Published: June 22, 2008 11:44 pm            

The Romans are here

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You picked a fine time to visit us, Lucille.

The magnificent head from what was figured to be a 26-foot statue, the striking and massive beauty of the Portrait of Lucille strikes awe in visitors just inside the newest amazement of an exhibition at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Lucille was found in Carthage, a city-state in north Africa on the hill of Brysa, and was the wife of Emperor Lucius Verus and has now made her way to Oklahoma City.

The marvels continue through the 184-piece exhibition, “Roman Art from the Louvre,” an overflowing cornucopia of white marble creations of impossibly good-looking and chiseled Roman leaders and finely featured women from the Museé de Louvre in Paris.

The exhibit started Wednesday and runs 16 glorious weeks through Oct. 12, giving visitors a chance to immerse themselves in art rarely seen outside of the world’s major museums.

Close your eyes, then open them — and a person would swear they are in an expansive multi-story wing of a Paris, New York City or Los Angeles museum.

But you’re not, you’re in one of only three cities to host the Romans, which traveled from the Louvre via its only two other stops — Indianapolis and Seattle.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett distilled the significance to central Oklahoma.

“Hosting a monumental exhibit drawn from the collection of one of the world’s preeminent art museums is an unprecedented opportunity,” Cornett said. “Not only does it carry out the museum’s goal of bringing great works of art to our city, which our citizens may otherwise not see, but it also showcases Oklahoma City as a destination of world-class stature.”

There are busts, bas relief, sarcophagi, bronze and terra-cotta statuettes dating from the early first century B.C. to the sixth century A.D. Jewelry, glass and metal cups and vessels, mosaics, fresco paintings and a cache of more than 100 major silver pieces from Pompeii provide interesting distractions among the marble statues and busts. Some of the exhibits weigh as much as 6,000 pounds.

The Emperor Augustus dominates one of early rooms in the exhibit. There’s a reason why he appears on or inside nearly every brochure or poster promoting it.

What’s amazing is not his piercing but aloof eyes, it’s his expressive right hand reaching out toward some anonymous early Roman.

The Romans occupy the museum’s ground floor special exhibition gallery and the eight second-floor galleries of the museum.

It’s an exhibit that makes you not only wonder in amazement about the technical and creative proficiency of early Romans. Several themes are explored in the exhibit: Religion, urbanism, war, imperial expansion, funerary practices, intellectual life and family.

The collection traces the four main Roman dynasties including the Julio-Claudians, the Antonines, the Severans and the family of Constantine.

Oklahoma City Museum of Art chief curator Hardy George gives credit for the collection to Napoleon’s “megalomaniac interest in the glories of Ancient Rome, for the finest collections of Roman art outside of Italy.”

The exhibit was organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Museé du Louvre. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

And for those who are concerned about the museum’s 18-exhibit, 1,500 piece Dale Chihuly exhibit, the popular glass collection is still up on the third floor. The museum’s permanent collection will return after the run of the Roman show.

The Oklahoma City Museum of art is in downtown Oklahoma City northeast of the Civic Center Music Hall at 415 Couch Drive. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. It’s closed on Mondays.

Admission is $12 for adults, $10 seniors and students, free for children 5 and under and museum members. Group tours of 15 or more are available for $10 per person with three weeks advance notice.

For more information, call 326-3100 or on the museum’s Web site at www.okcmoa.com.

        

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