Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt

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Press Release January 29, 2020

Brooklyn Museum

Face and Shoulder from an Anthropoid Sarcophagus, 332–30 B.C.E. Black basalt.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The newest exhibition at the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt, will open Jan. 31. Through thoughtful pairings of damaged works–from fragmented heads to altered inscriptions–with undamaged examples, Striking Power examines the patterns of damage inflicted on these sculptures for political, religious and criminal reasons in ancient times. The exhibition will be on view to the public through April 26.

Brooklyn Museum

Offering Scene of [Amun?]emhet, New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reigns of Thutmose III to Amenhotep II, circa 1479–1400 B.C.E., From Upper Egypt. Sandstone.

Striking Power examines iconoclasm in Egypt, focusing on the legacies of kings Hatshesput (reigned c. 1478 to 1458 BCE) and Akhenaten (reigned c. 1353 to 1336 BCE), as well as the late Antiquity (3rd to 7th century AD).

“Iconoclasm is a practice that spans history and continues to the present day—we still struggle with decisions about what to do with contested public sculptures—and this show sheds light on how other societies have dealt with similar issues,” said Adam Levine, the Museum’s George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director & CEO. “This exhibition will raise timely questions about ownership, memory and visual culture that are as relevant today to us in Jacksonville as they were in ancient Egypt.”

Striking Power: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt is organized by the Brooklyn Museum in collaboration with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation and is curated by Edward Bleiberg, senior curator of Egyptian, Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Art, Brooklyn Museum.