Adapting Antiquity Classical Receptions in American Art

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the ancient world? Some recall the architecture of Athens and Rome, others classical nude sculpture or the vivid red-figure Greek pottery. More will first think of the scores of gods, heroes, and monsters that star in ancient myth and epic such as Zeus and Hades, Achilles and Odysseus, Icarus and Oedipus, or modern-day interpretations like Disney’s Hercules or Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. Centuries later, the legacy and influence of ancient antiquity continues to endure.

Adapting Antiquity: Classical Receptions in American Art draws upon the framework of classical reception, which has been defined as “the ways in which Greek and Roman material has been transmitted, translated, excerpted, interpreted, rewritten, re-imaged, and represented,” and examines how legacies and stories from the classical past have been adapted and redeployed to address contemporary themes, concerns, and socio-political issues. This exhibition considers four American artists whose work is in dialogue with the ancient past: Andy Warhol, Nelson Sandgren, Suda House, and William Cumming.

From Warhol’s playful exploration of the enduring celebrity of Alexander the Great to Suda House’s vibrant portraits of ancient goddesses, each work encourages an examination of our connection to the ancient past and how it transforms, and is transformed by, contemporary people.

This exhibition was curated by Alexis Garcia, 2023- 2025 Post-Graduate Museum Fellow in European and American Art.