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300913: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland - Cleopatra. The eternal diva
Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Cleopatra. The eternal diva
28.06.2013 - 06.10.2013
Projection figure through the centuries
By Roland Groß
"You remember me?" - Michael Jackson's dance rhythms to the eponymous song title, and the dynamic MTV clip in the pharaoh's outfit, go straight into your legs you via earphones – even in the ambience of the Bonner Bundskunsthalle. Not far from Jacko is the pop icon, Madonna, on a photo from the Super Bowl 2012 in ancient Egyptian attire. No question, the legend lives on right into the audio-visual worlds of the present. Art history's mythical primordial mother of all divas, not so far removed mentally from the other two stands at the centre of an opulent exhibition: "Cleopatra, the eternal diva".
Baroque snake bite fantasies by artists such as Guido Reni, Artemisia Gentileschi or Guido Cagnacci, Tiepolo and Jan Steen, up to Andy Warhol's "Blue Liz as Cleopatra" from 1962 have also been brought together here. In his large format, the pop artist displays the blue-toned Cleopatra head of a Liz Taylor photo: the famous Warhol mixture of clear and diffuse contours of repetition is attuned to the aesthetic search for traces of the Bonn exhibition's concepts of the most famous unknown one in world history. An exciting round of the exhibition begins with the meter-high replication of the southern exterior wall of the Hathor temple by Dendera and Andy Warhol's adaption, which enhances the invocation of poses and gestures in the mind of the visitor in ever-changing media and epochs: from the historic figure, to the visual arts, the costume design, the film and advertising right up to the spheres of the music video. Because here, it shouldn't pertain at all to the repeated dealing with the Pharaos' gold or to archaeological knowledge, because the facts about the last Egyptian ruler, Cleopatra VII (69–30 BC) during the era of Mark Antony and Caesar is, and remains, rather sparse. Whereby, at this historic point, with the definitive end of Egypt and in parallel, the beginning of the ascendancy of the Roman Empire, another myth is introduced: the founding myth of European history. Alongside, a controversial threesome connects the figure of a Cleopatra of African origin – science argues tenaciously about a dark-skinned Cleopatra - Greek-Roman history and Western reception. Looking back at comparable analyses of Bonn exhibitions of Genghis Khan, Karl V and Napoleon, it can be said that apparently, charismatic figures go hand in hand with founding myths.
The two exhibition presenters, Elisabeth Bronfen and Agnieszka Lulinska, focus the reception story on the creation of a myth before the background of the question: which needs does the respective epoch reveal its Cleopatra picture through the special design? Above all, the European reception story, and not only that of the Cleopatra cultivation, verifies the phenomena of the "beautiful dead woman", which Elisabeth Bronfen had already accepted scientifically. Precisely the dead Cleopatra becomes a mythical symbol system, an obtainable construction set which is also suitable as a projection surface for female power fantasies and for erotic role examples. Completely in keeping with the spirit of the Baroque age, the image motif of Cleopatra – who, in a fit of luxury dissolves a pearl in vinegar for her cocktail (it really functions) – is tied up with an extremely lavish life with the most vanitas tumble into death.
Michelangelo's Renaissance drawing in the age of reincarnation of the antique creates a Cleopatra outfit in all’antica look. In Napoleonic times and following the Egyptian campaigns, the femme orientale became a femme fatale which, as a converted outlet for passion, stands in opposition to the socially-approved feminine ideal of 1800. And so, not only in the Baroque, one creates action-packed picture scenes with (phallic) snake bites and bare breasts out of the never completely clearly explained Cleopatra death.
Playing with the identities at the beginning of motion pictures, especially during the silent film era, is reminiscent of a kind of mimic costume hire: the battery of pretentious theatre and film photos appears extremely revealing, not less the compilation of legendary film scenes. Incidentally, the "Jazz Cleopatra", Josephine Baker, was instrumental in implementing the Cleopatra legend against racism in the USA.
In his little collection of pictures, Liebig's meat extract drew the last drop of commercialization out of the Lady of the Nile. In 1962, in association with the film with Liz Taylor, the cosmetic firm Revlon propagated "The New Cleopatra Look", photographed by Richard Avedon – with the text line: "If looks can kill this one will". And Shakespeare comes to the point in "Antony and Cleopatra: "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety". And curtain.
Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
53113 Bonn, Museumsmeile, Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 4
http://www.kah-bonn.de
Opening hours: Sun, Mon, Thu 9-19, Tue, Wed 9-21, Fri, Sat 9-22 hours
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
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