Exhibition Featured in the Wall Street Journal

In today's Wall Street Journal, Laura Jacobs reviewed ISAW's current exhibition on view, Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles in Late Antiquity.

Jacobs highlights the religious aspects of the exhibition, beginning with the way that the exhibition is presented, how the galleries' purple walls "evoke Tyrian or “true” purple, a dye derived from a Mediterranean species of sea snail and so precious it was restricted to use on Imperial silks... the wall color also suggests grapes and the intoxicating pleasures of life, for here the exhibition pays homage to Dionysus, the Greek god who gave wine to man and is associated with cheer and plenty, unconsciousness and transcendence."

Images of Dionysus were not only used in the home, but also in practices of burial. Jacobs notes that "the frequent appearance of Dionysus in these textiles may be due to the god’s association with death and rebirth. In Late Antiquity a change in burial practice saw the dead no longer wrapped in bandages but dressed in multiple layers of 'reused clothing and shrouds.' Textiles with Dionysian motifs were thematically appropriate and hence were preserved intact in tombs."

Lastly, Jacobs ends her review highlighting the melange of cultures and religions seen throughout the exhibited material and typically attributed to the Late Antique period: "This spiritual and material mix of cultures blossoms in the second gallery’s collection of tunics, mantles and furnishing fragments. Christian crosses and eight-pointed stars, palmettes and Solomon’s knots, Greek keys and two-handled urns, nymphs and Pan—all pop and play within taut bands and tight circles of exceedingly fine tapestry-weave workmanship."

Read the full article by Laura Jacobs on the Wall Street Journal website here.