Ancient Greece in Colour

The Musée des Arts Contemporains Grand-Hornu in Belgium presents James Welling’s current project on ancient Greek and Roman statues. Continues until August 29, 2021.

Recent works by James Welling (born 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut) are currently on display at the Musée des Arts Contemporains Grand-Hornu (MACS) in Belgium. In this ongoing series, titled ‘Cento’, the US-American artist shows Greek and Roman statues and architecture in an entirely new light.

The project began in 2018, when James Welling photographed the bust of Julia Mamaea, a Roman empress of Syrian origin, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He subsequently created multiple prints in a variety of colours, based on an early printing method known as the collotype process.

By transforming the colours of depicted objects – such as green foliage, for example – Welling echoes the nature descriptions of Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Aristoteles. “Modern approximations of this polychrome are startling to viewers still accustomed to the colourless neoclassic ideals of beauty,” the photographer explains. “My hope is that these colours seep into the ancient stone and take on a life of their own.”

For further information visit Musée des Arts Contemporains Grand-Hornu