropolis using
unorthodox methods.
The new Acropolis Museum emphatically displays copies of the missing sculptures beside its its part of the great frieze that once stood on the 2,500 year old temple. Celebrities, such as George Clooney and Bill Murray have also taken a stand against the looting.
The British Museum’s exhibition is expected to futher fan the controversy.
