Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art: Through January 2019 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Dangerous Beauty: Medusa in Classical Art: Through January 2019 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City -

This heavy metal ornament, decorated with the head of Medusa and inlays of silver and copper, probably comes from a currus triumphalis (ceremonial chariot) used in processions rather than a lightweight racing chariot.  Roman.  1st - 2nd century CE.  Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York.

 Beginning in the fifth century B.C., Medusa, the snaky-haired Gorgon whose gaze turned men to stone, became increasingly anthropomorphic and feminine, undergoing a visual transformation from grotesque to beautiful. A similar shift in representations of other mythical female half-human beings, such as sphinxes, sirens, and the sea monster Scylla, took place at the same time. Featuring 60 artworks, primarily from The Met collection, this exhibition explores how the beautification of these terrifying figures manifested the idealizing humanism of Classical Greek art, and traces their enduring appeal in both Roman and later Western art. The connection between beauty and horror, embodied above all in the figure of Medusa, outlived antiquity, fascinating and inspiring artists through the centuries. Medusa became the archetypical femme fatale, a conflation of femininity, erotic desire, violence, and death. Along with the beautiful Scylla, she foreshadows the conceit of the seductive but threatening female that emerges in the late 19th century in reaction to women's empowerment.

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