"Giocometti in the Temple of Dendur" at the Met

People in the art world sometimes talk about works of art being "in conversation." While it's a phrase that might make you roll your eyes, it's the perfect way to describe the exhibit "Giocometti in the Temple of Dendur" at the Met. I can imagine the sculptures coming alive after closing and wandering the Temple a la Ben Stiller's "Night at the Museum." But it's the contrasting textures of the stone of the Temple and the stone of Giocometti's sculptures that make the phrase most apt for me in the artistic sense. It's a special exhibit. 

I have a vague recollection of visiting the Temple of Dendur on a summer associate outing circa 1985. It hasn't changed, although my appreciation of it has. The Temple dates back to circa 10 BCE and lived on the Nile River in Lower Nubia, an area between Egypt and the Sudan. It was built during the reign of Emperor Augustus after Rome conquered Egypt. The carvings on the sandstone blocks tell stories, many of which depict Augustus as a pharoah. I have thoughts about that, but they're beyond the scope of this post. As a true aside, did you know the month of August was named after the Emperor? 

You might wonder how the Temple ended up in New York City, a far cry from its original site by the Nile. When Egypt decided to build the Aswan Dam, the Temple had to be moved or it would have been submerged. It was given to the United States in 1965 as thanks for our financial and technical contributions to UNESCO's International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia. 

The Met won the right to house the Temple after a competitive bidding process. The kicker was the institution's promise to build a climate controlled wing that would preserve the sandstone structure. The room is stunning, with vast windows that bring the outside into the space. The Temple opened to the public in its new home in 1978. 

This brings us to the question of how Giocometti's sculptures ended up living on the Temple's grounds, so to speak. Giocometti was fascinated with Egyptian art from a young age, and he could often be found wandering the Egyptian wing of the Louvre. He particularly liked the upright figures of Egyptian pharoahs, which he found full of life and power. They always feel a bit intimidating to me, with their erect postures and static gazes. Writing this, my mind flashed to the guards at Buckingham Palace and kids jumping up and down to make them flinch, to no avail. But I digress. 

Giocometti's earliest walking man sculpture was "Walking Man I" (also known as "Walking Man Leaning Forward.") The work is associated with the quest for human survival despite the trauma of war. The artist had escaped Paris for Geneva during WWII and was overwhelmed when he returned by the devastation the War had wrought. There was physical destruction, of course, but Giocometti was also attuned to the emotional impact of the War on the citizens of his adopted country. The rough texture of his sculpture's surfaces represent the psychological scarring carried by survivors, so the fact that they're somewhat unsettling is apt. 

Giocometti's sculptures are also associated with Existentialism, the basic idea of which is that each individual is responsible for the path her life takes. "One must imagine Sisyphus happy," said Albert Camus. It seems appropriate to envision Sisyphys rolling his stone up the hill in a continuing loop while thinking about how incredibly difficult it was to construct the Temple of Dendur. Happily, the stones of the Temple of Dendur have stayed in place all these centuries. 

I'll leave you with a hieroglyphic from one of the Temple's 661 Nubian sandstone blocks. It's truly amazing that the images -- sacred carvings to the Egyptians -- have survived, especially because the blocks are not glazed. If my calculations are correct, each block weighs close to 2,000 pounds. Nobody was going to make off with one of them in the middle of the night. 

This image depicts Hathor and Harendotes receiving wine from Pharoah Augustus, whom I seem to have cut out of the image. Oops! For more on the carvings, click here. 

If this post has piqued your interest in the history of the Temple of Dendur, click here for a short video. And click here to see some fabulous images of Giocometti in his tiny Parisian studio. They're quite a contrast to the expansive space where his sculptures are on display at the Met.

"Giocometti in the Temple of Dendur" runs through September 8th. It's a must see exhibit if you're in New York.