Cycladic Art

Edited by Seán Hemingway
with contributions by Dorothy Abramitis, Alexis Belis, Federico Carò, Giorgos Gavalas, Elizabeth Hendrix, and Joseph Alexander MacGillivray

Created more than four millennia ago in an archipelago in the Aegean Sea, the sculptures of the ancient Cyclades are among the most arresting representations of the human form ever created. Little is known about these enigmatic and mesmerizing objects, which have inspired generations of modern artists, from Constantin Brancusi and Pablo Picasso to Amedeo Modigliani and Henry Moore. This book presents more than 160 works spanning 3,000 years (5300–2200 BCE), including small marble sculptures, metalwork, stone and terracotta vessels, and an astonishing four-foot-long reclining female figure that represents one of the few monumental Early Cycladic statues to survive. Scholarly essays illuminate the mysteries behind these ancient objects—providing cultural context, detailing the materials used, and uncovering traces of painted decoration not visible today. An eloquent reflection on the subtleties of artisanship during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, Cycladic Art attests to the power and relevance of Cycladic stone carving over the centuries.

Seán Hemingway is John A. and Carole O. Moran Curator in Charge in the Department of Greek and Roman Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.