'Power and Pathos’ display in Florence, Nike of Samothrace in the Louvre, and selfie sticks banned

I'd like to do a little museum and exhibition news round-up today, as there is/are going to be two new expositions that sounds very interesting--and one very important thing to be aware of when you visit them.


'Power and Pathos’ display can be viewed at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence

The ‘Power and Pathos’ exhibition displayed at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence on March 14 is an apotheosis of ancient Greek sculpture. Most of the ancient works show the body beautiful in the ancient Greek world. One of the remarkable achievements of the display is that it brings together 50 or so surviving bronze masterpieces when most pieces have been lost to time on account of the fact that bronze was easily melted down for recycling.

The works on display come from 34 museums found in 13 countries on four continents. The display includes the Terme Boxer and the Boy with Thorn from Rome, Sleeping Eros from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as exhibits that have never travelled before. It is estimated that the works on display are worth about $1.5 billion.

The ‘Power and Pathos’ exhibition kicked off on March 14 at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. It will move to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in July and the National Gallery of Art in Washington in December.


Costa Gavras and Angeliki Aristomenopoulou’s documentary, in the Louvre
Samothrace through the eyes of Director Angeliki Aristomenopoulou and Costa Gavras, will be shown in the Louvre Museum’s Sully wing through a unique documentary. The documentary bearing the title “Nike of Samothrace, rediscovering a masterpiece” will show the unique angles of the archaeological sites, history and the people of the northern Greek island of Samothrace. The film is expected to be complete within the next few days.


Top museums banning ‘selfie sticks’
The annoying selfie sticks that tourists often use to film themselves while haphazardly walking and inevitably bumping into others have been characterized as “tripods”. The National Gallery in London and the former royal residence of Versailles near Paris recently joined Rome’s Colosseum in banning the sticks. According to an announcement in Versailles, the measure was taken “in order to protect paintings, individual privacy and the overall visitor experience.”

There is concern that the sticks act like extendable arms, allowing a broader field of vision but also causing accidents as hundreds of sticks twirl around. It is believed that the Pompidou Museum and Louvre are likely to follow suit.