Grace Suter sharing her research on Piranesi's The Portico of Octavia at the opening reception
Dr. Pollack addresses the crowd at the exhibition opening on September 19th.
By: Jenna Fox and Fiona Stokes
This semester, the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition Piranesi’s Rome: Views of the Eternal City. The show was put together by recent GW alumni, current undergraduate students, and students from Dr. Rachel Pollack’s 2024 summer WID course Discovering the Romans. The inspiration for this exhibition transpired on a “field trip” led by Pollack as part of her summer WID course. The class visited the Luther Brady Gallery in early June to see a selection of Piranesi prints of 18th century views of Rome in the GW Collection. Dr. Pollack remarked in passing to Olivia Kohler-Maga, the Director of the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, that these extraordinary pieces would make an excellent exhibition. Olivia responded that if her students could put together the research for such a show this summer they could make this dream come true this September.
With 19 original pieces by 18th century artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi secured as part of the GW collection, and less than three months to put the show together, Professor Pollack turned to her students to author catalogue entries as the first step in the exhibition process. Pollack sought out students from previous UW1020s and WID courses she had taught in the past few years: Dutch Art at the National Gallery, The Greek Ideal in Art, and Reimagining the Roman World, an Art History WID cross-listed with Honors. Basically, she went through her “mental rolodex” of her best students who she suspected might have an interest in writing about ancient Rome and recruited them for the project. As she stressed in the exhibition opening event on September 19th, “This is an exhibit by GW students and for GW students.” Piranesi’s Rome: Views of the Eternal City is more than an exhibit. It is evidence of the perseverance of students and the learning outcomes of courses taught by the University Writing Program. Students not only strengthened their writing abilities through this project, they now had an occasion to exhibit these abilities in a professional gallery setting.
The 11 students from Pollack’s summer WID provided the foundation for the exhibit Piranesi’s Rome and the forthcoming exhibition catalogue which will be printed at the end of the semester with the generous support of the Art History Program’s Samuel G. Ebling Fund. Five student editors are overseeing the publication: Grace Suter, Cristian Abarca, John Fine, Nikolas Diakolios, and Fiona Stokes. Pollack explained that they are well suited for this task. For the exhibition, Grace wrote the bulk of the captions and wall labels with the help of John and Cristian. Fiona, a current intern at the Luther W Brady Gallery, is responsible for putting together the online exhibition for the Luther Brady Gallery website and so is instrumental for transferring the written exhibition materials to the future online platform. Further into the exhibition process, more tasks emerged, and more hands were needed. Pollack reached out to former students to work as translators for Italian, Latin, and French inscriptions on Piranesi’s engravings. John and Nikolas are compiling these translations for one of the glossaries in the exhibition catalogue.
Members of the student editorial team were delighted to share their insights. Fiona remarked, “Seeing the exhibition take shape in person after hours of editorial meetings on Zoom is incredible. I am honored to design and store all of this hard work onto a website where we will always be able to revisit this exhibition,” Cristian who took the lead in writing on the Prison series. Cristian explained, “Participating in the Piranesi's Rome exhibition has allowed me to utilize my academic and recreational interests, enhanced by the University Writing program, to build professional-quality deliverables…The exhibition diversifies the perspectives of those facilitating it and encourages the discovery of new perspectives among its audience.”
Students from Pollack’s summer WID course were pleased to reflect back upon the exhibition. Krystin Kim who authored the catalog entry on the piece Interior of the Pantheon observed, “Being part of this project has been incredibly meaningful to me. Working on my entry about the Pantheon allows me to share the architectural significance behind the artwork. This exhibit also provides an opportunity to introduce architecture to people who may not yet be familiar with it.” Evan Hampson, who wrote the entry on View of the Remains of the Tomb of the Plautii remarked, “ It was great to be a part of the exhibition and see the work we all did come to fruition! Looking at the prints in person while writing my catalogue entry was one thing, but seeing them framed in the gallery and being able to point out all the little details to friends who visited the exhibition is another. I'm so proud to be a part of it and thankful to Professor Pollack for the opportunity.”
At the long-awaited opening reception on September 19th, close to one hundred people crowded around Piranesi’s etchings. Primarily members of the GW community were in attendance. Viewers stood in awe before the meticulous detail and elaborately outlined architecture executed by the great 18th century artist Piranesi. A spotlight at the opening reception was the “Eye Spy” game. This was the genius of Gelman Arts and Design Librarian Shira Eller. “Eye Spy” served as a fun and engaging scavenger hunt activity alongside the exhibition. Worksheets, pencils, and magnifiers equipped a handful of GW students to connect zoomed-in images on their worksheet to the works around the exhibition. The game broadens the audience of the exhibition beyond those interested in art history. Door prizes are still available at the show for those who successfully complete the game.
At the heart of the exhibition is Piranesi, the visionary architect, proto-archaeologist, and phenomenal 18th century artist who single handedly established the “postcard view” of the ‘Eternal City’. Toying with illusions and purely fantastical ideas, Piranesi’s Rome comes to fruition in the Luther W. Brady Art Gallery.
The Luther W. Brady Art Gallery is located in GW’s Flagg Building, formerly known as the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The Gallery is free and open to the public: Wednesday - Saturday, 1 - 5 pm. It closes December 7th. For more information, visit the gallery website.