All So Long Ago
 | This
is a handsome show in every respect. Two hundred eighty-eight objects of all
kinds—coins, vases, inscriptions, bronze figurines, even larger marble pieces—are
augmented by a splendid catalogue in which photographs of the highest quality
provide a permanent record and, in the case of items difficult to see, much
welcomed enlargement. It is a luxury to study the photographed coins and small
bronzes up close, as it were. The lines on the lekythoi
are suddenly so distinct as they never seem to be
when gazed at in the vitrines. The Onassis
Cultural Center is a treasure not that well known. The exhibition hall is
small, and the wallspace limited, but, in this show,
the objects are arranged for maximum ease of viewing as well as for reasonably
good circulation. Whenever museum burn-out threatens to descend, the visitor
can escape to an adjacent cafe with the now only too ubiquitous waterfall.
Some viewers will want to settle into the cafe with the catalogue, in which
one can read longer, fuller versions of the captions affixed to the objects
on display. Most visitors, I suspect, will want all the clarification they
can get.
Posted by Charles Rowan Beye on 05/18 at 11:00 AM
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