Monday, September 29, 2008

Berlin Museums & Legacy of James Simon Exhibit

Suite 101 (Stan Parchin)

The famous Bust of Queen Tiye is in this exhibition.

Some 150 works from nine different German collections are on view in six galleries from October 18, 2008 to January 18, 2009. The exhibition's appearance at the California venue is its sole North American stop.

The show features: ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian masterpieces; medieval, Renaissance and Baroque sculptures; Old Master paintings; works on paper; woodblock prints from 18th- and 19th-century Japan; objects produced along the famed Silk Road; and examples of European folk art. Together they elucidate the contributions of philanthropist and entrepreneur James Simon (1851-1932) to the development of Berlin's important museum collections.

The German Jew James Simon was a revered patron of the arts, connoisseur and avid collector. He recognized the value of archaeology and financially sponsored digs in Egypt, the Near East and Central Asia. The excavations he underwrote unearthed some of the ancient world's greatest treasures, among them the famous Egyptian Bust of Queen Nefertiti, the monumental Neo-Babylonian Ishtar Gate and its regal Processional Way. His myriad gifts to the State Museums of Berlin allowed them to rise to the stature of other art institutions around the world.


See the above page for the full story.


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