Fifteen Cycladic antiquities for the first time in the world at the Museum of Cycladic Art

The exhibition “Shooting. Cycladic treasures on the return journey”, which will last from November 3, 2022 to October 31, 2023, is presented by the Museum of Cycladic Art (MKT), in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

As stated in a statement by the MKT, the exhibition is the first step in the implementation of the historic agreement between the Ministry, the Museum of Cycladic Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York (MET), ratified by the Greek Parliament on September 9, 2022.

The agreement foresees the gradual return to Greece of the collection of 161 proto-Cycladic antiquities of unique archaeological value of the American collector Leonard Stern. Fifteen of these antiquities are presented for the first time worldwide, in Athens, at the Museum of Cycladic Art, in the exhibition “Turning. Cycladic treasures on the return journey”.

This will be followed by the exhibition of the entire collection at the MET, before its final return to Greece.

The exhibition presents rare exhibits that provide new data to our knowledge of Proto-Cycladic art. Among them are also types that could be characterized as unique, either as a whole or in their individual morphological characteristics, as they are not found again among the so far known works of the Proto-Cycladic period.

In particular, as the MKT informs, ten marble figurines and five vases made of marble, steatite and clay are included, covering a wide chronological range, from the New Neolithic times to those of the Proto-Cycladic II period (c. 5300 – 2400/2300 e.g.). The figurines exclusively represent the female figure, belonging to types and variations that correspond to the stylistic rhythms of each period (schematic, pre-canonical, regular), while the vases represent some of the most characteristic types of vessels of the entire Proto-Cycladic period.

The president and CEO of the Museum of Cycladic Art, Kassandra Marinopoulou, said: “An exceptional and largely unknown collection of Cycladic antiquities by the American collector Leonard N. Stern, with rare and unique works, is gradually making its way back home. It’s a historic moment.

For our country, for the Museum of Cycladic Art but also for me personally, as we participate in an unprecedented collaboration with the Greek state and the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, thus contributing to the return of the 161 Cycladic masterpieces and paving the way for the return of other antiquities in the future. The dissemination and promotion of the Cycladic and Ancient Greek Culture internationally was and is the purpose of the Museum of Cycladic Art.

I feel very proud because this purpose is now being fully achieved, both with the present exhibition of the first 15 antiquities at the Museum of Cycladic Art, and with those that will follow in Greece and the USA. The achievement of this goal also includes, of course, the further collaboration that is opened with the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports and the MET, through which the possibility of studying the Cycladic culture, analyzes and scientific collaborations at various levels of research will be provided.

As the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Max Hollein, stated: “The mission of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is to enable the public to enjoy and study art. We are excited about this historic collaboration with Greece, which brings permanently and for the first time an important collection of Cycladic antiquities into the public sphere.

This agreement is based on the long and fruitful collaboration between the Greek government and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. We are pleased to be playing a part in an agreement to benefit visitors and scholars of future generations.

We are deeply grateful to Leonard N. Stern, who is actively supporting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the study of these masterpieces and related archival material, which will enable us to record and publish the collection in depth.

In addition, we are excited that the entire collection of 161 antiquities is to be presented to the museum in 2024, as part of a long-term loan. The Metropolitan Museum warmly thanks Greece and the Museum of Cycladic Art for the close cooperation. We look forward to continuing our consultations regarding our future scientific collaboration. We all benefit from the public display of art.”

Exhibition structure

The exhibition is structured in three chronological sections that are developed in the same number of rooms of the Megaros Stathatos and include works that are classified based on their typological criteria and the assumptions of the research for the chronological matching of each type.

The first section includes elaborate and rare vases and figurines mainly from the Proto-Cycladic I period (ca. 3200 – 2800 BC), as well as a Neolithic figurine, so that the origin of the Proto-Cycladic figurines from Neolithic figurines can be understood. The second section presents antiquities of the Transitional Proto-Cycladic I/II period (ca. 2800 – 2700 BC). Precursor forms that herald the complete forms of the following period, as two stone and clay vases belonging to special categories of Proto-Cycladic art are included in this section.

Finally, the third section includes figurines of the so-called normal type of the Spedos variant, the most widespread and numerous of the Proto-Cycladic II period (c. 2700 – 2400/2300 BC), as well as a marble precast bottle.

The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual scientific catalog of 180 pages that includes an introductory text on the Cycladic culture of the 3rd millennium BC, as well as a detailed, documented presentation of the fifteen Cycladic antiquities, together with unique photographs of the exhibits themselves and of the Cycladic landscape.

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