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Archaeological Collection of the University of Zurich
9 November 2018 – 31 March 2019
The top class Greek potter and painter Exekias, who lived in Athens in the 6th century BC and worked in the Kerameikos, the potters’ quarter of the city, is rightly regarded as one of the outstanding masters of his craft. He represents Athenian black-figure painting at its technical and artistic pinnacle.
Exekias was one of the first Greek vase artists to have signed his work both as potter and as painter, an expression of his pride in his works and of a very particular self-image. The about 40 works of his that still exist – some fragmented, spread all over the world – demonstrate most impressively the characteristics that modern observers associate with him: monumentality, originality, precision, craftsmanship and dignity.
For the first time, Exekias’s high quality oeuvre will be displayed in a monographic exhibition. Never before has it been possible to display together some 20 works by this extraordinary artist, to contemplate and compare his original pieces kept in different museums in Italy, Germany, France, Sweden and the USA – and not least in Swiss private collections – directly with one another. A unique opportunity!
The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated, multilingual catalogue (German, English, French, Italian) containing an in-depth description of selected works by the Master included in the exhibition, supplemented with introductory essays on Attic vase art in the mid-6th century BC, Exekias’s artistic development and his world of innovative imagery.
