Rocks, Paper, Memory

Wendy Artin's Watercolor Paintings of Ancient Sculptures

contributions by Christopher Ratte, Wendy Artin and Katherine A. Larson

Book cover: Rocks, Paper, Memory

Extent: 96 pages

Publisher: Kelsey Museum Publications

Subjects: Art & Art History, Classical Studies

Series: Kelsey Museum Publication

Series volume number: 12

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(June 2015)

ISBN: 9780990662327

7.87 x 7.87 inches

Price: $19.95

Out of stock

This catalogue documents an exhibition at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology of watercolor paintings by American artist Wendy Artin and selected objects from the Museum’s permanent collections. Wendy Artin has been working for over a decade on a series of watercolors of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and related subjects.


This catalogue documents an exhibition at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology of watercolor paintings by American artist Wendy Artin and selected objects from the Museum’s permanent collections. Wendy Artin has been working for over a decade on a series of watercolors of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures and related subjects. She is thus a fresh presence in a long line of artists who draw inspiration from antiquity. Indeed, this tradition has very ancient precedents. The exhibition and catalogue place a selection of 47 of Artin’s paintings–including landscapes and figure paintings as well as images of ancient sculptures–in dialogue with 14 objects drawn from the Kelsey’s collections, among them works of Greek art inspired by Egyptian precedents, examples of Roman imperial portraits that were copied in numerous media for circulation around the empire, and reproductions of the same figure types featured in some of Artin’s paintings (such as Aphrodite Rising from the Sea). Wendy Artin’s masterful watercolors offer new and arresting ways of looking at ancient sculptures and buildings–and of remembering the classical past.

Preface Curator's Acknowledgments Artist's Acknowledgments Wendy Artin and Christopher Ratte in Dialogue Kelsey Museum Objects (catalogue entries by Katherine A. Larson) An Egyptianizing Limestone Head from Cyprus and Two Egyptian Ushabti Figurines A Portrait Head of the Roman Emperor Augustus and a Selection of Augustan Coins Aphrodite Wendy Artin's Watercolors The Parthenon Frieze Stone from Delphi Nudes Roman Landscapes About the Artist About the Curator

  • Contributions by Wendy Artin
  • Contributions by Katherine A. Larson
  • Contributions by Christopher Ratte