The Museum of Fine Arts’ new exhibition, “Capturing Eternity,” which opened Friday, offers a glimpse into the creative work of Egyptian artists. The exhibition also places special emphasis on showcasing modern scientific methods and digital techniques that aid in the study of these works of art.
“Collections are the heart and soul of museums; preserving them, making them visible, and managing them responsibly is our shared responsibility,” emphasized Zsolt Sári, State Secretary for Public Collections and Heritage Protection, during Thursday’s press preview of the exhibition.
Coffin faces displayed at the “Capturing Eternity” exhibition showcasing the creative work of ancient Egyptian artists at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. Photo: MTI/Zoltán Balogh
László Baán, the institution’s director general, noted that the Museum of Fine Arts houses Hungary’s largest collection of Egyptian artifacts, and when presenting this collection of some 5,000 pieces, it is always an exciting challenge to determine from what new perspective and by highlighting which aspects the theme can be presented anew time and again.
“This temporary exhibition is unique because, over the past decades, we have never explored in an exhibition how these works of art came to be,” he emphasized, adding that this theme runs throughout the exhibition now opening, presenting not only the objects but also the artists’ perspectives and the phases of creation using the latest technologies.
With their ritual and magical power, ancient Egyptian sculptures, stelae, reliefs, murals, and other works of art evoked eternity in the world of the living.
The Egyptians often described the world of their dead and their gods using terms such as “eternity,” “boundlessness,” and “permanence.” Cemeteries, tombs, and temples were also built for eternity and adorned with countless works of artistic value, crafted from precious materials and intended for ritual purposes. The exhibition presents a representative selection of such artifacts, offering insight into the creative processes behind them.
László Baán, director general of the Museum of Fine Arts, speaks at a press preview of the “Capturing Eternity” exhibition in Budapest. Photo: MTI/Zoltán Balogh
The use of scientific methods and digital techniques plays a key role in our understanding of Egyptian works of art; thus, the exhibition also presents the results of material analyses conducted on ancient Egyptian artifacts using digital tools. Among these are a three-dimensional animation of a coffin, as well as the reconstructed presumed stages of a statue’s creation and its original colors—now invisible to the naked eye—all made possible by the Egyptian collection’s new tool, the holographic projector, which is capable of displaying artifacts that are thousands of years old and can no longer be appreciated in their former splendor.
In addition to works from the Museum of Fine Arts, visitors to the exhibition can also view outstanding pieces on loan from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen and the Museo Egizio in Turin.
The curators of the exhibition are Katalin Kóthay, an Egyptologist and head of the Egyptian Collection, and Flóra Kevély, an Egyptologist and the collection’s curator.
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Via MTI; Featured photo: MTI/Balogh Zoltán
