Presented By: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
Special Exhibition | Ancient Abstractions: Roman Visual Trends Beyond Naturalism
Nicola Barham, Curator
The lifelike naturalistic bodies of Greek and Roman sculpture have been a source of wonder since the Renaissance. Indeed, the Italian Renaissance artist Vasari identified the ancient world as the time “when sculpture rose to its greatest height.” But close likenesses of the natural world are not the only visual products of the ancient past. This exhibition traces alternative visual trends in the ancient Roman world that today would be considered examples of abstraction. It focuses on monuments and motifs long pushed to the margins of our accounts of ancient art. Oversize arrangements of interlocking shapes pulsate in bold block colors from tombs, temples, and homes; stylized animals flicker into view, only to collapse once more into bright geometric arrangements; and artists adopt experimental shorthands for the depiction of space across media. Anticipating recent interests in color and form, the visual trends of antiquity emerge as far more varied than has long been told.
Ancient Abstractions is on view from November 5, 2026, through February 28, 2027, during regular museum hours (Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM, and Saturday–Sunday, 11:00 AM–4:00 PM; closed Mondays and university holidays.
Ancient Abstractions is on view from November 5, 2026, through February 28, 2027, during regular museum hours (Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM, and Saturday–Sunday, 11:00 AM–4:00 PM; closed Mondays and university holidays.
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