Aphrodite at the MFA; Pompeii at the Museum of Science

By GREG COOK | November 2, 2011

In 1860, an archaeologist tried pouring plaster into holes that were being discovered as Pompeii was excavated. The holes turned out to be cavities left by the long-decomposed victims. The haunting casts are rough, like loosely wrapped mummies. A woman lies on her belly with her hands over her face. A man collapses on a stairway. A dog writhes in agony at the end of a leash. Two women nestle together. Are they companions or just thrown together by tragedy? The sculptures put you there for their final, desperate, heartbreaking moments.

Read Greg Cook's blog at gregcookland.com/journal.

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Topics: Museum And Gallery , Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, Museum of Science, More

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ARTICLES BY GREG COOK

A REALLY BIG SHOW! | May 21, 2013
This showcase of tomorrow's-art-stars-today is both invigorating and overwhelming, with work by 194 students.

CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN | May 13, 2013
What does it mean to be a man? That's the question at the heart of this smart, sumptuous exhibit — one of the best shows in the region this year.

MERRY PRANKSTERS | May 07, 2013
Parked out front of Brown University's gray modernist Granoff Center on a recent sunny morning were one of those 15-foot-tall inflatable rats that unions install in front of businesses they're protesting and a limousine sloppily painted to resemble a yellow and black school bus.

ALTERED IMAGES | April 30, 2013
Among the handsome Washington Street storefronts of AS220's renovated Mercantile Block building, with their neo-old-timey signs, is the residents' entrance to the building. It is against AS220's religion to leave any space empty that can be filled with art. So the lobby is the AS220 Resident Gallery, which occupants of the building take turns filling with their stuff.

IN THE CITY | April 23, 2013
One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Providence art scene is how the city itself has been such a rich subject. A decade ago, the city became a galvanizing topic as artists fought to protect the old mills that served as their homes and studios from demolition — with mixed success. But lately, the community's industrial architecture itself has attracted artists' attention.