For those looking for an introductory text on Hellenistic art, S.'s new monograph is a welcome addition to the small group of studies solely dedicated to the art of this dynamic, exciting and complicated period. Given the age of some of the standard texts (J.J. Pollitt's Art in the Hellenistic Age is pushing 30 years), S.'s study is an essential addition to any student or scholar's library. Although not explicitly stated, this book is primarily meant for students and the general reader. But S.'s mastery of the topic makes it an enjoyable and quick read for the more advanced scholar as well.
In the preface (p. xiii) S. states that this is not a new survey of Hellenistic art. This might strike some as a disappointment, but given the complexity and breadth of the material culture of the Hellenistic period, not entirely surprising. Indeed, S. mentions that his attempts to write a survey resulted in a tome of unreasonable length and cost, a so-called ‘baggy monster’ (still, I would like to see it) (p. xiii). Instead S. has opted for a thematic approach in which each chapter addresses ‘a major, avowed concern of Hellenistic art and its public, onto which one or more genres can be mapped with some confidence’ (p. xiii). Because of this approach, S. is not constrained by chronology. So, rather than begin with Alexander the Great, whose death is often used to mark the ‘beginning’ of the Hellenistic period (as if artistic styles are so neatly divided), S. opens with the stunning Tazza Faranese. Made for the Ptolemies, the sardonyx cameo-carved bowl ‘shows Hellenistic art at its finest, most complex, and most enigmatic’ (p. 3). S.'s selection of the Tazza as his opening salvo is a masterful stroke for two reasons. First, it clearly conveys S.'s commitment to both small-scale and large-scale arts (indeed, one of the great criticisms of Pollitt's textbook is its clear preference for sculpture). And second, the Tazza serves as a compelling introductory case study of the complexities surrounding Hellenistic art, including issues of date, style and iconography. After pulling the reader in with the Tazza, S. turns to the requisite discussion of Alexander the Great, casting him as a hero among men, indeed a colossus (p. 8), whose sudden death plunges his hard won empire into tumult. The resulting historical events are recounted in five paragraphs. But this is not a book about history; it is a book about art (p. 13).
From the outset, S. makes the distinction between art today and art in the Hellenistic period. Whereas today, art for art's sake is a common refrain, S. states that though the Hellenistic world was full of art – a veritable ‘culture of images’ (p. 13) – much of it was ‘broadly religious and/or political’ (p. 14) He then goes on to encapsulate Hellenistic art in a list of fourteen bullet points. This would be audacious and ill-advised for a lesser scholar, but S. is clearly a master of the subject and each of his points is enumerated in a subsequent chapter. Indeed, if there is criticism to be found, it is that S. leaves his scholarly reader wanting more information.
The book is organised around a series of themes, which are collated into three broader sections. The first section comprises four chapters, ‘Settlement’, ‘Power’, ‘Victory’ and ‘Benefaction’, and sets the scene(s) in which Hellenistic art was produced and displayed. These chapters work together to introduce the Hellenistic period – its cities, its rulers, its conflicts and its customs. The more knowledgeable reader may be taken by surprise that S. does not dive right into the art – after all this is a book on Hellenistic art. But S.'s organisational approach is both refreshing and educational because he is better able to contextualise the art in all its forms: large-scale, small-scale, portable, fixed, etc. Chapter 1 on settlements, for example, both instructs the novice reader and reminds the more advanced reader that architecture and urban planning are themselves art forms and that the Hellenistic world, like the later Roman empire, was a huge expanse of land. This sets the reader's expectations that Hellenistic art is also necessarily varied and in many ways defies the neat and tidy categorisations that art historians of the last century liked to deploy. It is not until Chapter 2 that the reader really meets Alexander the Great in more detail, and S. more fully explains the role of Alexander and his successors in the development of portraiture – a phenomenon that has had far reaching effect for western art history.
The second section includes the chapters ‘Prowess’, ‘Wisdom’, ‘Piety’ and ‘Desire’. With their focus on sculpture, these chapters are the most traditional in the book. Indeed many of the most famous examples of Hellenistic art appear in these pages: the Weary Heracles, the Terme Boxer, the Knidian Aphrodite. However, because S. has organised the book the way he has, the conversations surrounding these sculptures are not a sterile discussion of style, form and technique, but an investigation into how these works were born out of the larger cultural milieu of the time. But S. reserves much of this more formal language and analysis for the captions to the illustrations. In Chapter 6, S. deftly navigates between art forms, interweaving excerpts from poems or philosophical treatises into his own prose. These chapters are some of the best of the book.
Unfortunately, this middle section is also where one can be most critical of S. Despite his clear mastery of the subject, S. delivers some fairly unsophisticated interpretations of challenging issues. Chapter 8, which focuses on the theme of desire, is not especially nuanced (see, in particular, S.'s description of female sexuality on p. 180). Particularly in his discussion of the Sleeping Hermaphrodite, S.'s language seems to devolve to the level of an adolescent (p. 191), and neither the commentary nor the interpretation seems to have advanced much beyond his work in his earlier monograph Art, Desire, and the Body from 1997. Furthermore, while I certainly do not expect every reader to be up to date on current gender theory, given S.'s casual style and regular ‘shout-outs’ to contemporary topics (including rap music, looting and San Francisco), this chapter feels like a missed opportunity to engage with contemporary gender politics.
In the third section, which includes the chapters ‘Luxury’, ‘Difference’, ‘Death’ and ‘Reception’, S. manages to introduce a wide array of art including jewellery, figurines and mosaics – a truly refreshing departure from earlier texts which give pride of place to sculpture and painting.
Throughout, S. makes ample use of both primary and secondary source material (and he clearly explains the difference between the two for the less experienced reader) and the main text is followed by over 50 pages of supplemental material: two appendices, a glossary of words that appear italicised in the main text, a timeline, biographical sketches, select bibliography and further reading, references, sources of illustrations and an index. The two appendices, focusing on The Artist, and S.'s own translation of Callixenus of Rhodes’ On the Wonders of Alexandria, deserve their moment in the sun.
The book is wonderfully illustrated: 170 images, many in colour, appear throughout the main text and appendices (one wonders how Cambridge University Press could afford such expense). In addition, each illustration has a thorough caption beyond the title, date and collection. A particularly nice example is fig. 170, a marble Krater signed by Sosibios.
S. clearly enjoyed writing this book, which makes it eminently readable. He regularly peppers his prose with asides and footnotes which are both humorous and cringe-inducing (one feels for his student who identified the Slipper-Slapper group as the Virgin Mary, the Devil and an angel). S. has drawn upon his extensive teaching experience to pull it together and his writing style clearly conveys a lecturer who enjoys his subject and is adept at relating his subject matter to contemporary events, concepts, arts and culture. These brief shout-outs may leave some readers wanting a greater discussion of the impact that ancient art had and continues to have on the art, literature and culture of our world today.
